The company I work for just purchased a Zeiss Smartzoom 5. We are manufacturer of deep drawn parts and today I tried to measure one of our deep draw dies with limited success. Couldn't get a clear image to either view or measure. This die was .140 ID diameter and the radius profile I was trying to measure was .064 deep. I tried various lighting settings which didn't give me what I wanted. The die was placed on the table and I was thinking that I should have held it off the table or perhaps tilting it to allow the light to get down into the hole better. Any thoughts on a procedure to give me a nice clear, noise free image? The material is carbide if it makes a difference.
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Zeiss Smartzoom 5
- Thread starter xring
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Gordon B. Clarke
Banned
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- May 29, 2010
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- Denmark
Automated digital microscope ZEISS Smartzoom 5
ZEISS Smartzoom 5: Image Acquisition How-To - YouTube
Youtube seems to have many instructions on how to use.
Your company didn't purchase. Someone in your company purchased so I'd ask him why. Surely it wasn't purchased without anyone knowing how to use it or what it could do?
ZEISS Smartzoom 5: Image Acquisition How-To - YouTube
Youtube seems to have many instructions on how to use.
Your company didn't purchase. Someone in your company purchased so I'd ask him why. Surely it wasn't purchased without anyone knowing how to use it or what it could do?
The real Leigh
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2005
- Location
- Maryland
Gordon,
Your PM box is full.
- Leigh
Your PM box is full.
- Leigh
Gordon B. Clarke
Banned
- Joined
- May 29, 2010
- Location
- Denmark
msimard
Aluminum
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2009
- Location
- Lawrenceville, GA
Can you override lighting and supply the type that comes out of the objective lens itself? I find it very well suited measuring the edges or large radii and round diameters like you would with a mic. This is what I do an my OGP Smartscope.
Do you realise that this is not a measuring microscope? Maybe it was chosen to make visual inspections with no interest in measurements, that could be a good thing but you may not have the fancy cmm type thing you once thought!
Some trivia. The tilting head you see on yours is a feature that Zeiss and their competitor Leitz did for 100+ years on toolmaker's microscopes. It's for measuring threads, I can't imagine any other use.
I have one of the last Leitz measuring microscopes. It went from the early 50 lb thing to 400 lbs. It still has the tilting head though.
Do you realise that this is not a measuring microscope? Maybe it was chosen to make visual inspections with no interest in measurements, that could be a good thing but you may not have the fancy cmm type thing you once thought!
Some trivia. The tilting head you see on yours is a feature that Zeiss and their competitor Leitz did for 100+ years on toolmaker's microscopes. It's for measuring threads, I can't imagine any other use.
I have one of the last Leitz measuring microscopes. It went from the early 50 lb thing to 400 lbs. It still has the tilting head though.
Looks to me like there are rather a number of measurement features included in the brochure description of the system. I frankly can't imagine why anyone would buy something like this, much less offer it as a product, without metrology features that take advantage of what is likely very good optical imaging quality.
To the OP -- good lighting is your friend for good imaging. If your system is having difficulty with what sounds like a concave radius feature, I suspect that is something that many optical metrology systems would find difficult, particularly if the surface finishes allow for a good bit of specular reflected light. A probe-type CMM may be a better choice for this specific task.
It was purchased to verify the condition of the ID of small tubes and other visual conditions and most importantly, have a good record of them. We produce parts, clean them and then send them out for plating. Sometimes the plater says the parts didn't plate properly because they were not clean. Now we'll have a record of the condition we sent them in.
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Yes, mostly visual. We were hoping to be able to do what I described as an add on but I don't think it's up to the task. We do have another objective lens on the way which may help.Measurment, I don't see it any more accurate than the toolmakers mics we use or our 20 year old smartscope.
I had a chance to try this out for a short time yesterday for it's intended purpose, magnify the inside surface of a tube with an ID of .018. Focusing on the top was no problem but seeing down a short distance, .020 didn't go as well. Different lighting settings, objectives ( all 3 that are available), etc. did not result in a usuable image. The tube was mounted in a horizontal position as out customer had done. Not getting enough light getting into the part. If I can figure out how to illuminate the ID of the part (which I'm sure I will) this will be a very useful piece of equipment for us.
The real Leigh
Diamond
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2005
- Location
- Maryland
If you can create enough distance between the part and the lens, you can use a piece of glass.
This technique is used in photography to provide significant lighting on a subject.
Put a piece of glass between the subject and the lens, angled at 45 degrees. The glass must be large enough that its edges are outside the lens' field of view.
Shine a bright light at the glass from one side such that it reflects onto (into) the subject.
Obviously you must block any light that might impinge on the other side of the glass. Such would be reflected directly into the lens. A piece of black cloth should be sufficient.
If the glass is optically perfect and properly cleaned, your view through it should not be distorted.
- Leigh
Sounds like you have a variety of difficult observation problems. Leigh has pointed out a useful technique, using a flat glass as a mirror for additional lighting, while looking through the glass. Consider also a separate fiber optic source for additional light, like Dolan-Jenner's equipment (often available on eBay). There is a high-output halogen lamp focused into the fiber end typically, and the output end is quite bright. With a fiber optic unit you can move things around and experiment with best conditions for observation.
Higher magnification always requires more light on the object, based on optical fundamentals. Equipment manufacturers often build in auto-light level compensations where CCD and CMOS sensors are being employed, and these features are useful, but the result of boosting the sensitivity of the sensor always jacks up the noise in the signal. Mo' better illumination is always appropriate.
