Walter's Helicheck Nano Is The World's First Automated Measuring Machine For Micro Tools As Small As 0.1 MM

Walter has announced the new Helicheck Nano as the world’s first automated measuring machine for ‘micro’ and ‘nano’ tools as small as 0.1 mm diameter.

Available from Walter Ewag UK - the Warwick-based source of Walter tool measuring machines as well as Walter and Ewag tool and insert grinding/erosion/laser processing machines – the Helicheck Nano has been developed to measure the small diameter tooling increasingly being demanded to meet the trend towards miniaturisation in electronics, micromechanics and medical technology.

Walter says that the comprehensive measurement of tools with diameters of less than 1 mm is usually fraught with problems and that even the use of microscopy sees human operation posing the greatest risk of error.

In addition, some measurements require the destruction of the tool; for example, when measuring the rake angle of tools with face geometry. In these cases “while users must hope that the other identical tools correspond to the one that was measured, there is no proof”, comments Bernd Schwennig, who is responsible for product management metrology at Walter.

Walter’s Helicheck Nano takes a different approach, offering non-destructive and operator-independent reliable measurement of tools using transmitted and reflected

light. It’s a process made possible by the use of new variable optics having up to 800x magnification – the origins of which lie in microscopic incident light measuring technology – and, in combination with high-resolution cameras, these microscopic optics are the basis for measurements in the nanoscale.

The variable magnification also allows measurements on standard tools of up to 16 mm diameter.

Complementing Walter’s other fully-automatic tool measuring machines Helicheck Pro and Helicheck Plus, the new Helicheck Nano also has a solid granite base for high-standard, certified measuring accuracy and reliable results, and its permanent cameras are protected from dust and extraneous light by an encased measuring chamber.

Importantly, too, the new machine offers the possibility of automation with a pallet system enabling up to 7,500 tools to be measured automatically without operator intervention.

Walter adds that the Helicheck Nano’s capabilities will be expanded in the future to include functions such as cutting edge rounding, 3-D digitisation and surface finish measurement.