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Hunger for knowledge

Hello everyone!

To give you a little background on myself, I program a Taurus horizontal arm for a sheet metal prototype facility. I have been programming with PC-DMIS for two years. I was initially brought into quality as an inspector and not long after begin training as a programmer, so my general knowledge of inspection is rather basic and completely relative to sheet metal stamping as i have to prior quality inspection experience. I occasionally get parts that have three dimensional features but it's not often. I have taken level 1 of PC-Dmis and a basic gd&t class.

The colleague that I have learned from said to me in the very beginning of my training " the CMM is just another tool you're using to inspect parts, at the end of the day to do your job properly it comes down to being a good inspector not just a good programmer".

My question is what sort of resources are out there for the better understanding of inspection of all types of features?

I understand the asme standard is a good reference I was just curious if there is any material that I can read up on or videos I can watch that put things into a more digestible format for someone as inexperienced as myself.

I have been told that ASQ, third-party inspection companies, even hexagon, have classes related to inspection that I can learn from.


​​​​​​What classes, resources, and informational tools do you recommend?

Thank you in advance.
  • In the UK, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) run a number of courses where you can gain nationally recognised qualifications in dimensional metrology. You can sit courses on-line or take a classroom based course run on the NPL's behalf by a number of universities or by Hexagon - Hexagon can deliver the course at your own site or you can come to one of our offices and I have personally delivered some of the courses in the past.

    https://training.npl.co.uk/
  • The fact you have a hunger for knowledge in itself is a good starting point. I've learnt a LOT from various forums. Here, the other one for CMM Guys *cough cough hint* (we're not really mean to mention), Engineers Edge (some good GD&T stuff on there).

    Post, ask questions, get involved. The only stupid question is one you're afraid to ask. I consider myself pretty well rounded in these things, but no doubt I'll look back in five years in amazement at what I don't know.
  • Thank you Neil, I will definitely look into that and hopefully take advantage of some of those resources. Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.
  • Thats awesome, thank you. Being in the industry I'm in, at the place of employment I'm at, accompanied by my inexperience i didnt even know alot of these resources existed. I appreciate the help of a seasoned PC-DMIS Ninja Badger such as yourself. Im sure youll be seeing tons of questions with my name on them quite regularly.
  • NB is right, the hunger of knowledge is a good point.
    I would just add that trig and a little maths are important, and the main problem (in my opinion ! ) is just knowing that uncertainty exists ( I wrote "exists" : You don't have to be able to calculate them "exactly", you just have to understand that a result is never "exact", that it can vary a little on the same part, at different moments, or with different methods).