Renishaw extended-height Equator 300 allows part on fixture measurement

The extended height variant of the Renishaw Equator 300 allows components to be transferred onto it still attached to their machining fixtures and also allows the use of automated systems such as robots and conveyors. It can switch between parts in seconds, so is suitable for use with flexible manufacturing processes or can accept parts from multiple machines. The system can inspect features on parts up to 300 mm tall, with rapid changeover to smaller parts using an extended fixture plate spacer. The Equator fixture plate can be easily exchanged for other plates, each mounted to the Equator base using highly repeatable three-point kinematic seats. The plates can also be exchanged for fixture plate spacers, allowing smaller parts on their own fixture plates to be gauged in the same measuring volume. Equator's highly repeatable gauging technology is based on comparison of a production part to a reference master part. The production part is simply measured using a co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) to establish the variation from CAD or drawing nominal's. Effectively, the calibrated absolute accuracy of the CMM (often located in remote temperature controlled rooms to ensure accuracy) can be 'extended' onto the shopfloor to provide calibrated traceability to Equator measurements. With the calibration file loaded into the Equator software, measurements made in the Equator system can be referred back to the CAD or drawing nominals. Re-mastering immediately compensates for any change in the thermal conditions on the shopfloor environment. For use in situations involving a wide temperature variation, the part can be simply re-mastered and the system 're-zeroed'. Further versatility is offered by the Equator-specific stylus changing rack, included in the purchase price of an Equator system, which allows automated in-cycle changing of SH25 stylus holders. The SH25 holders couple to the industry-standard Renishaw SP25 probe, allowing Equator users to swap the stylus configurations without re-qualifying each time. Up to six stylus combinations can be loaded into the rack and they can be used on a single complex part or with multiple parts of varying geometries.