Today's high-performing engines manufacturers have tight tolerances on component surface finish and little room for error. These engines make more power, last longer, create less noise, vibration and friction, burn less fuel and produce lower emissions. The finishes of crankshafts and camshafts are tied to all of these benefits because these rotating assemblies ride on increasingly thinner films of oil.

Engine builders big and small have the same need to produce a smooth surface on cranks and cams, but their respective budgets and business volumes may dictate which equipment is used to properly get the job done. Engine manufacturers and remanufacturers can’t afford to have inadequate surface quality on critical crankshaft and camshaft surfaces. They can ill affort a single engine failure due to inadequate surface quality due to the high costs of mechanical repair and the considerable damage to their reputation in the marketplace.

While expensive automated microfinishing machines improve surface finish, large and expensive automated inspection machines can help to ensure that quality. But these machines perform measurements exceedingly slow and are prone to damage and loss of calibration, especially when one considers the large volume of surfaces that must be inspected in these applications. The Lasercheck® model 8826 surface finish measuring systems offer less-expensive, precise and rapid surface measurement of these surfaces. The extremely narrow profile of this gage was designed specifically to for positioning on all required surfaces. The 8826 systems can be integrated into automated inspection stations or as portable testers for operators at the grinding and polishing machinery.

Several manufacturers of these engine components that employ the Lasercheck 8826 sensor system include: ACS, Ford, Mahle and International.