Laser/Structure (white/blue) light  scanning technology has been widely used in various industries for more than 20 years. And the accuracy level has dramatically increased from 50 micro to 20 micro to today’s single micro. As a loyal CMM Metrologist, I wouldn’t bother consider non-contact scanning as an option to deal with tight tolerance 10 years ago, but now I think it’s time to get my hands wet with non-contact scanning technologies.

There’re many really decent 3D scanning systems in the market, mainly can be categorised into Laser scanning and white/blue light scanning. Even though Laser scanning has some advantages over structure light scanning, but if you deal with tight tolerance, blue light is definitely the way to go. You can easily find lots of information about blue light scanning but not until you actually have real world hands-on experience you won’t be able to tell the difference. Recently 1 Source Metrology has officially become GOM distributor in Canada so I get to spend lots of time to play with both GOM ATOS Capsule and GOM Scanbox with ATOS 5 and would like to share with you my findings:

 

1, ATOS Capsule. This is what my Capsule looks like:

 

Even though it’s a manual system, but it gives you a wide range of measuring volume, from 40 mm all the way to 320 mm, which covers very small parts to medium size parts. What’s really amazing about this system is it’s single micro (3-5 um) accuracy and high resolution. It can capture small details on complicated injection molding parts like this:

And I also scanned a 1.6” ring gauge (sprayed) then fit nearly 7000 points into a cylinder, got the diameter as 1.5999374”. One of the service guys right beside me couldn’t believe what he saw.

ATOS Capsule can also be mounted to a robot to become a fully automated scanning system, like this:

2, ATOS 5 on Scanbox. This is something really exciting as my new toy in 1Source lab:

 

 

You really need to see with your own eyes to get a real feel on how fast and how accurate measurements this system can provide. The one I got is a Scanbox 6130, which allows me to measure a part as large as 3 meters long with door closed, fully automated. There’re lots of youtube videos, but here’s a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXlZOejJ8b0

 Now in addition to our Wenzel CMMs with 5 axis PH20 and REVO, the best contact probing system, we have GOM ATOS, the best non-contact measuring system, making 1 Source Metrology Lab the best equipped Metrology lab in Canada. We’re also Canadian distributors for Starrett optical systems, Renishaw Equators, NDI Pro CMM. On service side, we’re accredited ISO17025 lab for contract inspection and we can provide programming/training/supporting on all major CMM software including PC-Dmis, Calypso, Mcosmos, Open Dmis, Camio, Modus, Polyworks.

Our main goal is to support our customers with best solutions we can find in the today’s market, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you need some help. Also please visit our website: 1sourcemetrology.com

 

 
Ray Xing

B.Eng

CMM Application Specialist

GDTP S-0605 (ASME Y14.5)
RX Metrology Solutions Inc.

www.rxmetrology.com

A "1Source Metrology" partner

www.1sourcemetrology.com