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Measuring Molded Plastic Parts

Posted on Feb 09, 2024 by HunterLab

Molded Plastic Parts

HunterLab has instrument and sample handling devices to meet almost any customer needs. One such need that we are able to meet is the measurement of molded plastic parts, such as the one pictured above. These plastic parts are actually covers for a stud finder tool. The nature of these parts presents a few difficulties for color measurement.

One of the biggest challenges is that the parts have a curvature to them that make measurements on our bench top instrument difficult. These parts also have a slight shine and texture that needs to be taken into account when measuring. To include the shine component of the plastic part it needs to be measured with a sphere instrument. The measurement on a sphere instrument ensures that the sample is measured in Reflectance Specular Included mode which will measure the appearance of the part.

To accurately measure the sample with the curvature it has, a small area of view should be used. The small area of measurement provides the flattest area possible on the plastic part for the measurement. Since the plastic is slightly non-uniform and a curved area is being measured it is best to average multiple readings to achieve a repeatable measurement method.

The MiniScan EZ sphere instrument with small area view is the best instrument for the measurements on the plastic part. The sphere allows for consideration of the shine and the small area of view helps to measure as flat of an area as possible. Averaging multiple readings on the MiniScan EZ with small area of view provides a very repeatable measurement method for plastic parts such as this.

Posted in MiniScan EZ

Changing the standardization interval on a MSEZ

Posted on Feb 09, 2024 by HunterLab

Optimizing Measurement Consistency

Often times it can be helpful to change the standardization interval on instruments to correspond with shift changes or other events that might be more convenient. When the instrument reaches the end of this standardization interval it will prompt the user to re-standardize the instrument before moving forward with measurements.

To change this setting on the MSEZ instrument navigate to Global Options from the main instrument menu. In the middle of the screen you should see STDZ Interval (h) with a value to the right of it. Scroll down to this option so that it is highlighted and then use the right and left arrows on the key pad to change this interval. The default for this option is usually 8 hours, and is what most users find to be appropriate.

MSEZ Global Options Menu

Posted in MiniScan EZ
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