Measuring texture along a linear path is a fairly straightforward process. A stylus-based measurement will do the trick. And, if we have areal (3D) measurement data, we can position a cursor on the path of interest and view it as a profile. But sometimes roughness matters along a curved path — perhaps along a ridge … Read more
As you may have seen in this video, analyzing a wear scar on your surface is fast and easy with OmniSurf3D… even when the scar occurs along a curved surface. However, what you may not know is that the OmniSurf3D wear analysis tool can also handle worn or chipped corners as well. For example, let’s … Read more
We made a big addition to the Surface Library this week! The new Microfinish Comparator series includes high resolution, 3D data of the 22 surface texture samples on a GAR S-22 microfinish comparator gage. These textures represent various machining operations and surface roughness amplitudes. Many of us use these kinds of tactile gages to compare … Read more
To measure surface texture accurately we need to be able to separate it from the underlying shape. Most surface texture software can remove simple shapes such as tilt and cylinder. Complex surface shape, however, can prove difficult to handle in a lot of software. OmniSurf3D includes a number of flexible tools to handle complex shape. … Read more
QMP Racing’s Brad Lagman tells us how. There’s information about your performance and machining processes hiding in your surface texture. But you need to be able to see it to improve it. No one knows this better than Brad Lagman, founder of QMP Racing Engines in Chatsworth, California. Lagman has been building engines for drag … Read more
Some 2D (profile) parameters are closely related to their 3D (areal) equivalents. For example, Ra and Sa (2D and 3D average roughness), and Rq and Sq (2D and 3D root mean square roughness) are calculated in similar manners and often produce similar values. Rz, another commonly used 2D parameter, however, does not generally correlate with … Read more