Delcam Announces Update of Computerized Inspection Software

Delcam has recently announced a new release of its inspection software PowerINSPECT. It's to be demonstrated on an inspection arm and machine tool at EMO MILANO (October 5-10). Although PowerINSPECT has been around since 2012, computerized inspection is not yet widely used.

EMO MILANO is a biannual world machine tool exhibition alternately hosted by Milan and Hannover. (Image courtesy of EMO MILANO.)

With PowerINSPECT, a user can check to ensure that a part conforms to its design and can inspect complex assemblies quickly and accurately.

The new version features a better user interface, more options for extracting point cloud features, more automated inspection sequences and more flexible collision checking.

Worn-out cutting tools or vibrations from worn machine components can cause small fluctuations, or waviness, in a surface's smoothness. PowerINSPECT can now evaluate waviness for surface inspection and point cloud inspection. This calculation is based on the difference between a point and its neighbors. For a localized region, an assessment of waviness can be calculated by finding the ratio of points that fall within a tolerable range of waviness.

Features from point cloud data can be more easily evaluated, which makes batch inspection easier. PowerINSPECT uses scan data to evaluate the results of automatically generated sequences. The user only has to perform a scan and the program will automatically calculate all specified features and generate a report.

Delcam plans to show off the new version of PowerINSPECT at the EMO MILANO exhibition. (Image courtesy of Delcam.)

The biggest update to the user interface is a new zoom-to-fit option. This feature makes it easier to navigate between the graphical display of the CAD model and the CAD file manager history tree. Selecting a surface in the graphical display automatically highlights the corresponding item in the tree and vice versa. This saves the user time on locating features in big, complex CAD models.

For CNC Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) users, PowerINSPECT now supports MCR20 and FCR25 probe change racks. Automated measurement sequences are now able to incorporate probe changes, and an improved probe database lets the user define probe tools in terms of sub-assemblies (i.e. a probe module combined with a stylus), which can be docked in the rack ports.

Rather than using all features selected for a Reference Point System (RPS) alignment, in which a scan is aligned to a reference object by defining corresponding points, the user can now define which features are used for best-fit calculations. Programming CNC edge points is also simpler in the new release. The program displays a live preview of the edge point based on the cursor position, which updates automatically during editing.