WCN Autumn 2009

Dimensional measurement for manufacturing

Report from Institute of Spring Technology (IST) on training courses in China sponsored by the IWMA Educational Trust Fund Two training courses were held in China during week commencing 15 th April. The first, in Shanghai, attracted an audience of nearly 70 delegates, mostly spring manufacturers from the automotive and railway sectors, and the second, in Dongguan, attracted nearly 40 spring manufacturers from automotive, electrical and electronic industries. Both courses were of two days’ duration, and were very well received, with delegates continuing to ask questions into the evening of the second day. Even Chinese spring experts who attended acknowledged that they had found the courses useful and had learnt from them. Dr Zhou Wei, Wintime Guilin was the interpreter, and Mr Mark Hayes, IST was the lecturer. At the end of both courses there was a call for these courses to become an annual event. It was further proposed that next year’s courses should concentrate on more advanced compression spring design on day 1 and on spring failure and prevention on day 2. The sponsorship of the IWMA Educational Trust for this year’s events is gratefully acknowledged; the funding enabled the courses to be offered for 500RMB (£50) per delegate, which only covered the cost of hotel meeting room hire and the food provided.

Zumbach offers a complete line of modular, single axis ODAC® laser gauges, available either mounted on a rail or as components with separate sender and receiver units for flexible installation in any position. Using high precision, telecentric optics, it is possible to mount sender and receiver units at a distance to each other (depending on the model, up to 3m/10ft). This enables multiple sender/receiver pairs arranged in the same measur- ing level, thus offering a multi-axis measurement. With almost unlimited installation and configuration possibilities, these gauges can be used in most manu- facturing processes, including the extrusion of cables, hoses, and profiles or in the steel and metal industries for drawing, grinding, cold and hot rolling of rods and tubes.

IWMA Educational Trust Fund news Over a number of years the Fund has offered trainees, apprentices and students, pursuing or planning careers in the wire and cable industry, a golden opportunity to attend the industry’s pre-eminent exhibition, wire Düsseldorf, held every even year and organised by Messe Düsseldorf. The John C Hogg Travel Award always attracts a good number of applicants from around the world and anyone interested in applying, or who knows an individual who might appreciate such an opportunity to visit the 2010 event, can find full details and an application form on pages 31 and 32 . Trustees of the Fund are very grateful to Messe Düsseldorf who generously provide complimentary season tickets and free catalogues to awardees. Both IST and Wintime (IST’s agent in China) need to generate sales to justify making this an annual event, but both companies are convinced that there is significant potential to achieve this end. IST offers all its services to the Chinese market, but believe the greatest potential for sales lies with in-house training in China (from 2010), CAD design software in Chinese, and spring failure analysis services. Institute of Spring Technology Ltd – UK Fax : + 44 114 252 7997 Email : m.hayes@ist.org.uk Website : www.ist.org.uk

ODAC® dimensional gauges on rails or as ▲ ▲ components

Advantages:

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High scan rate, depending on the

model up to 2,000/s Accurate

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Compact and rugged design Various measurement modes: dia- meter, gap width, depth penetration or multiple measurement Special beam geometries available (depending on model): - Narrow beam for contour measurements - Parallel beam for profiles and similar Models with integrated processor

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(RS, Ethernet, Profibus DP)

Zumbach Electronic AG – Switzerland Fax : +41 32 356 0430 Email : sales@zumbach.ch Website : www.zumbach.com

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WIRE & CABLE NEWS • Issue N° 41 – Autumn 2009 • www.iwma.org