"Ray Field" wrote in message
news:GbEVm.57633$PH1.5785@edtnps82...
Have the need for a low cost CMM or equivalent.
The requirement is to measure bagpipe chanter reed blades (made with metal
machinery!). Reeds are of shaped bamboo slips one and one half inches long
by three quarter inches wide and sixty thou thick (that is the envelope
dimensions). Accuracy plus/minus half a thou. Blades are tapered in length
and width, variably.
Have considered a micrometer stage microscope, my eyes are getting weaker
but could probably manage with average of several readings. This method
would be OK for X & Y axes but what about Z? Could the focussing mechanism
provide accurate measurement?
Ideal would be a computerized laser measuring machine but definitely far
too
costly.
Micrometers although very accurate are difficult to apply to the varying
thickness of the blades and angular geometry.
Anyone with experience measuring small parts in a quality control
environment. Any suggestions on suitable and available tools? (A hammer to
smash the reed and render the pipes inoperable is not an acceptable
reply!)
Has anyone homebuilt a CMM equivalent?
Any leads on cheap components and plans for building one?
All help appreciated, and I promise that the reeds produced will make
'pipe
music better.
Ray



What if you put a dial indicator in a stand and laid the reed flat on a
surface plate?

Seems to me that you could measure the Z profile with little problem that
way.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.