The same pistol-grip platform that measures plain bores also measures threads, grooves, splines, gears, dovetails, ball screws and when a feature is truly unique, we build a custom head for it.
Threads, grooves, and splines come through our shop every single day. We make so many of these "non-standard" configurations that they're effectively a standard product line product with short lead time, modest cost.
Consider for:
- Specialty thread forms
- Non-catalog grooves
- Undercut grooves
- Spline geometries
When the feature is truly one-of-a-kind, we engineer from scratch. You send a print. We review, design, prototype, and validate. You end up with a tool that does exactly the inspection you need based on the modular system you already own.
Process:
- Print review
- Feasability
- Engineering
- Prototyping
- Validation
Three-point, self-centering measuring heads give you a true diameter reading on through-bores and blind bores, with reproducibility you can put into a quality plan.
The traditional way to inspect an internal thread is a go/no-go thread plug. If it doesn't fit, your machinist knows the part is wrong but not how it's wrong.
Our thread heads measure the actual pitch diameter. Your machinist knows exactly how much more material to remove on the next pass. One pass instead of three or four.
Anything that's narrower than the bore it sits in and harder to reach with a standard tool. Groove heads drop into the recessed feature and measure the actual diameter at the bottom of the groove.
We design custom versions of these every week. They're one of the most common custom requests, and we stock a wide range of standard sizes as well.
Female splines and serrations are classically awkward. Our spline heads give you a real over-pins-equivalent reading inside the internal feature. Note that this photo shows the spline head being used with the interchangeable mic head instead of the pistol grip.
The ball-track geometry inside ball screws and ball-race bearings is critical to backlash, preload, and service life. Specialized heads measure the actual track diameter: no surrogate measurements, no waiting to get feedback from a CMM.
90-degree adapters and extension modules let you reach features deep inside a part. We've built configurations that reach more than 10 feet inside a part to measure a critical seat or seal surface.
If you can measure two diameters at two known distances along a tapered feature, you can calculate the included angle. We've configured the system as an angle measurement tool more times than you'd expect for tapered bores, conical seats, and inspection fixtures.
The pistol-grip form factor makes your workflow more seamless as the operator can measure a part without removing it from the machine tool.
When you pull a part off a fixture to inspect it, then find it undersized, getting it back in for a rework pass can be an expensive endeavor. Lost concentricity. Lost time. Sometimes lost parts.
In-machine measurement is a quiet productivity multiplier and the kind of benefit that shows up in your cycle times without ever showing up on a brochure.
Some features can't be inspected with anything off the shelf. A deep crossbore in a valve body. An unusual thread form. A part where the only tool that fits is the one you can't buy.
That's where our engineering team comes in. We've been designing custom bore gage heads against customer prints for decades. Because everything plugs into the same modular platform, a "custom" solution still uses your existing handle, your existing electronics, and your existing operator training.
Most custom heads follow the same path. You bring us the feature you can't measure; we engineer a head that mounts to the handle you already own.
Share the part drawing and the bore feature you can't measure today.
Our engineers confirm what's reachable and how to gage it repeatably.
A purpose-built measuring head that mounts to your existing handle.
We manufacture, set, and certify the head to your size.
It ships ready to use. No change to the workflow your operators already know.
One of the more interesting custom designs we've built is a valve seat head assembly. The geometry is brutal: a deep cross-drilled hole intersects the main bore, and you need to measure the diameter and concentricity of a seat that's seated well inside the part. This is something that you just can't do with a standard bore gage.
Almost no manufacturer in this space has a great off-the-shelf inspection solution for the valve seat itself. Our custom valve seat gauges solve exactly that problem. Measurement and inspection is done in under a minute, with bluetooth data capture to make documentation a simple by-product of the process.
Walk us through your project, your range, and what's giving you headaches today. We'll point you to a great solution and you can expand from there as your shop changes.