Companies may perform quality inspections on die-cast parts quickly and accurately with a 3D laser scanner. Die casting can now provide better outcomes with less labour and more incredible speed because of the development of reverse engineering tools.
Die casting is a quick yet complex technique of production. And there is a rising need for products with tighter tolerances and higher precision. As a result of this increased demand, quality checks must increase their speed and accuracy. This is where 3D scanning comes in.
In terms of data points collected, nothing tops a 3D scanner. Quality evaluation time is a function of the inspection software in use, and it all comes down to timing.
What is Die Casting Process
Manufacturers use the die casting process to create authentic metal parts with a smooth or patterned surface. It is accomplished by pouring molten metal at high velocity, and pressure into reusable steel dies. Complex near-net form components may be mass-produced using this high-productivity technology.
Because there are industrial machines and liquid metal supply systems that can handle nearly any net shape, die-casting is a feasible alternative for almost any net form that isn’t too huge. Despite the technique’s commercial and technological advantages, each shape must be carefully designed, if not wholly remade.
Challenges of Die Casting
When it comes to critical components, clients might demand highly tight tolerances. As the name suggests, tolerance refers to the range of values within which a product can operate successfully. Tolerance in most circumstances refers to the product’s lowest and maximum measurement ranges. For example, the flatness of a surface, or the runout of a circular item, can be defined by tolerances.
High-performance, cutting-edge engines, for example, are motivated by a desire to use less fuel and emit fewer pollutants into the atmosphere. Such an effort, however, needs advanced manufacturing technologies to produce precise components with tight tolerances, as they are designed at the limits of what is possible.
As mentioned, die casting is a technique in which high pressure and temperature are used. For example, casting temperature, mould temperature, and turbulent flow of molten metal under pressure can all affect the final product. The manufacturer must check the cast component’s quality to ensure it falls within the tolerance range.
Quality Control of Die Casting Product
Quality control is crucial to the entire die casting process, and quality control ensures that the finished product is up to client expectations. Quality control in die-casting is time-consuming and stringent due to the difficulties that might occur throughout the casting process.
Machinery manufacturers are interested in enhancing the quality and output of massive castings. To produce complyiant components, however, the manufacturers must spend a lot of time evaluating and adhering to quality control procedures since castings often have hefty weights, big diameters, and complex structures.
There are various methods for determining the dimensional characteristics of cast pieces, and non-destructive CMMs and 3D scanners are among the most recent additions to the toolbox. When operating a CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine), contact probes are used. An electrical signal is created whenever the probe makes contact with an item, and the signal is returned to the CMM to acquire exact readings.
3D Scanning is another choice that is steadily gaining popularity. Engineers and quality specialists from leading manufacturing organisations increasingly use 3D coordinate measuring devices. In contrast to conventional manual and contact-based measurement equipment, which are frequently slow, laborious, and difficult to use, 3D scanners may be swiftly and effectively utilised in design inspection, production control, delivery inspection, and other applications.
3D Scanning for Die Casting Quality Control
Inspection of Product 3D Laser Scanners
Laser scanning may be defined as using a laser as a light source to collect three-dimensional data from a real-world item. The Scanner builds point clouds — millions of accurately measured XYZ points that characterise the item’s location in space – by projecting laser light onto the object. Using data collected from the surface of a physical thing, the 3D Scanner creates a three-dimensional digital model of that object’s form.
Manufacturers may scan produced parts with high precision using 3D scanners. Measuring using 3D Scanners is a snap since they can make a digital replica of the object being scanned. Since some cast pieces can be rather large and heavy, it is another advantage to use a lightweight and portable instrument like 3D Scanner to gather measurements.
Afterwards, the gathered information may be imported into an inspection program, where a quality engineer can directly compare the design to the die-casted component in a digital environment. Using 3D Laser Scanners with a dimensional precision of 0.03mm improves the casting quality and dimensional uniformity of the produced products.
Advantages of 3D Scanning over CMM
Laser scanners provide several benefits over more advanced metrology instruments like CMMs and simpler equipment like callipers and gauges. Laser scanners offer the following advantages over the other tools mentioned earlier:
- Measurement Coverage
- Measuring Speed
- Cost
Even while touch probes are extremely precise, the number of points they can create from a single object is restricted. A touch probe generates a unique data point for each touch. A laser scanning stripe may be as wide as 400 mm, allowing it to record thousands of data points in a single pass.
Laser scanning has many benefits over touch probing, including the ability to scan the whole surface of a part. Only a few data points may be acquired from touch probe readings in free-flowing or strongly curved regions. As a result, laser scanners can traverse homogeneous surfaces more quickly than touch probes with higher tolerances.
Touch probes are unlikely to reach speeds of more than a few thousand points a second. Laser scanners can record hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of points per second, which is still a substantial improvement over even a decade ago.
Reverse Engineering of Casted Parts with 3D Scanning
3D laser scanning in the right hands may help machinery manufacturers simplify the inspection process by providing high-resolution data that is accurate and reliable. Using 3D laser scanners for inspection controls means you get the best of all worlds: precision, portability, and speed.
Thanks to speedier computational processes, we can scan and reverse-engineer a die-casted part in a couple of minutes.
Reverse engineering allows for faster and more accurate die castings. And a well-designed die-cast implies fewer scrab components and better die-casting results.