Electro-optical Metrology:
Miscellaneous Applications

Checking Granite Tables for Flatness

The Talyvel electronic level, with the Taylor Hobson electro optics software, can be used to check flatness of granite or cast iron tables using the internationally recognised Union Jack or Grid measurement patterns.
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Setting Astronomical Telescopes

The movements in azimuth and elevation, and their relationship to each other and the earths gravity are essential when pointing astronomical telescopes towards the stars. A Talyvel electronic level is used to set the main platform to gravity. The setting of the azimuth and elevation axis straight and square to each other is done with an alignment telescope and optical square.
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Textile Spinning Machine

Alignment of a series of bearing housings in a machine is a typical application for the telescope. In this particular application 10 individual sections of a textile spinning machine were aligned. Subsequent alignment of the 10 sections to one another during initial construction and then during installation at the end-user’s works was also necessary.
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Printed Circuit Board Drilling Machines

Printed circuit board drilling machines must have an accurate X,Y motion to maintain tolerances of hole positions on the end product. To measure the out-of-straightness of motion on this machine, the Micro Alignment Telescope was offered with suitable accessories.
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Pressure Vessels

Pressure vessels of nuclear power plants are constructed using a number of large plates each containing many holes for the installation of heat transfer tubes. The alignment of these plates is important in that misalignment will cause stress when fitting tubes and will result in premature and possibly extremely dangerous failure. The optical square and Micro Alignment Telescope allow simple establishment of initial datum and subsequent alignment to close tolerances without complicated procedures.
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Refurbished Paper Roller Straightness

Refurbished paper roller straightness has to be certified prior to delivery to the customer. Very small errors in the roller form can cause major problems with paper quality, tearing and inconsistency. To provide the most effective solution, the standard software has been proposed along with a pivoting carriage and guide trolley. The contact points on the roller are via cylindrical rollers.
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Aluminium Sheet Manufacture

Aluminium sheets are not flat when they are produced from the rolling mill. To flatten the sheet, it is stretched between heavy-duty hydraulically-operated grips. After stretching, the plates must be checked for flatness within specified tolerances. The Micro Alignment Telescope with sweep optical square provides a quick and easy solution to this problem with the additional benefit of checking the alignment of the stretching machine itself.
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Datum Bar Straightness

Straightness checks on datum bars can readily be carried out using the Talyvel or Autocollimator system. However, when the datum bar is of a small diameter, the mass of the measuring instrument on the bar can itself cause bending and errors in assessment. To overcome this, a suitable "light weight" carriage has been proposed for use with the Autocollimator.
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Telecommunications

In order to give the customer a quality audio visual signal system, transmitting/receiving equipment must have a coherent collimated nature. To achieve this, alignment of the feed horn, sub-reflector and main reflector is critical. We can offer a system based on the Micro Alignment Telescope with various special target holders and mountings supplied by the customer.
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Plasterboard Manufacture

Transfer lines used in the manufacture of builders plasterboard have to cope with quite wide tolerances of manufacture of the product. When these sheets are then stacked to a depth of 40-50 units, the variations are compounded, making automatic handling and transfer very difficult, if not impossible. To overcome this, the platforms on which the boards rest are adjustable for level. To provide a reference against which to monitor and auto-adjust the platform, an electronic clinometer has been proposed.
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Packaging of Food and Drinks

The manufacture of packaging for consumables such as food and drinks is a highly competitive business. Great emphasis is placed on increasing the speed of production whilst maintaining very low machine downtime and material wastage. To help in the rapid and accurate installation of such machinery, an alignment system based on Talyvel and Alignment Telescope can be used. As designs in the industry alter, so the equipment can be added to, giving increased versatility and cost effectiveness.
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Sheet Steel Fabrication

For example, folded hexagonal sections several meters long. We can offer a simple clinometer to measure the twist of the section along its length.
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Thin Film Production

Photographic film for 35mm cameras is made in a high-volume production process. The film is transported through various high-speed machines using a series of guides, sprockets and rollers. Alignment of these components is critical to avoid damage and costly breakdown time. Use of the Micro Alignment Telescope has reduced setting time and increased machine reliability.
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Small-scale Alignment Application

The application of the Micro Alignment Telescope, in the majority of cases, is to large-scale metrology problems. Occasionally we find it suitable for the solution of much smaller scale alignments. In this case, our customer required a quick and accurate method of positioning two hollow, glass laser tubes, parallel to one another, at a specific distance between centres. Using two mirror targets mounted to a special master reference fixture and the auto-reflection facility of the Alignment Telescope, a method was formulated. In addition to the standard equipment, special 10mm dia and 30mm dia glass targets were also used.
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Transfer Manufacturing Machine

The relocation of a transfer manufacturing machine from one motor vehicle plant to another necessitates the development of a simple but accurate method of alignment during installation. The Micro Alignment Telescope can be used to align the machine through the actual working areas and the use of CCTV is recommended due to lack of space in the area of working.
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Diamond Face Parallelism

Diamond face parallelism: The very small size of this particular component ruled out the use of electronic Autocollimators, but is suited to a minidekkor (TA60) or VA900 with modified light source.
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Large Diameter Flatness Measurement (eg. Bearing Ring)

The difficulty of measuring a 4.0m diameter bearing ring for flatness of 0.1mm has been considered by Taylor Hobson. It is not possible to make this type of measurement with a level device such as Talyvel, however the micro alignment telescope and sweep optical square offer a simple and accurate solution.
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Paper Manufacture

The paper making industry requires the manufacture and calibration of both parallel and cambered or barrel-shaped rolls. Checking parallel rolls is quite simple using tried and tested methods. When checking cambered rollers, care has to be taken not to allow changes in diameter to be misinterpreted as changes in camber or form. In order to overcome this problem, Taylor Hobson has proposed the supply of a special carriage to accommodate the Talyvel pendulum unit. The unit consists of a kinematically located main carriage with a floating roller location carriage holding and pendulum device. This fixture allows the user to utilise the standard Taylor Hobson computer and software package for calculation and storage of results.
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Corrugated Cardboard Manufacture

Machinery used in the manufacture of corrugated cardboard uses a series of large, flat, cast-iron, steam dryer plates. In order to obtain an even drying of the product and maintain size, strength and shape, the plates must be individually flat and in plane to each other. Flatness checking is readily solved using a Talyvel system mounted on the Micro Alignment Telescope to define a reference plane to check and set sections co-planar during build. The same equipment can also be utilised to set roller parallelism and attitude during assembly.
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Printing Industry (Bank Notes)

Quality printing is now commonplace, but rarely to the standard demanded in the production of banknotes. Each printing roller is manufactured to precise diameter tolerances and then divided angularly to give an exact number of prints per revolution.

Engineers involved in the manufacture of these drums require a very precise indexing system. The use of the dual axis electronic Autocollimators combined with a range of optical polygons has provided a simple, accurate solution, readily adaptable to the machining methods concerned.
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