Broanmain Plastics has installed a new Baty R14 profile projector to ensure speed and consistency in its inspection and quality processes.
As a family-run technical trade moulder, Broanmain Plastics manufactures compression and injection moulded components used in various applications throughout many industries including, aerospace, electronics, railway signalling, filtration, and climate management systems.
Having expertise in many different processes in the plastics industry, such as thermoplastic injection, vacuum forming, thermosetting injection, compression, and transfer moulding, precision and conformity is paramount to the business.
Between two sites based in Surrey and West Sussex, Broanmain Plastics houses machinery with capacities up to 550 tons and a shot weight of over 1500 grams, providing extremely high production volumes in which consistency of the finished product is vital. It is imperative to not only make sure the part is visually perfect but also fail-safe where customers require the utmost safety from the part.
With injection moulding particularly, the pressure in the mould makes it possible to add complex detail into the design of the part that, in turn, requires a closer inspection to ensure strict quality standards are met.
Looking to improve on the consistency of produced parts, and to work more effectively within time constraints, Broanmain Plastics decided to invest in the Baty R14 profile projector to support its quality team in measuring complex components, helping to achieve accurate, repeatable results.
The R14 is a bench mount profile projector that provides high-accuracy, non-contact optical measurement and inspection, with a large 175mm x 100mm measuring range. Optical measurement offers effective non-contact inspection using a light source that projects onto the part, casting a silhouette, or shadow, into the camera. This allows the software to quickly gather data from the profile of the part and undertakes thorough inspection that can show even the most minuscule of faults.
Broanmain Plastics uses the projector most days, overseeing the inspection process to ensure that manufactured parts are accurate, that there are no faults or weak spots in the output, and that the quality of the mouldings is constant in any run size to satisfy the customer’s high-quality requirements.
By using the Bowers Group-supplied Fusion software with the R14, which has a simple and easy-to-use user interface, operators without previous experience can use the machine within a short space of time.
Managing Director of Broanmain Plastics, Jo Davis, said, “Quality is critical for different reasons. For some, it is safety-critical, for others its requirement may be more aesthetic. But what is always required is a consistency. The Baty R14 makes the process quicker and easier. It has been an invaluable installation to both the quality team and the company as a whole.”