FEATURE ON METROLOGY

Bowers expands Moore & Wright range

Bowers Group is launching a range of Moore & Wright handheld testing instruments. The release expands the company’s range of precision and workshop tools, better meeting the evolving needs of industries that rely on accurate measurement and inspection.

This latest collection, which includes a force gauge, surface roughness tester, Leeb hardness tester, ultrasonic thickness gauge, and coating thickness gauges for both ferrous and non-ferrous materials, addresses requirements for enhanced accuracy, efficiency and durability in an extended range of manufacturing processes.

Managing director Martin Hawkins says: “Our customers depend on us for precision and reliability, and this new collection strengthens our offering by extending those core values into more areas of quality inspection. These testing gauges not only enhance measurement accuracy but also make processes more efficient, allowing users to achieve optimal results with ease.”

The new handheld digital force gauge is for the precise measurement of tensile and compressive forces, complete with a high-resolution display and fast sampling speed, while the Leeb hardness tester offers rapid non-destructive testing of metal materials for both laboratory and shop-floor environments. The ultrasonic thickness gauge ensures accurate measurements through coatings on various materials and includes a purity test for processed parts. Two coating thickness gauges provide easy-to-use electronic gauging for taking accurate measurements of coatings on non-ferrous and ferrous materials. Additionally, a portable roughness tester allows for a highly accurate, compact solution for surface roughness analysis, with simple, user-friendly operation.

With a focus on ease-of-use and portability, users can tackle a wide range of measurement and inspection tasks with confidence, from quality control to in-process checks. The launch paves the way for multiple new additions to the ever-expanding Moore & Wright range, with many more new products coming on stream this year.

More information www.bit.ly/40sIUjR

LK extends eco-friendliness of its CMMs

A new innovation, EcoAir, is now available from British CMM manufacturer LK Metrology to lower the carbon footprint of its products. The company can incorporate the technology into new machines built at LK’s Derbyshire factory or retrofit EcoAir to existing CMMs. It is possible to upgrade any make of CMM providing it features an LK NMC300 controller, which is also available from the manufacturer as a retrofit.

Connected to the machine’s air filter set, the EcoAir automatic shut-off unit interrupts the supply of compressed air to the CMM’s air bearings when the machine is idle, reducing consumption by up to 95% and leading to substantial energy and cost savings. The period of inactivity that triggers shut-down is adjustable to as little as one minute. The CMM remains ready for action, however, and the flow of compressed air resumes automatically when the CMM resumes action, in either manual or CNC mode.

Such power-saving devices help manufacturers to meet regulatory requirements for energy efficiency and support corporate social responsibility initiatives, while reaping the financial benefits of reduced electricity consumption. Other ecological measures introduced over the years by LK include a reduced thickness of the air bearing film needed to maintain smooth, accurate movement of the machine elements over their guideways. This design not only cuts air consumption when the CMM is in use but also offers 3.5 times higher stiffness than standard air bearings due to their wrap-around design. The major benefit is improved accuracy of measurement thanks to higher resistance to dynamic forces, particularly when tactile scanning or using long probes.

More information www.lkmetrology.com


Mitutoyo CMM ticks all boxes for AML

Advanced Manufacturing (Sheffield) Limited (AML) manufactures high-quality precision parts including complex gas turbine components such as blades, shafts, discs, blisks and bearings. Given the nature of the industries it serves, AML’s customers require work that complies with the most stringent quality standards. For this reason, the company recently purchased a second Crysta-Apex V122010 CMM from Mitutoyo UK.

Mark Hands, AML operations director, says: “The Mitutoyo CMM ticks important boxes such as speed of use, accuracy and aftersales support.”

Mitutoyo’s recently launched Crysta-Apex V1200, 1600 and 2000 series CMMs were developed for supporting the quality evaluation of volumetric parts, offering users up to 12.8 m³ of measuring volume. The robust and flexible range is able to accept touch-trigger probes, scanning probes, and both laser and scanning probes.

Crysta-Apex CMMs make use of a proven, lightweight bridge-type construction with high rigidity air-bearings on every axis, helping to deliver accuracy alongside both high speed and high acceleration rates. ABS linear scales provide high environmental resistance and save time at start-up as, unlike some other CMMs, homing is not necessary.

The Crysta-Apex V122010 variant, as purchased by AML, provides XYZ capacity of 1200 x 2000 x 1000 mm. Therefore, in addition to handling large individual components, users are able to load large batches of smaller parts on to the machine’s bed and perform fully automated mass inspection routines.

“As previously, the staff of Mitutoyo UK carried out a very efficient CMM installation,” says Hands. “In fact, the team not only installed the new CMM, but also relocated other inspection machines at the same time. The limited the amount of downtime and disruption within our facility ensured that we maintained our operational performance to our customer base.”

More information www.mitutoyo.co.uk

£3.5m Investment Drive Pays Off At Europlaz

A fast-growing contract manufacturing specialist for the healthcare sector has completed a
three-year, £3.5m investment drive as it targets new opportunities. Europlaz, which is
currently witnessing 20% year-on-year growth, has recently spent £750,000 on the
installation of three additional all-electric injection moulding machines to cope with an
increase in orders. Notably, this equipment complements a new CMM.

Boosted by an increase in capacity at its Southminster, Essex facility, the company is focused
on both UK and international medical device manufacturers and engineering design houses
seeking a strategic partner that can take projects from proof of concept to large-scale
commercial manufacturing.
“There’s been a massive surge in demand for our services, which support the development
and commercialisation of devices used in diagnostics, drug delivery, biotech and pharma,”
explains Katy O’Keeffe, marketing and strategy director. “We know there’s a massive
opportunity and have responded by continuing to invest. It takes our total spend to £3.5m
over the past three years and we’ve got more technology on order. This is the perfect time
to press the ‘growth’ button.”
Europlaz, which is ISO13485-certified, operates from a state-of-the-art production facility.
From here, the family-run business offers injection moulding, assembly, product validation
and access to modern cleanrooms, all certified to ISO Class 7 for the manufacture of Class I,
Class II and Class III medical devices.
“Sales have increased by 20% to £12.5m for this financial year and we’ve got contracts in
place to achieve over £14m in 2025,” says Rory O’Keeffe, commercial director at Europlaz.
“Investment has flowed into the latest equipment, which we’ve matched with a major
recruitment drive – taking on 25 new workers. A good proportion of these now form part of
our industry-leading technical team.”
More information www.europlaz.co.uk

Robot Tending Compatibility For Quality Tasks

Flexxbotics is offering robotic machine tending for quality inspection connectivity with the
complete range of 3D scanning and inspection products from LMI Technologies. Now,
companies can enable robot-driven manufacturing with Flexxbotics using LMI Technologies
to achieve closed-loop quality and Six Sigma consistency in unattended operations.
 
Flexxbotics’ FlexxCORE technology enables robots to connect and communicate with
equipment from LMI Technologies. With Flexxbotics, robots receive direct feedback based
on automated inspection results, enabling real-time adjustments to CNC machine programs
for autonomous process control. For inspection tasks, Flexxbotics orchestrates fleets of
production robots to achieve continuous operations, driving defect reductions while
improving throughput and increasing profit per part. 
 
Flexxbotics compatibility includes the full line of LMI Technologies’ Gocator sensors – such as
3D point profilers, 3D line profilers, 3D snapshot sensors and 3D line confocal sensors – as
well as Chroma+Scan multipoint scanners and FocalSpec 3D line confocal sensors. 
 
“We understand the important role that inspection technologies play in enabling smart
factory autonomy by providing the closed-loop feedback needed for autonomous process
control,” says Tyler Modelski, CTO and co-founder of Flexxbotics. “That’s why we’ve
developed a solution that is compatible with all types of inspection equipment, such as
probes, sensors, vision systems, lasers and gauges, CMMs and more.” 
 
Flexxbotics’ solution digitalises robotic production with autonomous process control for
next-generation smart factory environments. It runs both online and offline so production
continues with or without internet access. Flexxbotics works with existing business systems
like CADCAM, DNC, SCADA, IIoT, MES, ERP, PLM and others for comprehensive process
integration.
 
A full set of bi-directional communications, transforms and routing capabilities are available
in Flexxbotics for connected inspection tools, robots and machinery.
More information www.flexxbotics.com