Don Cohen decribes Michigan Metrology’s contract measurement services, measurement consulting, and surface roughness/wear/tribology training classes. Learn how Michigan Metrology can help you solve issues related to leaks, squeaks, friction, wear,

If you rely on average roughness (Ra) to control your surfaces, check out this short animation. It shows that very different surfaces can all have the same Ra value…and Ra

Surface texture plays a major role in sealing. But just making a surface “rougher” or “smoother” may not improve how well your surfaces seal. Interested in a deep dive into

Many surface measurement projects begin with a similar challenge: parts meet specifications, yet some fail while others function. How can we differentiate between the good and poor parts, to understand

Measuring surface roughness in 3D can offer a host of benefits. But for many companies, a measurement system may not be in the near-term budget. Here’s a way to reap

The average roughness parameter (Ra, or Sa for 3D measurements) is helpful for spotting changes in a surface or in surface-forming processes. A common question, however, is: how much of

Through Michigan Metrology’s 30 years in business, we’ve owned many generations of 3D surface texture measurement instruments. For the past 10 years we’ve been lucky to have what we consider

As we’re continuing to look back on our 30 years in surface texture measurement, we thought it would be interesting to look at how far measurement technology has come over

The surface finish of castings can be as critical to quality as for any precision surface. Yet, finish requirements in the industry are often ill defined, loosely referencing RMS roughness

Most surface finish specifications for plastics refer to an SPI finish (SPI mold finish). These numbers refer to a standard set of finishes for injection molded parts set by the

Download this article as a PDF Companies regularly need to replace metal components with plastics for reasons of weight, cost, performance, corrosion, etc. Very often, however, when the material is

In plastic molding, parting lines can form on the component where portions of the mold meet imperfectly. These ridges and/or valleys may lead to several types of functional problems with

In the molding process, knit lines form where the material does not weld together seamlessly as it moves through the tooling. The cause may be related to the mold surface,