Digital Machine Shop Series: Blog #9 CMM Inspection and Programming
In the next video, I will explain how a machine is programmed with our NX CMM tool. From my experience, the quality department is somehow disconnected. This is a process to try afterward, to fix things, to make sure you’re good. What we really want to do is connect this into our digital thread. This is a way to get the information, not only down to the coordinate-measuring machine (CMM), but collect the information and run it back up to planning, run it back into NX to see how the real part looks and compare it with the planning data. This way we can close the loop. We can make sure that the data is not just going down to the CMM but coming back to the digital world so that we can compare the data. In this way we can have a very important quality process connected to the digital twin.
Watch the video, “Digital Machine Shop: CMM inspection and programming”
NX CMM Programming — Advanced Programming for Coordinate-Measuring Machines
NX enables you to generate complete machine inspection programs for CMM. NX CMM Inspection Programming reduces programming time, frees-up expensive CMM machine resources and ensures fast responses to design changes.
You can reduce inspection programming time by as much as 80 percent by using the product and manufacturing information (PMI) – including GD&T and 3D annotation – that is associated with the CAD model. NX CMM programming can use this data to generate inspection programs automatically. You can further automate the programming process by applying your own standard inspection path methods, tools and project templates.
By selecting the appropriate postprocessor, you can have the NX CMM software create machine instructions in DMIS or machine-specific formats. Before sending the program to the shop floor, you can make sure that inspection programs are collision free and match the intended measurement strategy. NX also provides inspection program verification and full machine simulation, including a number of standard CMM machine models. The kinematic model-based simulations of the machine allow you verify that all features are reachable, and that machine limits are not exceeded.
Read the previous blog post in the digital machine shop series: Additive Manufacturing
Let me know what you think of the blog series in the comments section below.
By Armin Gruenewald, Vice President Business Development MBG, Manufacturing Engineering Software, Siemens Digital Factory.
