Successful Upgrade from Metrosoft CM to Metrosoft QUARTIS

10.06.15 - The measurement service provider Lometec upgraded the measuring software for its tactile WENZEL coordinate measuring machines from Metrosoft CM to Metrosoft QUARTIS. Chief Executive Officer Jörg Werkmeister and Technical Director Marc Lange report on their practical experience using the example of a dimensional inspection of a turbine blade testing device.

Lometec GmbH & Co. KG is an accredited metrology lab according to DIN EN ISO / IEC 17025:2005.

The company provides a fully air-conditioned 220-squaremeter measurement room according to VDI / VDE 2627 Bl.1 with state-of-the-art optical and tactile measuring machines.

Lometec’s customers are mainly from the automotive and aerospace industry, medical technology and mechanical engineering.

Measuring of the CNC Manufactured Rings of a Turbine Blade Testing Device

All tactile measurement systems at Lometec are exclusively powerful coordinate measuring machines from the metrology manufacturer WENZEL from Wiesthal. „The WENZEL CMMs offer a holistic concept of high-quality engineering, intelligent software and accessory options,“ says Jörg Werkmeister. He is very satisfied with the decision to upgrade from Metrosoft CM to Metrosoft QUARTIS.

In late autumn 2014, Lometec was faced with a very sophisticated measurement task. A CNC manufactured inner and outer rings of a turbine blade testing device needed to be checked for dimensional accuracy for a customer. It was a very time-critical measurement task and the metrologists from Lometec used two LH 108 WENZEL coordinate measuring machines in parallel.

Clearly Designed Workspace for More Efficiency in Daily Use

Technical Director Marc Lange explains: „Due to the clearly designed workspace Metrosoft QUARTIS works more effectively than was possible with Metrosoft CM.“ In the Metrosoft QUARTIS user interface, the traditional menus and toolbars have been replaced by the Ribbon - a device that presents commands organized into a set of tabs (Figure 2).

„The focus is now on the workspace that can be customized according to the user. All essential elements, 3D graphics, data management, the monitoring program and also statistics and the measurement report are visible. In addition, the second monitor allows a better overview,“ adds Marc Lange. Long searches for the required commands are a thing of the past. Metrosoft QUARTIS accelerates the personal workflow and ensures greater efficiency in daily use.

Live Preview, CAD Functionality and CollisionAvoidance

Due to the live preview, the results of a working step can be previewed when the user moves the cursor over the appropriate result within the gallery. This new dynamic function speeds up workflow. The result is shown instantly in the workspace. „So I always have full control over the programmed measuring procedure and I’m able to implement adjustments or changes quickly when necessary,“ says Marc Lange. A look at the Metrosoft QUARTIS status window is enough for the metrologist to see all important parameters and the current state of the CMM.

Another elementary advantage is the extremely powerful CAD functionality of Metrosoft QUARTIS. This is achieved by a CAD kernel from ACIS. All popular CAD formats are supported and can be imported and exported. In addition, collisions between the machines or between the probe and base plate of the same machine are avoided. This collision avoidance is based on moving safety zones that are automatically calculated around the probe configuration and machine components. If two system components approach each other and exceed the defined safety distance, the machines are stopped. The activation / deactivation of this function can be recorded into a program.

Faster Working and Improved Quality of Documentation

When measuring the inner and outer rings of the turbine blade testing device, it turned out that not all features could be detected. For two dimensions the tactile accessibility with the probe was not possible in spite of the use of a servo positioning head system. Here the Metrosoft QUARTIS measuring software scored with the possibility of a user-defined input feature so that the predefined chronology could be kept in the test report.

„An important task of a measurement engineer is it to present the measurement data in clear and unambiguous reports,“ said Jörg Werkmeister. „By switching to Metrosoft QUARTIS we have become not only faster, but also reporting has improved revolutionarily. Thus, we significantly increased the quality of the documentation. We are able to make further statements and evaluations at any time without having to measure anew. Our customers obtain reproducible data for possible correction of components and production parameters.“