Custom Surface Finish Gages for Hard to Reach Places

摘要

Beginning some 30 years ago, portable surface finish gages-some small enough to fit in a shirt pocket-brought a new level of part control to the manufacturing floor. Bringing surface finish inspection out of the lab and onto the floor was important for a couple of reasons. For the previous 50 years, part dimensional tolerances had been shrinking. As a result, surface finish and form irregularities were eating up an ever-increasing portion of overall dimensional tolerance, a trend that continues today. It had also become clear that surface finish played a very important role in the performance of the part. The unique characteristics of a surface could determine whether paint stayed in place, lubrication held or leaked, or how much "noise" was produced when surfaces moved against each other.