GERMAN manufacturer Linde Material Handling (LMH) says it has been using the GageMax coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and GEAR PRO software from Carl Zeiss to measure gears during production.
Originally, Linde Material Handling measured the gears with special gear measuring machines, even though it had already purchased a PRISMO CMM from Carl Zeiss to measure standard geometric workpieces.
According to Linde Material Handling, in the past measurements were made between two peaks. Currently however, coordinate metrology is based on functional surfaces. Comparative measurements have shown that the same results can be achieved when the conditions are the same.
Carl Zeiss says the GageMax CMM is a measuring centre designed for use in production. The unit offers speed, resistance to environmental conditions such as dirt and temperature fluctuations as well as a high degree of usability and safety.
Linde Material Handling manufactures externally and internally geared spur and spiral gearing in the module range of 0.75mm to 12mm. The diameters of the gears range from several centimetres to a half metre.
According to Carl Zeiss, the operators can now perform the measurements on the shopfloor. The workpiece only needs to be clamped to the rotary table before the measurements can start.
Carl Zeiss says the GEAR PRO software is used to transfer the data, which is usually available as figures, from the measuring sheet to the gear dataset. After the figures are entered, the values are shown in a three-dimensional display and as a CAD model, enabling the user to inspect the plausibility of the values.