Automated optical inspection for the runout tolerance of circular saw blades

Circular saw blades are fundamental cutting tools applied to cut off materials. Inspection of finished products of circular saw blades is important in order to ensure their manufacturing quality and sawing performance. Traditionally, a contact inspection method is adopted to measure the runout amounts of circular saw blades. In order to improve the quality of the runout inspection, a non-contact inspection method based on machine vision is required. In this paper, an automated optical inspection (AOI) system was developed exclusively for inspecting the runout tolerance of circular saw blades. Based on the integration of motion control and image processing techniques, calibration and automated inspection processes for the developed AOI system were then established. Experiments to inspect circular saw blade samples were also conducted in order to test the feasibility and reliability of the developed AOI system. From the experimental results, the developed AOI system, in combination with the automated inspection process, could achieve sufficient repeatability and was verified to be able to inspect the runout tolerance of certain circular saw blades.