Laser sensor measures width and height of metal cutting discs in rapid time
17 January 2012
A manufacturer of carbide cutting tools for metalworking is using high precision laser displacement sensors from Micro-Epsilon to measure the width and height of cutting discs. Mobile in operation, the wear-free system works without touching the cutting disc, and has a minimal measurement time. The measurement data detected is transferred to a PC for further evaluation. The target object is assessed very quickly as the latitude is displayed graphically.

Cutting discs for the metal working industry are amongst the most common wear parts. In modern production, turned parts are manufactured to sub-micrometer precision. In order to ensure the accuracy of the machine tool requested, precise positioning of the tool is necessary, including the cutting discs.
Carbide cutting tool specialist Ceratizit relies on a measurement system that uses the optoCONTROL 2500 sensor during production control of the cutting discs. The measurement set-up was designed and developed by Benzing Feinwerktechnik GmbH. The vertically mounted optoCONTROL 2500 sensor traverses along the measurement object supported by a pneumatic processing unit. According to the shadow principle, the measurement system detects the width of highly sensitive cutting edges in order to offer reliable measurement results with respect to the distance and height of the cutting edge lines.
Micro-Epsilon’s optoCONTROL 2500 is a non-contact, laser-based measurement sensor that uses an integral, high resolution CCD camera for dimensional measurements. The sensor offers a high sampling rate (2.3kHz), combined with excellent repeatability (< 3µm) and resolution (< 1µm).
OptoCONTROL measures the dimensions of a target or the position of an edge using the ‘shadow principle’. The system consists of a sensor unit and a controller. A parallel light curtain is produced using a laser light source. The CCD camera in the receiver section measures the ‘target’ contour formed by the shadow. The sensor unit is controlled and evaluated by an intelligent controller, with a graphical display provided for operation and measurement functions.
The optoCONTROL series is used in production and quality assurance areas for non-contact, highly dynamic measurements on running conveyors, extrusion lines, drawing processes, on machines and in automated production plants.
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