Surface Roughness Measurement & Analysis: Actionable Data for High Value Components

Surface roughness isn’t some “surface” issue that your organization can ignore.

Measuring and monitoring surface roughness is an essential component of ensuring machine performance and service life. Surface roughness can have an impact on many issues, from load bearing, sealing and lubricant retention to friction and wear.

As today’s lubricants are getting thinner and bearing clearances are getting smaller, surface roughness is playing an increasingly critical role for advanced manufacturers.

That’s why Adcole offers Surface Roughness Measurement and Analysis software. This software, available for the 1000 and 1000-Z gages, establishes surface roughness on camshafts, crankshafts and many other cylindrical or near-cylindrical parts.

In addition to measuring and reporting standard surface roughness parameters, Adcole’s Surface Roughness Measurement software flags out-of-tolerance measurements and yellow warning zones, and provides fully programmable reports (paper or pdf). With zoomable surface roughness charts, FFT graphs and bearing area curves, Surface Roughness Software delivers additional analysis and deeper insights about surface measurement data.

Adcole understands how important linear profile measurements are for advanced manufacturers producing precision components. That’s why Adcole offers Linear Profile Measurement Software — a utility that enables engineers to obtain linear convexity, linear concavity and linear barreling measurements in an easily understood format.

In addition, the Surface Roughness Measurement software solution offers these powerful features:

•  Offers surface roughness analysis data that meets ISO 4287 and ASME B46.1 Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS)
• Ability to selectively re-measure out-of-spec sections of the part
• Enables integration with SPC software such as Q-DAS®
• Provides adjustable scan length and data density (2 kHz, 2000 samples/mm or more)
• Permits programmable reports (paper or pdf),and flags out-of-tolerance measurements and yellow warning zones
• Features easy-to-use wizard-driven add-on utility programs to develop inspection sequences and output reports
• Delivers zoomable surface roughness charts, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) graphs and Bearing Area curves which provide additional analysis and deeper insight into the surface roughness data

Actionable Data from Surface Roughness Measurement & Analysis Software

The Surface Roughness Software is engineered to operate on the Adcole 1000 and 1000-Z gages, providing actionable data about:

• Balance shafts
• Camshafts
• Crankshafts
• Eccentric shafts
• Gears & transmission shafts
• Precision hydraulic cylinders
• Pump lobes / pump shafts
• Robotic shafts & cylinders
• Sliding camshafts

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Parameters Measured

Features and Benefits

The Surface Roughness Measurement software provides a rich set of benefits to organizations that integrate it into their quality control process.

First, the software offers a fully integrated part quality and traceability system solution — including the Ford Motor Company’s QLS-CM — with a fully automated, push-of-a-button inspection based on the part’s “birth” history. The solution delivers an intuitive user interface with a snapshot of the ongoing inspection in real time. The software environment does this by showing the part geometry on the screen, where the roughness parameters are shown in callout boxes. The color of the numerical values indicates the go (green) or no go (red), or no tolerance (black); the journal being measured is highlighted with animated part rotation.

The surface roughness software enables users to store raw data from inspections, allowing the entire inspection process to be played back to troubleshoot part quality issues. In addition, the software provides strong security by communicating with the PLC and the motion control system on a private TCP/IP network via a dedicated network interface card (NIC).

Lastly, Surface Roughness Measurement software supports automatic bar code scanners, tactile stylus probes, and white light optical scanners, including Cognex® Dataman® 7500/8500 bar code scanners and Taylor Hobson® tactile stylus probes Zygo® optical 3-D white light interferometry sensors.

To learn more about Adcole Surface Roughness Measurement & Analysis software, check the solution out here.