New CMM Enables Manufacturer of Bearings and 3D Parts to Complete Inspections Up to 4x Faster
UK-based Bowman International is a manufacturer and distributor of bearings and precision-engineered, sintered and 3D printed components. Recently, Bowman significantly upgraded the inspection of its products with the purchase of a new coordinate measuring machine (CMM) built by LK Metrology.
Bowman International believes in investing in technology and adopting a quality-first philosophy. Part of that approach includes the introduction of high precision, safety critical split bearings delivered to the automotive, aviation, defense, marine and rail sectors, amongst others.
Bowman International's quality manager Owen White operating the LK Altera 10.7.5 CMM in Abingdon, UK.
It also includes investments in new equipment. One of Bowman's latest investments -- after decades of continuous growth, mainly organic, but also through strategic acquisitions -- was a new coordinate measuring machine (CMM) from LK Metrology.
Unsurprisingly, the amount of work being put onto the previous CMM purchased in 2016 was greatly increasing. However, its level of reliability coupled with a significant increase in product distribution was proving challenging.
The equipment was also slow in operation and had basic, time-consuming reporting, requiring results to be printed out and transcribed to an Excel spreadsheet. After considering potential replacement CMMs from five different sources, the company's managing director, Paul Mitchell, and the quality manager, Owen White, chose the LK option -- an Altera 10.7.5 -- after visiting the manufacturer's factory and witnessing metrology trials carried out on sample bearings.
For bearings manufactured in-house by Bowman, five from each batch are routinely inspected by analogue scanning to check for accuracy and repeatability.
Standard, bought-in products generally need first article inspection before a batch is delivered to a customer. Bearings produced in-house normally require five to be checked to ensure consistency. This single business area therefore consumes a significant proportion of CMM capacity. Sometimes when carrying out capability studies, 25 to 50 components need to be measured. In one exceptional case, a customer requested 100% inspection of 100 Oilite safety-critical, self-lubricating bronze bearings, which are exclusively marketed in the UK and Europe by Bowman.
In view of the high accuracies involved, by the time the Altera arrived in early April 2024 the quality control room had been refurbished by lowering the ceiling and installing a new air conditioning unit to enable the temperature to be controlled reliably to 20 ± 1 ° C.
The CMM's accuracy is verified every morning, rather than at the more usual frequency of once a week and then checked using a UKAS calibrated ring gage. The gage and each batch of five manufactured bearing samples are positioned precisely on the granite table using L-shaped, laser-cut retainers attached to a base plate having an array of drilled and tapped holes. Attached also to the plate is a lathe chuck to hold washers and other awkwardly shaped items securely for probing.
Bowman has configured a lathe chuck as a workholding device that can be fixtured onto the CMM's base plate for securely retaining washers and other awkwardly shaped components for inspection.
To the rear is a six-port probe rack that allows parts to be inspected using multiple probes in a single, automatic cycle. Components to benefit from being measured in this way include tall bearings and complex, 3D-printed plastic components, such as polyamide 11 bearing cages and seals for in-house-designed and patented split bearings.
Unlike on the old CMM, which only used touch-trigger probes, a notable difference with the new LK inspection platform is that the manufacturer supplied it with an SP25M scanning probe in addition to a variety of conventional probes, all for deployment on a PH10M Plus motorized indexing head. To enable tactile scanning as well as data analysis and reporting, LK supplied its own CAMIO 2024 R1 multi-sensor software and 3-axis scanning module interfaced to its NMC300 controller.
As Mr White pointed out, "On one of our 20 mm diameter bearings, for example, we used to measure 12 points around the top and bottom of the ID. We now capture more than 100 points in a shorter time, which gives us a much better idea of not only the accuracy of the part but also the overall form of the bore."
LK Metrology's Altera Series CMMs are equipped with cutting-edge multi-sensor ready technology and allow for an extensive range of applications without the necessity for additional wiring or controllers.
He added that with the multiple sensing capability provided by the indexing head and software, it would be an easy matter to incorporate a laser scanning sensor into the metrology system. That will be advantageous if there is a future requirement to inspect complex parts made in two Hewlett-Packard plastic 3D printing machines on site. Installed in 2018, they regularly provide an additive manufacturing bureau service in addition to building parts for internal use.
Overall, quality control activities at Bowman have been accelerated right along the process chain, whether it is for ID/OD checking, or for verification of concentricity, circularity, flatness or feature position. Programming in CAMIO takes half the time at between 15 and 20 minutes compared with when the previous CMM was in use and measuring cycles at around five to six minutes are similarly shorter. The LK software also cuts the time for producing inspection reports for customers to typically half an hour, faster by at least a factor of two and up to four times.
Mr Mitchell concluded, "We have thousands of product lines and pride ourselves on our comprehensive stock availability, innovation, technical superiority and next-day delivery. The ability of the LK CMM to improve the speed and quality control of our bearings is hugely important to us. After using the new CMM regularly for many months, we feel that our purchase decision has been completely vindicated."
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