AUTOMATED COORDINATE MEASURING MACHINE TO MEASURE TWIST AND CONTOUR OF MAIN ROTOR BLADES AT BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON

Striving to find a less time consuming, more accurate method to measure twist and contour of rotor blades has long been a goal set by the Product Assurance Department at Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. In May of 1982 that goal was achieved when a 3-dimensional cantilever type coordinate measuring machine was purchased. This paper discusses the new method of measurement, as opposed to the old methods and various other tasks that will be required of the machine in the future.