Urgent Measuring Advice 2

[Highpower30X]

Good Day to Y'all, I'm in need of some advice on measuring equipment, I'm in the Air Force and we have been tasked with tracking a large amount of bushing wear on the landing gear for our aircraft. There are over 125 bushings from .250" to 4.000" and if the bushing is bad, the housing bore will have to be measured too and recorded. Up until now we have been using "GO - NO GO" Gages and if the bushing or housing was bad and needed to manufacture bushings we could use telescoping gages and micrometers to get the size. Some of the work, the gear or components are worked in our shop. Some have to be worked on the aircraft and space is limited. They also want us to record the measurement to .0001" also. We have a lot of aircraft and only a few days to get all the bushings measured and recorded.

My question, is there anything on the market that can assist us and make this tasking easer and faster? We are also limited on funding and would like to keep it under $5K but will consider everything. I've been looking at the 2 point pistol grip sets, air gages and other types like laser but haven't been able to find a lot of info. We would like something digital and fairly simple to set up, use and a lot quicker than what we currently have. Any and all reasonable suggestions on tooling or expert advice on who to contact will greatly be appreciated by all of us.

I've called several tooling places down town but lately it seems that they are just sales people and have no one that knows much about what they are selling. What I've been able to find is vast and can be pricey and overwhelming.
We in the military are not privy to the vast amount of new items on the market. Most shops are set up to work as a field maintenance unit and have the tooling required to work what we have. Lately they have been pushing a lot more down to field level but it is up to us to find or make the tooling required. Thank God that I had the privilege to work with a lot of you old school guys on conventional machines. Y'all taught me a lot at a time when we had very little to work with and a lot of what we needed we made. Thank each and everyone of you.

 

[zhouy7]

Could you consider a portable CMM arm on a Brunson tripod? I have no idea about the accuracy and price, but it's the only thing come into my mind.

YS

 

[KENAT]

Just an idea on the cost issue, have you looked at renting equipment, or maybe some kind of measurement service you can get it? Sorry I can't be more help.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[tomwalz]

Try posting to

http://www.practicalmachinist.com

Lots of good advice there.

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[KENAT]

forum286 might be a good place to look.

While double posting is generally frowned upon this might be a time when putting another post over there, asking people to look over here is appropriate. Just insert the link to this thread: thread31-240047

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[FeX32]

Consider machinery fault detection equipment in the future.
This will be a huge help.




Fe

 

[ajack1]

Wow measuring such a wide range of sizes to 0.0001” in the field quickly and recording the results for under $5K, that is a big ask.

My first thought is does it really need to be within 0.0001” ? Any bushing or shaft that is worn is highly unlikely to be round within those sorts of limits, you will get ten different results measuring ten different ways.

Go-No go gauges seem a good option at least for an initial test, but you will need a unique gauge for each size. I assume once they fall outside of certain limits you want to measure the rejects to within 0.001” not everything? Another quick, simple and inexpensive option would be a digital vernier, results can be recorded directly from these and they would cover the whole range of sizes but at best you will only get within 0.0005” and more realistically 0.001”.

To try and measure within 0.0001” in the field is a huge ask at any price, usually you would be looking at a “clean room” and with some sort of temperature and environmental control to achieve this.

My advice would be speak to a technical rep for one of the major measuring equipment manufacturers, Mitutoyo have some pretty wacky bits of kit for example and may find a working solution for you.

Good luck, I think you are going to need it.

 

[thruthefence]

A telescoping snap gauge to .0001" ?

 

[Sparweb]

Hope I'm not too late with this suggestion:

I was looking for data acquisition equipment last year and came across a product called [URL unfurl="true"]www.dataget.com [/url] and maybe it would be helpful to you. It won't help your accuracy of course, but it could speed up the data collection process. Maybe giving you enough time to make multiple measurements of the same bushing, to get a sense of how "oblong" it has become.


Good luck!

Steven Fahey, CET

 

[WKTaylor]

Highpower30X...

If You don't already have it, download a copy of
T.O. 32-1-101 USE AND CARE OF HAND TOOLS AND MEASURING TOOLS

at:

http://www.robins.af.mil/library/technicalorders.asp

Recommend contacting the folks at Starrett for possible advice...

http://www.starrett.com/

Measuring the bore of holes for shafts/pins is not necessarily straight forward. Hole diameter is grossly influenced by "out-of-roundness", hole surface-roughness and profile, the profile at various DEPTHS, corrosion, cleanlieness (gunk-build), etc. Often these variables are NOT readily understood or properly interpreted or accounted for... especially with the tolerances You require.

In the F-16, a simple misinterpretation of surface finish/profile led to dramatic wear and premature bushing and pin replacement issues within the LDG. Hole tolerance was never a problem until wear was evident: the problem was actually a discrepant surface finish on the hard pinsand bushings (roughness/profile) which accelerated wear dramatically. ***

Recommend You take a look at the following specs to get an idea of what you are trying to accomplish...

ASME B89.3.1 Measurement of Out-of-Roundness.

ASME Y14.5 Dimensioning and Tolerancing

ASME Y14.43 Dimensioning and Tolerancing Principles for Gages and Fixtures

***suggest you check-out my bio

Regards, Wil Taylor

 

[WKTaylor]

OH yeah... and also...

Forgot to mention variables due to temperature differences: some measurements will vary wildly due to static temperature variations. Example: cool early AM in a shaded hangar VS late PM outside in the sun in the desert on a dark concrete or asphault apron.

Also look at...

ASME B46.1 Surface Texture (Surface Roughness, Waviness, and Lay)

Boeing BSS7022 PROCEDURES AND EQUIPMENT FOR MEASUREMENT OF FASTENER HOLES



Regards, Wil Taylor