STEMCO is a Tier 1 provider for the aftermarket heavy trucking brake drum industry.

Autonetics developed an inspection system that became an integral part of the automated manufacturing cell for these heavy brake drums.

The gauge features:

• High-speed, non-contact inspection
• Measures internal diameter, overall width, step height, lip height, center of gravity, and overall weight
• Automated robotic tending
• Full integration with customer’s SPC system

The greatest challenge with this project was the environment as well as measuring center of gravity. Machining ductile iron, with no coolant, produces metalllic dust that completely covers the inspection system. Autonetics’ design engineers and fabricators worked together to deliver a system that was able to maintain 99.9% uptime in this harsh environment while still meeting the strict accuracy and repeatability requirements provided by the customer.

Measuring center of gravity and balance without the ability to mechanically rotate the part involved the clever use of precision load cells coupled with laser triangulation sensors to accurately determine the geometric vs mass center of the part.