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Air Gages

Dimensional Gaging Forum: Air Gaging and How It Works

by westportcorp Admin
Air gaging is a technology that employs the use of air flow volumes and air pressure to determine the size of measured part dimensions. To achieve this measurement, it relies...

Sliced Bread And the Limits of Air Gaging

by westportcorp Admin
"Air gaging is the greatest thing since sliced bread," a friend once told me.  And he was right — air gaging is good.  It's fast, high resolution, non-contact, self-cleaning and...

Checking Nozzle Balance

by westportcorp Admin
1. Calibrate the air gaging system using the max and min masters in a normal manner. 2. Orient the tool with a horizontal centerline so the jets are situated vertical...

Checking Air Gages Centrality

by westportcorp Admin
1. Calibrate the air gaging system using the max and min masters in a normal manner. 2. Orient the tool with a horizontal centerline and with the jets located horizontally...

You Won’t Err With Air

by westportcorp Admin
It is perfectly natural that machinists should have an affinity for mechanical gages. To a machinist, the working of a mechanical gage is both straightforward and pleasing. Air gages, on...

Flexibility of Air Gaging

by westportcorp Admin
Previously, we touched on several applications where air gaging is particularly practical. These include relational, as opposed to dimensional, measurements, such as distance between centers, taper and concentricity. Along with...

Air is Free, but Not Carefree

by westportcorp Admin
We concluded that air gaging represents the method of choice for most high-resolution measurements on large production runs. While quite durable and reliable compared to mechanical gages, air gaging is...

Air Gaging for Itty-Bitty Holes

by westportcorp Admin
Conventional air gaging for measuring inside diameters is typically limited to a minimum size of about 0.060"/1.52mm: below that, it becomes difficult to machine air passages in the plug tooling,...

Choosing the Right Air Gage

by westportcorp Admin
Air gaging has many advantages as an inspection method. It is quick and easy to use, requiring little skill on the part of the operator. It is highly adaptable to...

The 3 D's of Straightness Plugs

by westportcorp Admin
We have touched on different applications of air gaging: size, match gaging and form applications such as taper. In this column, we'll discuss air straightness plugs. The typical out-of-straightness condition...

Back-Pressure VS. Differential Air Gaging Back Pressure (Dual Master) Gages

by westportcorp Admin
Adjustable magnification; tooling flexibility. Less costly tooling. Higher air pressure: cleans part surface more effectively. Two masters provide greater traceability. More manufacturers; wide compatibility. Differential (Single Master) Gages Higher magnification,...

Checking for Centralization and Balance Errors

by westportcorp Admin
Air gaging is often referred to as a non-contact form of measurement. This is accurate, to the extent that there's no metal-to-metal contact between a sensitive gage component and the...

Air Gaging vs. Contact Gaging

by westportcorp Admin
Contact gaging measures the dimension from surface roughness peaks of the part being measured (i.e. at plane A - A). Open nozzle air gaging measures the mean surface of the...

Putting Air Gages to Work

by westportcorp Admin
In this article, we examined the history and fundamental principles of air gaging as well as the various styles of air gaging systems in use today. This discussion will focus...

Air Gaging Applications

by westportcorp Admin
Inside and Outside Diameters Air gages are most commonly used for measuring the size and form of inside diameters (IDs) and outside diameters (ODs). Two-nozzle air plugs, with nozzles diametrically...

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