VTube-LASER MTA (Measured Tube Averaging)

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WHAT DOES IT DO?

The MTA feature allows operators measure the tube, rotate it, measure it again, rotate it, etc. - as many times as they want to. It's super easy to do, and it can have a significant positive impact on the returning reliable tube shape data for large-diameter tubes.

• See Video 76 in VTube-LASER Videos to see MTA in action.
  
  

WHY WAS IT DEVELOPED?

This feature was requested by MEC, Inc. after they performed several weeks of tests measuring large diameter tubes. MEC Inc. (Mayville Engineering), one of our customer-reference companies, performed several tests on large-diameter tubes to confirm that measuring both sides of the tube has a positive impact on the measurement of tube shapes. They requested that we make creating averaged (hybrid) tubes easier for their operators. We agreed that this is a great idea, so we developed the MTA feature to answer the need.

USER INTERFACE FEATURES ADDED AND HOW IT WORKS

The new MTA window was added (see right). Press the number of previous measures to average, then press BUILD to create a new Measured Tube that represents the averaged part. The new measured tube in VTube-LASER is immediately the averaged tube. Use this tube shape for alignment to the MASTER data. ANY NUMBER of measures can be averaged together. MTA uses the Tube Data Storage feature in VTube-LASER to store every measure that will be used in the measured averaged part. This means you can review every step MTA took to build the averaged tube.

BUTTONS IN TUBE MEASURE CONTROL - FOR DURING MEASUREMENT

During measurement, buttons are used at the bottom of the Tube Measure Control window to make using the MTA feature very easy.

DIFFERENT WAYS TO SHOW THE MTA WINDOW

The button in the Tube Measure Control window will load the MTA window (see above). The Averaging tab menu in Measured Tube Data has an MTA button. The Measured Tube Data XYZ grid popup menu has an entry for displaying the MTA window.