When FARO went searching for the "Oldest Working FaroArm in Europe", the 3D scanning metrology specialists was delighted to find out there had been masses of examples of its portable coordinate measuring machines (CMM) that had withstood the test of time.
"We knew our products had significant longevity but were pleasantly surprised to see over 200 submissions for this contest,” said Lars Axelsson of FARO Europe.
The oldest was located in Sweden at Öhlins Racing, a company specialising in suspension technology to the motorsport and automotive industries. Here, a 1993-generation FARO Metrecom Arm was still going strong after dozens of years at work. The scanning arm was mainly measuring motorcycle and mountain bike geometries to understand chassis and installation dimensions for its range of suspension products.
A few alterations to the hardware and software to maximise its capabilities, the almost 30-year-arm has remained an essential tool for Öhlins’ measurement operations, regardless of the fact the company has also invested in a brand-new FARO arm.
“We have mounted the arm on a linear guide rail which is fixed to a vehicle lift table. It can easily be moved around the measured object, locked in a new position and zeroed against a fixed 3-point steel plate,” Tomas Andersson, Öhlins Racing elaborated. “This enables the possibility to use the original coordinate system and measure the additional points from the new arm position. These [are], of course, basic functions for modern measuring software but these improvements and adaptions have helped us a lot during the years, and with the proven quality of the arm, extended the lifetime to the present date.”
The contest noticed Ohlins take shipping of a brand new FARO 8-Axis QuantumS ScanArm System, an 8-axis rotary scanning platform which guarantees a reduction in scan times 40%, while preserving accuracy, even in compact spaces.
“The new eight axis system is designed to be used in a wide spectrum of industries, one of the biggest benefits is its ruggedness and ability to be used in the production area,” Axelsson explained. “We can measure where the products are produced, even while the products are still in the production machines or when visiting a supplier and measuring parts at their facility. This is a key benefit that saves time for our customers, avoids moving components around the factory and prevents bottlenecks in the measuring room.”
The Ohlins group now plans on moving most of its contemporary measurement needs over to new arm, believing the scanner and 8-axis features will open up beneficial improvements to dimensional measurements of, in particular, front forks. Currently, probing techniques are exclusively used to measure parts like these but Ohlins believe that by combining this method alongside the new FARO product
Anderson explained that Ohlins is expecting greater demand for the new system: “The first thing we will set up before [we] even start using the new arm is a booking system since we expect it to be used and requested a lot more than the old FARO Arm.”“By increasing the measurement capabilities, we can monitor the parts and the process to ensure we get the best end product in a repeatable way. Now there is a greater need to control the process instead of just the parts. Measurements of control parameters in different steps of the production can help industries identify and react to deviations in the process at a much earlier stage. This helps reduce stop time, costly rework and scrapping parts that hurt important environmental and financial targets for modern industry. FARO’s range of products and software suits this purpose perfectly.”