Measuring means knowledge

Fisba Optik AG focuses on three key activities: shaping glass, optical design, and micro- optics, says Managing Director Werner Krüsi. “Measuring technology is an interdisciplinary technology in optics,” he adds. “The one with the most precise tools and efficient strategies will outpace the competition, both in research and development, as well as in production.”

That’s why Krüsi and other officials at Fisba recently overturned a procurement decision of the supervisory board and acquired the more expensive and more accurate Zeiss Micura coordinate measuring machine (CMM).
 

Non-stop measuring tasks

Fisba Optik decided on the Zeiss Micura at the last minute. The company already had one measuring machine in operation that was intended to replace the old one. However, engineers, the research and development department, and head of pre-machining and mechanical engineering at Fisba, Robert Huber, voiced their opinions to reverse the purchase of their rented machine. It was more than the precision of the Zeiss Micura that impressed them; the ease of use enabled the company to complete measuring tasks much faster. The machine’s analysis abilities eliminated the need to manually enter measuring results.

“If we don’t measure, then we don’t really know what we are doing,” Krüsi says. He explains that this refers to both development and production of optical components and systems.

Fisba breaks down its manufacturing into multiple aspects: precision grinding, polishing, centering, coating, and mounting. Engineers check the quality after each step, both visually and with the help of various measuring equipment such as interferometers, autocollimators, and CMMs. The Zeiss Micura is particularly vital to the company for monitoring narrow production tolerances of small and complex parts. Fisba Optik bought the Zeiss Micura to meet its need to measure the quality of the company’s precise lens manufacturing CNC machine.

“The machining process can only be precise if the measuring process is very accurate,” Huber says. “The measuring accuracy of this compact measuring machine is just 0.7µm + L/400.”

Huber says another benefit is that Zeiss Micura uses single-point probing, and scans up to 200 points per second so form and location parameters such as roundness and flatness can be precisely captured.

Although Fisba Optik originally purchased the CMM to monitor processes of the CNC machine used to manufacture optical components, it is now used primarily to measure mechanical parts and prototypes.

“With the Micura, we can now obtain information about the quality of the glass so quickly that it opens up capacity to complete many additional measuring tasks,” Huber adds. “This has considerably increased the satisfaction and motivation of machine operators outside lens production in recent months. If problems arise, they identify which error sources can be ruled out and where they can make adjustments.”

At Fisba, the Zeiss Micura is in operation the entire shift due to measuring technicians checking quality of the delivered parts almost exclusively on this coordinate measuring machine.
 

Carl Zeiss
www.zeiss.com

Fisba AG
www.fisba.com