With videos of the fastCHECK and dentCHECK systems in action, our website now sports a new more contemporary look!

The videos show the very simple concepts of the fastCHECK system – inspecting fasteners on aircraft – while the dentCHECK shows some of the wide variety of applications that system can address, whether that be looking for corrosion pitting, assessing bulges in pressure vessels, or dents and dings in cars, aircraft or building components.

While the cosmetics are nice, there’s a lot of substance under the hood – there’s a confidential customers area – this requires a login, and gives access to software updates and so forth, there’s the videos, and an all-important link to subscribe to our newsletter.

We hope you like it, but please do give us some feedback!

The fastCHECK has always been battery powered, but the latest version brings some small but important enhancements – including the ability to supplement internal power with an additional external battery. This gives the ability for the unit to scan continuously for a full 8-hour shift – without either charging or swapping the internal power pack. As with previous units, the ability to run from mains power while simultaneously scanning and charging the power pack has been retained.

Th external power pack allows the fastCHECK to inspect fasteners continuously for very long periods – by hot-swapping the external power pack. This capability is believed to be unique among structured light scanners, and further enhances fastCHECK’s position as the premier 3D scanner for industrial environments.

Other enhancements include the often-requested carrying handle at the rear of the unit, an enhanced tilt head which is more capable in the continuous use environments the fastCHECK is being deployed in, and enhancements to the user interface and software which further improve measurement accuracy – and continue to make it harder and harder to take a bad measurement.

This aspect is an important part of our philosophy for all instruments – they should not only be easy to use, but they should by design make it difficult to achieve an erroneous measurement. This software upgrade is available free of charge to all registered users.

Our MD, Ralph Weir, presented the fastCHECK system at the Large Volume Metrology Conference in Manchester on the 11th September.  Sharing the stage with many luminaries of the metrology world – including professors and researchers from the respected universities of Bath, Loughborough and UCL, plus industry specialists form the NPL, Aicon / Breuckmann and many more, Ralph’s presentation closed out this part of the conference.  That makes us the headline act – and certainly, the interest in fastCHECK ensured that there was a very high attendance for the last paper of the conference.

LVMC brought together experts from across the industry, with representatives from aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus, BAE, Boeing & Bombardier – and their supply chains, with many Tier 1 suppliers such as Rolls Royce, Spirit Aerospace, GKN and many more represented.  Other industries included marine, offsore oil & gas, wind energy, automotive and even F1.

The conference is a fantastic opportunity to network, to share experiences, and to catch up on the latest developments in the industry.  FastCHECK had an enthusiastic reception, filling a clear need the aerospace manufacturers have to inspect fasteners.

For more information on LVMC, or to register to attend next year, please visit http://lvmc.eu/

fastCHECK was presented at CMSC by Erik Klaas, 8-tree’s CTO. Erik gave an insight into our collective view of the future of measurement tools, describing a world where “augmented reality” is used to output data onto the object being inspected, guiding the operator to intuitively make the right decisions; while gesture control makes the system incredibly easy to use.

There’s an exhibition at CMSC as well – we were inundated with interest in fastCHECK, and the newly-announced gapCHECK system.

Working with the top aircraft manufacturers and MROs is fascinating.  The amazing thing is that while the fasteners we all use are very similar, the procedures and specifications vary widely – even within one manufacturer, and sometimes even between two variants of a component.

The fascinating ones are the military specifications – a fastener which is cocked in one direction is ok, while in another direction the same tolerance is a failure.  We’ve heard many stories explaining why – it seems that a cocked or proud fastener can cause localised heating on a fast jet (ie supersonic) – and that this can cause a premature wing failure.  Of course on a commercial airliner, that same fastener might cause drag if proud – but too deep, and it could weaken the panel…

The variation in the specification is something we’ve considered, which is why fastCHECK has a sophisticated set of algorithms to check all parameters – but then report the ones which matter on this aircraft.

Last week a major aircraft manufacturer put the fastCheck through its paces, testing a wide variety of aerospace fasteners from many manufacturers. It excelled itself, with excellent results on R&R checks which we hope to be able to share in the future. The performance and repeatability of the system caused a lot of excitement…

• Multiple operators were trained to inspect fasteners for the R&R trials – each training session lasted around 5 minutes.  This thing is not hard to use – it is intuitive, as good tools should be…
• These were not metrology specialists – they were a range of manufacturing apprentices, production operators and team leaders.
• Following this training, there was almost no operator dependency.
• Working on a wing, one operator inspected 1600 fasteners in 25 minutes.  This was 100% inspection of fasteners on a bottom wing skin – something which would be very challenging to achieve with a mechanical gauge.

If you are still using dial gauges to inspect aerospace fasteners, you really need to book a demonstration of this unit!

Actiri is proud to announce that we have formalised our relationship with 8-tree by signing an exclusive distribution agreement for the UK and Ireland for several products, including the fastCheck inspection system for aerospace fasteners.

This is a significant milestone for the business, and we look forward to working closely with 8-tree as we build the business amongst the region’s aerospace and automotive supply chains.

fastCheck is a critical product for the aerospace market.  Inspection of aerospace fasteners (essentially the rivets and bolts which hold an aircraft together) is time consuming, painstaking work.  Currently performed using dial gauges, the process is revolutionised and accelerated by the fastCheck.

The UK and Ireland represent the world’s second biggest aerospace market after the US.  More than that, the UK has specialised in wing manufacture – among the most aerodynamically critical parts of the aircraft.  As a result, there are many manufacturers and subcontractors who face tight tolerances on aerospace fasteners.  Availability of the fastCheck product will help them maintain the region’s competitive edge.

Actiri is working with 8-tree to develop the product for the specific needs of the UK market, and to refine future products intended to address additional challenges within the aerospace structures industry.

Actiri was founded to supply the needs of leading aerospace and automotive manufacturers with the best tools in the industry.

It started with a very simple idea – that manufacturers were being neglected.  Great strides had been made in off-line metrology, but when it came to the shop floor, little progress had been made.  This was the starting concept for the business that became Actiri, which focuses on supplying easy-to-use, highly productive tools to leading aerospace and automotive manufacturers.

FastCheck used to inspect aerospace fasteners

The link between Actiri and 8-tree really started with a chance conversation at Control 2012 – the world’s biggest metrology show, in Stuttgart, Germany.  Ralph Weir, then CEO of industry leader Phase Vision, met Erik Klaas, the ex-CTO of Breuckmann. They were discussing the use of coloured light for structured light scanners – not just white light, but blue-light scanners, green light scanners and so on; Ralph had written an article on LinkedIn, and Erik was publishing a paper at CMSC on the topic.

In conversation it came up that Erik had dveeloped a new structured light scanner – it would be battery powered, weigh a couple of kilos, and be very, very fast.  Also, it would be designed for the production environment.  Both Erik and Ralph had experience of working with general purpose scanners, and felt there was a real opportunity for a more dedicated unit – bringing the benefits of structured light scanners to the shop floor for specific applications.  Erik planned to start a business with another mutual friend, Arun Chhabra, who left Texas Instruments to join 8-tree.

While adddressing aerospace applications with other products, it became obvious to Ralph that Erik was absolutely right – there was a massive demand for specific pieces of equipment to check simple tasks in manufacturing – such as “cocked and proud” aerospace fasteners, or “gap and flush” on car or aircraft panel fit – or even assessing dents and blends in panels.  This was the root of Actiri – an applications consultancy, applying the 8-tree products to solving real-world manufacturing inspection challenges.