Page 38 - Australasian Paint & Panel May-June 2020
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PAINT&PANEL MAY / JUNE 2020
38 MEASURING & ALIGNMENT • 38 MEASURING SYSTEMS • 42 CAR-O-LINER
 HOW CRITICAL IS MEASURING AND ALIGNMENT TODAY?
MARK CZVITKOVITS FROM I-CAR ARGUES THAT WITH MANY OEMS REDUCING TOLERANCES TO ZERO, ACCURATE MEASURING AND ALIGNMENT HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT.
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 EASURING TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT HAVE NOW BECOME
very precise and easier to use. There has always been a
degree of tolerance that has been accepted by many man- ufacturers over the years. However, this has dramatically changed over the last five years where structural tolerances for many OEMs have reduced to zero. This is specifically to ensure
design and structural enhancements are retained as designed.
From a structural perspective we have components that are made from a variety of multi-materials and their crash energy management in collisions will differ. The types of material, the impact speed, direction and severity of the impact will see damage radiate at different rates throughout the vehicle, much of this unseen until disassembly has occurred. The only way to exactly determine this damage is through measuring, guessing will not suffice as visual indicators previously relied on are less reliable today. Identifying this damage during the estimating process will assist in the repair process being more efficient. Regardless of the size of the impact, a form of measuring should take place on every estimate and can be in the form of two di-
mensional or three dimensional options.
A significant change that has occurred in structural engineering
is that damage that was easy to identify is now not easily visually identifiable. The sight of doors dropping through a frontal impact have disappeared as the energy absorbed by the front rails is now confined in the crumple zone of a rail. Even rear end damage can be
MEASURING SYSTEMS
SPANESI TOUCH
The Spanesi Touch is a portable universal electronic measuring system which allows the technician to quickly carry out a diagno- sis on damaged vehicles. It easily and effi- ciently creates a 3-dimensional measurement of the damaged vehicle. Detailed pre-repair documentation shows the extent of the dam- age and the structural operations necessary to return the vehicle to OEM specifications. Now Approved by Volkswagen and Porsche.
For more information visit: Sape.com.au
significantly hidden as bumpers can often return to their original state after an impact. The transfer of energy can cause additional damage away from the area of impact and if not discovered at the estimating stage, will create bottlenecks during the repair process.
While many may feel that measuring is not required on every job, the reality is that vehicle construction and the technology now built in, all work together to ensure passenger safety is max- imised. Small kinks or even bends can act as crush initiators and if not recognised, will compromise a vehicle’s crash performance if not discovered.
Measuring will outline damage in critical areas that may house sensors, radars or indicating where there is hidden dam- age. It is better to have this information at the beginning of the repair, rather than discovering this half way through.
ADAS provides an entire new perspective on measuring due to the requirement of sensors to be millimetre perfect in their position- ing. Sensors, radars, camera and other vital components that pro- vide data must be searching in the correct area they are targeting. When a bracket for a radar sensor is out by even the smallest of margins, it can have a profound effect on detecting objects further down the road. A 1mm deflection at the radar location will be in- creased many times over distance and potentially result with incor- rect readings being processed by the ADAS systems.
Visit i-car.com.au for a full list of measuring and other vital courses.
CELETTE NAJA 3D
CELETTE’s Naja Evolution 3D software takes measurements from OEM-provided 3-D CAD drawings and provides techni- cians with unique views of the control points in relation to length, width and height, allow- ing for an efficient damage analysis on a data-
base of more than 14,000.
For more information visit: Sape.com.au
                                                     






































































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