X-Orbit CMM Goes to Ohio Manufacturer

Since its founding in 2003, Xspect Solutions has concentrated on becoming a leading source for total CMM metrology that allows manufacturers to focus on their manufacturing priorities while allowing Xspect's Xsperts to evaluate, make recommendations and provide the best equipment and software solutions for CMM measuring, whether it is new or pre-owned equipment.

This is what Rick Creveling, president of Midwest Machining Solutions in Eastlake, OH, was looking for when he contacted Xspect Solutions in 2007. Midwest Machining Solutions is a contract CNC and screw machining supplier whose primary business includes aircraft products. Creveling notes, "In recent years, we have expanded our customer base for more sophisticated machined products, and along with that came the need for better and faster CMM measuring and verification capability."

Midwest is a fairly good size contract machining supplier with over 40 CNC machines and 19 multiple spindle automatic screw machines. Keith Mills, Xspect Solutions president, points out, "The Midwest Machining scenario is similar to what we find at many job shops and contract manufacturers today. Older CMMs are either manual or automatic with obsolete software, electronics, computers, and probing systems. The best solution for each customer is different and in Midwest's case we were able to provide some upgrading as well as new capability."

"We recognize," Creveling says, "that CMMs today are all about software and support. And Xspect has given us exactly what we needed with respect to teaching and implementing their OpenDMIS software, which we made common on both the older Starrett and the new Wenzel X-Orbit machine. Before we ordered the new Wenzel and performed the retrofit, we tested the accuracy of the machines and the inspection reports through a third party inspection service, and found both machines to be ‘right on.'"

Like all Wenzel CMMs, the X-Orbit has been designed and built to with intrinsic accuracy and to exacting and rugged machine tool standards. It uses fine grain native-black granite producing thermal stability with outstanding dynamic performance, tremendous stiffness and natural vibration dampening. It offers volumetric accuracy of 2.5µ.