The company prides itself on effectively applying professional engineering skills to customer requirements, resulting in innovative solutions to technical problems. The company's skilled workforce, experienced engineering department and extensive service team are backed up with a range of in-house test and diagnostic facilities. Offering global coverage, Cambridge Vacuum Engineering provides sales service centres in the UK and across the world.
Although Cambridge Vacuum Engineering don’t have a dedicated inspection department, they do employ a team of extremely experienced and highly skilled engineers who have plenty of experience operating similar equipment.
Staff from Cambridge Vacuum Engineering initially attended a demonstration at Bowers Group’s sales office and demonstration suite in Camberley, Surrey. They were impressed with the features and capabilities of the Baty R400, including its 400mm (16") screen with 90º crosslines and chart clips, profile illumination and wide choice of lens magnification choice.
The FT2-E model chosen by Cambridge Vacuum Engineering boasts complete TOUCH SCREEN DRO with 2D Fusion Touch Software, and on-screen optical edge detection allows data points to be taken ‘on the fly’ as the projected image is passed under the screen mounted fibre optic sensor. The Fusion touch software enables full reporting capability including SPC, tabulated details with pass / fail analysis, saved in MS Excel compatible format and auto sequence programming feature. They were particular impressed with the quality of the image, which was a big improvement on the standard projector with standard display that they’d been using previously.
Cambridge Vacuum Engineering took delivery of the Baty R400 back in May 2015, and have since been using the unit to dimensionally check various sub-contract manufactured components and customer samples when required. The supporting image shows two components that the company regularly need to perform compliancy checks on. The component on the left is called a split collet and the one on the right is called a shaft adaptor, which are both used in one of their machine models. Both of these components are high precision, and although Cambridge Vacuum Engineering have them manufactured to a high standard both externally and internally to their own design and specification, they still require a further selection of tests in order to ensure that they are suitable for their needs.
A variety of these checks, including measurements for angles, forms and radiuses, can now be carried out on the Baty R400 unit. The components in question are manufactured in many different sizes and configurations, and each one can now be checked in the same way. The customer part that is held between these two components can also be checked on the Baty unit, if an issue is to arise at the point of test and acceptance.
Cambridge Vacuum Engineering previously used standard measuring tools such as micrometers, Verniers and height gauges to measure components and cover the majority of their requirements. Occasionally they would manufacture special gauges as required. Roy Burroughs, Workshop Supervisor at Cambridge Vacuum Engineering said:
“We decided to purchase the Baty unit over other possible options due to its high quality. After an initial demonstration of the unit at an exhibition, we decided to explore the device further and accepted an invitation to see the device in action at the facility in Camberley. After research and demonstration, we concluded that the device was well supported and offered us a great overall package to suit our needs. Although we considered other types of device, in the end it was clear that the Baty profile projector was the best option for our needs.”
“The Baty unit has provided us with a whole new level of measurement capability” said Roy. “It really comes into its own when checking measurement data provided by the supplier. Although we currently only take advantage of a small percentage of what the Baty unit is capable of doing, I’m confident that as time goes on we will get more and more use out it, and thoroughly explore its full capabilities.”