FTL Technology

Leeds, West Yorkshire based FTL Technology is one the UK’s leading suppliers of precision engineered seal solutions. In addition to offering a broad range of consultancy, design and seal manufacturing services, the company also has access to a wide range of high quality products from many of the world’s leading seal manufacturing companies.

FTL Technology give Mitutoyo the 'seal' of approval

Having established an excellent reputation over the past 40 years, FTL Technology has attracted customers from many of the world’s most demanding of industries. The challenges faced by the food and pharmaceutical sectors can be particularly onerous. FTL Technology’s in-depth expertise within these important sectors ensures the delivery of sealing products and services that meet all of the relevant food and pharmaceutical certification requirements. Illustrating the varied problems faced by the company’s diverse customer base, seals and components used within the oil and gas industry face exposure to extreme temperatures, high pressures and intense chemical aggression. FTL Technology oil and gas sealing solutions safeguard operator safety and ensuring equipment reliability throughout this industry.

Given the countless demanding applications FTL Technology’s products are used for, extremely high standards of quality and precision permeate all of the company’s manufacturing and inspection activities. In accordance with FTL Technology’s policy of continuous improvement and to help guarantee the continued quality of the company’s sealing products, FTL Technology Quality Manager, Joanne Kite recently investigated the available high accuracy optical measuring systems that would enhance the company’s important inspection functions. After considering several options, an advanced Quick Image 2D Vision Measuring System was purchased from Mitutoyo UK.

Joanne Kite explained. “FTL Technology’s core strengths are problem solving and helping our customers to optimise their operation processes by the provision of premium quality custom sealing solutions. Having considered other optical systems, we recently further increased our precision capabilities by purchasing a non-contact vision measuring system from Mitutoyo UK. Now installed and fully operational, our Mitutoyo Quick Image machine is used for a range of precise measurement routines, such as 1starticle inspections and for checking a percentage of products during a production run.

“In addition to carrying out non-destructive vision inspecting routines on seals in their finished states, as many of our products consist of multiple elements assembled into a single seal with difficult to access features, we also slice though some of our seals. This enables the Quick Image machine to accurately inspect the cross-sections of seals. As the Quick Image system has excellent magnification capabilities, we also use the machine to greatly enlarge the images of components, allowing us to undertake detailed visual investigations. By viewing blown-up images on the machine’s screen we are able to ensure that even the most microscopic of imperfections can be picked-up.

Given that many companies require traceable documentation, we are now able to print both clear product images and detailed inspection reports direct from our Mitutoyo Quick Image 2D Vision Measuring System and supply them to our customers. As conventional measurement techniques, such as the use of calipers, micrometers and CMMs with touch probes would distort some of the more deformable materials that are used in our seal products, our Mitutoyo Quick Image machine has proven to be an ideal quick acting and accurate non-contact measuring system.”

Mitutoyo Vision Measuring Systems are available in a wide range of sizes and accuracy classes to cover practically all precision 2D and 2½D measuring applications, with every system representing an excellent investment in terms of productivity, versatility, quality of construction, training and service support.

In addition to high-performance vision capabilities, contact probes are available on some systems to further extend their range of measurement applications. Also, dedicated analysis software is offered that rapidly interprets measurement results and enables inspection functions to keep pace with today’s fast-paced production.

The latest version of Mitutoyo’s versatile Quick Image series 2D vision measuring system, as purchased by FTL Technology, is a high-quality system that is designed, to provide efficient, measurement in the inspection room or in the laboratory. Available with 0.2× or 0.5× magnification, the cost-effective Quick Image 2D Vision Measuring System is deal for applications that require distortion-free imaging with accurate non-contact measurement capabilities.

A telecentric lens provides uses with a field of view and depth of focus that makes the measurement of workpieces with multiple step heights both fast and precise, whilst the system’s convenient one-click measurement function allows measurement and tolerance judgment with the click of a mouse. This feature enables the automatic detection of a workpiece position and inclination and also aids the efficient measurement of multiple workpieces that share the same shape. A maximum of 1,000 parts able to be measured in a single measuring routine.

The use of high luminance, with built-in LED lighting and a premium quality 3-megapixel colour camera, enable observations and accurate measurements using high-resolution images. The Quick Image series 2D’s measured results are displayed in real time directly on the system’s video image screen, allowing tolerance limits to be clearly seen at a glance.

Additional features include the ability to switch between large-focal-depth mode (normal) and high-resolution mode; wide field, rapid batch and high-accuracy measurement; user defined overlay templates; and a large line-up of X and Y stage sizes. The use of simple, extremely logical controls ensures that new users are quickly able to master the use of the Quick Image series 2D vision measuring system and to achieve precise results. To further aid adoption by users new to the system an ‘easy mode’ is also included.