Articles

In order to obtain an engineering degree, you must learn certain concepts and skills in school. However, developing an engineering career means your education continues on the job. One field not typically taught extensively in engineering school is metrology, but for any engineer entering the field of manufacturing, understanding metrology is essential.

There are many ways to inspect an object. You can use high-tech machinery, precision hand tools, and even the human eye. Every inspection method comes with strengths and weaknesses, and each application will work better with some methods than with others. Understanding these strengths and weaknesses can help you decide which types of inspections work and do not work for your specific application.

Dimensional inspection is used in a broad range of industries for a wide variety of applications. However, there are some common reasons why this type of measurement is used. Whether the objective is to compare a prototype to a drawing or to ensure that a finished product meets certain standards, the fundamentals of dimensional inspection remain the same. Highly accurate measurements are taken to determine how closely an object matches its originally intended dimensions.

Purchasing dimensional inspection equipment requires making a big decision, and in most cases a significant financial investment. It is important to be certain that the equipment you buy will serve its intended purpose and provide the results you need.

The simplest solution is often the best. This old adage applies to almost anything, including dimensional inspection. In a room full of high-tech equipment like 3D scanners, coordinating measuring machines, and high-precision devices that can measure on a nano scale, sometimes the only thing you really need is a pair of calipers.