Greetings from Toronto,

Don’t you guys ever sleep?

Antonio’s reference to Sikora and Zumbach lead me to believe that he is talking about insulated products.

Stefan has held a number of presentations and many papers published on the subject of insulation measurement. Additionally I also have some interesting comparisons between on-line measurement and the KSM system.

Without going into some of the difficulties in consistently applying on-line wall/eccentricity systems one must understand that they measure, at best, only in 3 axis’, in addition to averaging, which leaves these systems open to error.

The KSM method, on the other hand, measures virtually every point of the insulation and, therefore, provides an extremely accurate dimensional document of the insulation geometry.

You are correct, utilizing the KSM on CV lines and with multi-layer insulation is very beneficial, but the big savings quite often are made on the large volume products.

Spectre, I agree that, in the hand of capable people, some manual methods can be quite accurate. The problem is that these methods depend too heavily on the operator and take a releatively long time to complete, when compared to the KSM. This can be a very expensive risk, considering that on average one extruder processes approx. US$ 2,500,000.- of compound. 4% saving (the statistical average KSM is saving) amounts to US$ 100,000.- per year/extruder!

I need to emphasize that the KSM is not a substitute for in-line systems, but one could see it as the “calibrator” for these.


I do not want to turn this forum into a sales pitch, though I would like to and suggest that you contact me directly so I can provide you with any documentation or information you might need.

Best Regards

Willy
Howar Equipment Inc.
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Going back to the original question - reliability is in the eye of the beholder for the most part. The technologies used by each particular manufacturer varies and there are advantages and disadvantages of each particular system depending on the particular process being measured. For online measurement, aside from the already mentioned Sikora and Zumbach, there are also Beta Lasermike, Takikawa, Aeroel and Laserlinc. Check out the Virtual Tradeshow to get addresses and phone numbers for each and ask for company references and contact them directly.

Erik Macs
VP North American Machinery Sales
Fine International Corporation
148 Oak Street
Natick, MA 01760 USA
508-315-8200 fax: 508-315-3621
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Willy,

When Ayala asked if there was a reliable diameter gauge I hastily assumed he meant on a contiuous basis. Having made literally thousands of mounts over the years, anything that was quicker and easier would be good. With some of the sizes of magnet wire we made and the thin wall thickness we needed a microscope to measure concentricity.

You are right about the economics and they apply to many diffferent materials. years ago we worked with a camera device to measure diameter into and out of an ecectro-plater. the idea as discussed on other pages of this forum, you have to put a certain amount of material on at say 18 awg so that when drawn to 36 awg you have the amount of plated materials thickness desired. If you are trying to make 5% and end up at 4% you sell it as 3%. With the current prices of gold, silver, nickel, etc., selling 4% asa 3% is really expensive.