Practical inspection system of drill point geometry by using simple measurement jig and image processing

The proper simple inspection system for drill point geometry will support t he skillful drill regrinding operation. In this paper, a newly developed sy stem for practical use in machine shops has been described. The measurement method is based on silhouette image processing described in the author's p revious papers. But, for easy and robust inspection, a simple measurement j ig was designed and the identification method of the five geometrical param eters describing its complete geometry was modified. Then, the error motion of the jig was tested and a compensation strategy of its error was propose d. The results show that the drill angles such as the outer clearance angle measured by this system are more precise than those measured by a microsco pe. Moreover, this system can measure the five geometrical parameters of th e drill, which cannot be measured by using the microscope. (C) 2001 Elsevie r Science Inc. All rights reserved.