UK component manufacturer, Enplas UK are reaping the benefits from their new Talyrond 265 as they begin to inspect their precision components accurately and quickly.

Enplas manufacture injection moulded plastic components in a range of materials, from nylon to polycarbon. These are made in high volumes, typically more than 200,000 per month, in a busy and clean shop floor environment.

Recently they refocused their activities from providing lower accuracy, low cost parts to supplying blue chip companies with higher precision components. Now they supply parts for markets where speed, low noise and smooth and efficient movement is required, for example motorised windows, central locking and sun-roof mechanisms.

Enplas needed to satisfy orders from two major international organisations; one for the manufacture of gears used in electric window mechanisms and the other for gears in printer mechanisms. They had a demanding specification of around 10µm out of roundness.

An Enplas spokesman said: "We looked at several companies and found that Taylor Hobson's Talyrond 265 was the best. It offered unrivalled specifications and went down to the finest tolerances.
This is what we need for our small plastic parts.

"It also had to be easy to use because it was completely new to all of us. We weren't replacing an existing product, a change in our market place meant we hadn't used such precision equipment before. It had to be as simple as possible whilst offering the versatility to measure a range of circular parts."

The Talyrond 265 Measurement Solution

Measurement
·Simple measurement of roundness, coaxiality, concentricity,flatness, straightness, cylindricity, eccentricity and run-out on a range of internal and external features. Simple methods to establish datums from measured featuresto use in further analysis of the components.

Styli and Fixturing
·A range of simple fixtures, including a precision chuck to enable different components to be held on the instrument worktable.
·Custom designed styli to enable the roundness of the O/D of the gear teeth to be measured.

Fast Set Up and Simple Programmability
·Wide gauge range (1mm) to enable rapid set up of components in conjunction with the fast automatic centre and levelling table.
·Simple, automatic operation through measurement programmes which are quick to produce for each different component.

Advanced Analysis Capability
·A wide range of filters and harmonic analysis capabilities enable different manufacturing effects to be isolated to provide a deeper understanding of the moulding process.
·Once measured, a feature can be rapidly re-analysed using different reference circles, datum's and filtering conditions. This helps to save time and minimise the need for repeat measurements.