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Linear Mold adds CMM capabilityLinear Mold adds CMM capability

Linear Mold & Engineering, a Livonia, MI-based mold manufacturer with a specialty in building complex injection molds with conformal cooling using the Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) process, has just added a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) to its quality department. The new Brown & Sharpe Xcel 7107 CMM provides Linear with an in-house quality measuring system. Prior to the purchase, a third-party service provider was performing the company’s measurement requirements.

Clare Goldsberry

December 10, 2012

2 Min Read
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According to Steve Spaleny, director of sales and program management, “The driver for us to add CMM capabilities in-house is the increasing demand from the aerospace industry for production component manufacturing in our DMLS department.” Currently, Linear has four EOS M270 Direct Metal Laser Sintering machines.
   
“With Linear’s recent expansion and equipment additions, we are becoming a full-service production supplier of aerospace parts using additive manufacturing technology,” explained Spaleny. “Because we are seeing greater demand for more end-use parts, our customers require complete dimensional inspection data to certify the quality of the parts the aerospace companies are buying from us. We must have the capability to provide this inspection data to support the accuracy of our products manufactured using additive manufacturing processes.”

Using the DMLS and SLM technologies means that Linear can help the aerospace industry eliminate significant weight, as well as minimize the need for welding, brazing and fasteners. Not only does additive manufacturing technology reduce weight, but it reduces time, costs and the environmental impact by reducing the number of components being produced singularly, which reduces energy requirements, scrap and packaging to ship the singular parts. 

“We have the capability to take smaller assemblies of four-five parts and ‘grow’ the entire component, and turn multiple part assemblies into one part,” stated Spaleny.
   
The CMM will be beneficial to the manufacture of Linear Mold’s conformal cooling inserts, which the company builds into many of its customers’ molds. The company also builds and sells custom conformal cooling inserts for production mold builders. Linear takes advantage of its conformal cooling expertise in their own internal molding division, which currently has nine presses ranging from 33 to 1000 tons clamping force. Linear recently announced a planned expansion of its molding division in 2013, with the addition of two to three more large-tonnage presses to meet increased demand.

“The more production parts we do using DMLS, SLM and plastic injection molded parts, the greater our need for higher levels of quality inspection to prove out that accuracy,” said Spaleny. “Adding a CMM is a natural and critical step toward assuring quality in the continued growth of Linear’s production manufacturing.”

About the Author

Clare Goldsberry

Until she retired in September 2021, Clare Goldsberry reported on the plastics industry for more than 30 years. In addition to the 10,000+ articles she has written, by her own estimation, she is the author of several books, including The Business of Injection Molding: How to succeed as a custom molder and Purchasing Injection Molds: A buyers guide. Goldsberry is a member of the Plastics Pioneers Association. She reflected on her long career in "Time to Say Good-Bye."

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