b'\x1b\x1a\x19 \x1f\x18\x1d\x17\x16Machine TechnologyMULTIFUNCTIONAL MEASURERBy William LeventonThe RTX Roundtracer Extreme is designed to provide fast, accurate W hats better than a system thatmeasurement of workpiece provides fast, accurate mea- roundness, contour and surface surements for roundness? Betterroughness.would be a system combining that capability with two additional mea-suring functions needed in the pro-duction of a wide variety of work-pieces and geometries.Thats the thinking behind the design of the RTX Roundtracer Ex-treme from Mitutoyo America Corp. in Aurora, Illinois. Mitutoyo bills the Roundtracer Extreme as an all-in-one CNC machine that integrates roundness, contour and surface roughness measurement capabili-ties in a single platform to save time and boost productivity.The Roundtracer Extreme mea- Mitutoyo Americasures workpieces by moving a mea-surement stylus along a vertical col-umn z-axis, as well as a perpendiculargram and set up your part, it can doIn addition, the z-axis slider features x-axis. The stylus can be set at two dif- those different measurements with- a hybrid design that includes a fric-ferent orientations. Changes in the tipout stopping for any interruptions,tion guide and air bearings. Accord-position of the stylus are recognizedsaid Product Specialist Chris Lee. ing to Mitutoyo, this design makes automatically by system software. The motorized Roundtracer Ex- the slider more resistant to vibration, Workpieces sit on a table that ro- treme offers linear axis speeds of upresulting in improved positional ac-tates during the measurement pro- to 100 mm/sec. and a maximum ro- curacy and repeatability compared cess. Movement along the linear axestary axis drive speed of 30 rpm. with other models in the companys and around the rotational axis is mo- Comparedwithmanualaxisroundness-measuring family.torized. The fully motorized systemmovement, the high-speed axis mo- Mitutoyo also points out that the allows continuous automatic mea- tors decrease positioning times, LeeRoundtracer Extremes three-step surement of different parameters. said, so setup time is lowered andsliding axis design makes it easier for Once you write your part pro- you can measure your parts faster. the system to take inside-diameter about the authorctemag.comWilliam LeventonFor more information about the RTX Roundtracer Ex-is a contributingtreme from Mitutoyo America, view a video presentation writer for CTE.at www.ctemag.com by scanning the QR code with your Contact him atsmartphone or entering this URL on your web browser: 609-920-3335qr.ctemag.com/1jqk7or [email protected] 2023 MachineTech.indd 8 6/16/23 2:27 PM'