CMM inspection & measurement services - QCI inspector is manually using the optical VMM inspection machine to conduct aerospace inspection to drawing

Why Non-Contact Optical Measurement Systems are Crucial for the Quality Inspection Industry.


Selecting the appropriate measuring technique in your given environment is crucial in producing the most definite results. To increase throughput and effectiveness of one’s company the integration of non-contact optical measurement systems should be considered due to its certain advantages over contact measurement instruments and how both machines can be used in conjunction. 

Measurable Materials

There exists a multitude of materials that can be measured to its most absolute accuracy on a non-contact optical measurement system that would otherwise not be able to be easily measured on a contact measurement instrument, things such as pliable matter e.g plastics, foams, etc… and very hard components e.g unpolished metals, abrasive paper etc… as well as dependant on what one’s inspection needs are it can also produce measurements for instances that involve materials measured at a required magnification, high resolution and multi-axis work. With exceptional surface illumination and range of zoom lens vision, systems collect numerous points simultaneously factoring waviness, feature size, and location calculation, measuring the edge directly to form a feature rather than having the feature be created through multiple separate point by point measurements that contact measurements instrument would create. Blind holes, milled slots, and other edges that are shadow less when illuminated form behind can also be easily measured. 

Hexagon with Five-Milled Slots

Concurrence with Contact Measurement Instruments

In conjunction with contact measuring devices, some types of non-contact devices are unable to write repeatable programs, however they can be thought out and measured then written on a contact machine making it easily repeatable. Measurements taken of a product separately, on a contact and non-contact machine can differ due to the way they take measurements, but can be used together to compare specifications of the original drawing of the product.

Contact Probe


The use of non-contact measurement systems is ultimately up to a company’s needs and discretion. Bases on conditions present it is always worth considering non-contact measurements systems to optimize performance, accuracy, and throughput as non-contact systems are taking care of increasing workloads across many sectors of the quality inspection industry. 


PC DMIS CAD displayed on a monitor during CMM training
Aerospace plane flying in sky with qci operators onboard inspecting
CMM subcontract measurement - cmm measurement of aerospace part for aerospace customer specific measurement