Page 5 - Dakota Ultrasonics Corporation,
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The Dakota Ultrasonics model CMX is an ultrasonic thickness ga uge that measures with extreme versatility. It has the ability to simultaneously measure coatings and material thicknesses while maintaining the ability to still locate pits, flaws and defects in the material. Ba...
Page 6 - Repeatability/Stability Indicator
2 CHAPTER TWO QUICK STARTUP GUIDE Turn the CMX on and off using the switch located on the bottom right corner of the keypad. When CMX is initially turned on, a flash logo and blinking lights will be displayed, followed by attempting to identify the transducer(probe) currently plugged into the gauge....
Page 8 - Auto Probe Recognition; Probe Automatically Recognized; OK; recognizes a specific transducer,; C M X; OK; CMX
Dakota Ultrasonics 4 2.2 Auto Probe Recognition When the CMX is initially powered up, the gauge will automatically check to see if the transducer plugged into the gauge can be recognized. The steps that follow assume the CMX recognized the probe type: Probe Automatically Recognized 1) Press the OK k...
Page 9 - Selecting the Transducer Type
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 5 3) Press the UP and DOWN arrow keys to toggle the coating option on/off. 4) Wipe all couplant from the transducer face and advance to the Probe Zero & Calibration section outlined below. 2.3 Selecting the Transducer Type If the CMX do...
Page 10 - Selecting the Transducer Type
Dakota Ultrasonics 6 Selecting the Transducer Type 1) Press the OK or ESC keys to display the factory list of transducer types (by diameter and frequency). 2) Press the UP and DOWN arrow keys to scroll through the transducer list until the appropriate type is highlighted.
Page 11 - ENTER
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 7 3) Press the ENTER key to select the transducer type and display overwrite existing probe screen. 4) Press the OK key to overwrite the existing probe type with the newly selected probe type. The zero probe screen will be displayed. Procee...
Page 12 - Performing an Auto Probe Zero (Off Block); Coating Probe Identified Coating Probe Not Identified; Coating Probe Identified
Dakota Ultrasonics 8 Performing an Auto Probe Zero (Off Block) Coating Probe Identified Coating Probe Not Identified 1) Be sure all couplant has been removed from the face of the transducer. 2) Press the OK key to perform the automatic probe zero, or ESC key to cancel the zero operation. Coating Pro...
Page 13 - Performing a Manual Probe Zero (On Block)
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 9 Performing a Manual Probe Zero (On Block) Note: When the zero probe option is set to manual, the probe zero disk (battery cap) located o n the top of the gauge, will be used as a zero standard and the warning screen illustrated above will...
Page 14 - One Point Material Calibration
Dakota Ultrasonics 10 Coating Probe Identified Coating Probe Not Identified 5) Press the ENTER key to display the confirmation screen. 6) If a coating transducer was identified use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to toggle coating on/off. 7) Press the OK key to complete the probe zero function, or ESC ke...
Page 15 - Using a Known Thickness
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 11 Using a Known Thickness Note: Be sure that the probe zero procedure has been performed prior to performing this calibration procedure. 1) Physically measure an exact sample of the material or a location directly on the material to be mea...
Page 17 - Performing a Coating Zero
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 13 Performing a Coating Zero 1) Press the MULTI MODE key once to activate the measurement mode options. 2) Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to scroll through the sub menu items until Coating Only (CT) mode is highlighted. 3) Press the ENTER k...
Page 18 - Coating Calibration
Dakota Ultrasonics 14 6) Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to scroll through the sub menu items until ZERO COATING is highlighted. 7) Press the ENTER key to display the confirmation screen. 8) Press the OK key to zero the coating and retur n to the PRB menu, or ESC to cancel the coating zero process. 9...
Page 19 - Known Coating Velocity; Using a Known Coating Velocity
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 15 quick start section only the 1pt option PECT (pulse-echo coating) mode will be covered. Refer to the calibration section of the manual for a complete explanation on the coating calibration options. The following steps below outline the n...
Page 20 - Known Coating Thickness; Using a Coating Sample to Calibrate
Dakota Ultrasonics 16 17) Repeat steps 4 & 5 until the velocity number is correctly displayed. 18) Press the OK key to set the coating velocity and return to the menu screen, or ESC to cancel entering the coating velocity. 19) Finally, press the MEAS key to return to the measurement screen and b...
Page 22 - Selecting the Measurement View Option
Dakota Ultrasonics 18 8) Press the OK key to calculate the coating velocity and return to the menu screen, or ESC to cancel the one point calibration. 9) Finally, press the MEAS key to return to the measurement screen and begin taking readings. Note: CHECK YOUR CALIBRATION! Place the transducer back...
Page 26 - The; Menu
22 CHAPTER THREE KEYBOARD, MENU, & CONNECTOR REFERENCE 3.1 Menu Key (Operation & Sub Menus) The Menu key activates the primary menu structure containing 8 menu tab groups. These tab groups then contain sub menu items, or functions. The sub menu items have been organized in tab groups accordi...
Page 27 - Activating and Getting Around in the Menu Items
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 23 Activating and Getting Around in the Menu Items 1) Press the MENU key once to activate the menu items tab. Press the MENU key multiple times to tab right, and the ESC key multiple times to tab left until the desired tab group is highligh...
Page 32 - MULTI MODE Key; MULTI MODE; ON
Dakota Ultrasonics 28 3.13 Arrow Keys The Arrow Keys are used to navigate through the menus, increase/decrease values, and toggle specific function keys. 3.14 ENTER key The ENTER key is used in the overall menu selection process to activate list and edit boxes. 3.15 MULTI MODE Key The MULTI MODE key...
Page 35 - Normal temperature range; Most standard transducers will operate from 0; High temperature measurements; F up to; Modes and temperature errors; Measurement Modes
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 31 through air efficiently. By using a liquid couplant between t he transducer and test piece the amount of ultrasound entering the test piece is much greater. 4.5 Temperature Temperature has an effect on sound velocity. The higher the temp...
Page 36 - Dakota Ultrasonics; Dual Element Transducer showing V -path of signal
Dakota Ultrasonics 32 V-Path Correction Dual element delay line transducers have two piezoelectric elements mounted at an angle on one end of the delay line. One element is used for transmitting sound, while the other element only receives sound. The two elements and their delay lines are packaged i...
Page 37 - echoes, to verify that a peak; Dual Element Transducer in Echo to Echo mode
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 33 Dual Element Transducer in Echo to Echo mode Echo-Echo Verify Mode – Thru-Verify (E-EV) The echo -echo verify mode measures between 3 reflections. Similar to E -E mode, this technique is commonly used to elimi nate errors from surface co...
Page 39 - The setup library; High penetration plastics and castings
35 CHAPTER FIVE SELECTING THE MEASUREMENT MODE 5.1 The setup library The CMX contains 64 user configurable preset locations to store custom setups for easy recall. These setups can be optimized for the user’s specific application needs and can also be stored on a PC and transferred bi-directionally ...
Page 40 - Thru Paint & Coatings; Thin materials
Dakota Ultrasonics 36 Thru Paint & Coatings Often times users will be faced with applications where the material will be coated with paint or some other type of epoxy material. Since the velocity of the coating is approximately 2.5 times slower than tha t of steel, pulse-echo mode will induce er...
Page 41 - Restricted access; Factory Setup Chart; Num
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 37 Restricted access Measuring materials with extreme curvatures or restricted access, higher frequencies with smaller diameters should be considered. The smallest diameter uses 3/16” crystals with a contact area of .250”. Custom transducer...
Page 42 - Auto Probe Recognition & Selecting The Transducer Type; CMX . Failure to do this will result in erroneous
38 CHAPTER SIX MAK ING MEASUREMENTS The steps involved in making measurements are detailed in this section. The following sections outline how to setup and prepare your CMX for field use. An automatic or manual zero must always be performed. The auto zero is an off block e lectronic zero that does n...
Page 43 - has somehow
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 39 In this first example the transducer was automatically identified: Probe Automatically Recognized 1) Press the OK key once to use the identified probe, or ESC to display a list of optional transducers. Note: if the CMX recognizes a speci...
Page 45 - UP
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 41 6) Press the UP and DOWN arrow keys to scroll through the transducer list until the appropriate type is highlighted. 7) Press the ENTER key to select the transducer type and display overwrite existing probe screen. 8) Press the OK key to...
Page 46 - Coating Probe Identified Coating Probe Not Identified
Dakota Ultrasonics 42 6.2 Probe zero The next step is to perform a probe zero. The zero function is a very important and necessary function that must be done prior to calibration. It should be done on a regular basis. In fact, the CMX has been programmed to force this issue at regular intervals duri...
Page 51 - key to set the velocity and return to the menu screen, or; ESC; to cancel entering the velocity.; MEAS; key to return to the measurement screen and begin
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 47 7) Press the OK key to set the velocity and return to the menu screen, or ESC to cancel entering the velocity. 8) Finally, press the MEAS key to return to the measurement screen and begin taking readings.
Page 52 - Known Thickness; One Point Calibration; MENU
Dakota Ultrasonics 48 Known Thickness Sometimes the sound velocity of a material is unknown. In this case a sample with one or two known thicknesses can be used to determine the sound velocity. As previously discussed, the CMX has a one or two point calibration option. The one point calibration opti...
Page 54 - Two Point Calibration
Dakota Ultrasonics 50 the job. For example, if the measurement range was .080” (2.03mm) to .250” (6.35mm), the user would perform a one point calibration on a known thickness sample close to .250” (6.35mm), followed by a two point calibration close to .080” (2.03mm). When a two point calibration is ...
Page 55 - Basic Material Type
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 51 4) Press the ENTER key to display the Digits Edit Box . 5) Press the UP and DOWN arrow keys to scroll the highlighted value. 6) Press the LEFT and RIGH T arrow keys to scroll the digit locations. 7) Repeat steps 5 & 6 until the known...
Page 56 - Selecting a Basic Material Type
Dakota Ultrasonics 52 being tested. Use these values only if a close approximation is acceptable. Follow the steps below to select a basic material type: Selecting a Basic Material Type 1) Press the MENU key once to activate the menu items tab. Press the MENU key multiple times to tab right and the ...
Page 62 - Enabling the B-Scan Feature
Dakota Ultrasonics 58 7.2 Activating B-Scan View To use the B-Scan feature it must be enabled in the display menu. The following steps will help you do just that: Enabling the B-Scan Feature 1) Press the MENU key once to activate the menu items tab. Press the MENU key multiple times to tab right, an...
Page 63 - START
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 59 7.3 Adjusting the B-Scan Start (B-ST ART ) & Depth (B-DEPT H) In order to use the B -Scan and Scan Bar features of the CMX effectively, the starting depth and overall depth must be setup correctly. This can be adjusted using the B- S...
Page 68 - Adjusting the Gain
Dakota Ultrasonics 64 Adjusting the Gain 1) Press the MENU key once to activate the menu items tab. Press the MENU key multiple times to tab right, and the ESC key multiple times to tab left, until the TUNE menu is highlighted and displaying the submenu items. 2) Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to sc...
Page 71 - Probe Automatically Recognized (PECT only)
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 67 3) From the tabbed menus under TUNE, MEASURE MODE . The steps that follow wi ll demonstrate all three methods in the order listed above: Probe Automatically Recognized (PECT only) 1) Press the OK key once to use the identified probe, or ...
Page 76 - Known Velocity; Using a Known Material Velocity
Dakota Ultrasonics 72 9.4 Coating Calibration (PECT) Known Velocity If the coating velocity is known, the user may wish to simply enter the velocity number into the CMX , rather than have the CMX calculate the velocity value using a known thickness on a coating sample(s). The steps for entering the ...
Page 78 - PECT
Dakota Ultrasonics 74 Known Thickness Sometimes the sound velocity o f a coating material is unknown. In this case a sample with a known thickness can be used to determine the sound velocity of the coating . As previously discussed, the CMX offers a one point calibration option for coating in PECT m...
Page 81 - If coating measurements will be made with the coating
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 77 One Point Calibration Note: Use the maximum coating sample for the one point calibration first. 1) Physically measure the thicker of the two samples of coating , as close as possible to the maximum expected coating measurement range , us...
Page 85 - High Speed Scan; Using the Scan Mode
81 CHAPTER TEN ADDITIONAL FEATURES OF THE CMX 10.1 High Speed Scan The High Speed Scan feature of the CMX increases the overall repetition rate to a maximum of 140Hz with a high speed screen refresh rate of 25 times a second. This feature enables a user to make scanned passes over an arbitrary lengt...
Page 87 - Setting the Alarm Low Limit
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 83 Setting the Alarm Low Limit 1) Assuming the ALARM is ON , use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to scroll through the sub menu items until ALARM LOW is highlighted. 2) Press the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to scroll the value. When the correct al...
Page 88 - Differential Mode
Dakota Ultrasonics 84 6) Repeat steps 4 & 5 until the ALARM LOW value is correctly displayed. 7) If only one limit will be used, press the MEAS key to return to the measurement screen and begin taking readings. Otherwise, continue on to set the ALARM HIGH limit. 10.3 Differential Mode The Differ...
Page 89 - Setting the Differential Value
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 85 3) Use the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to toggle the DIFFERENTIAL on. A value will appear to the right of DIFFERENTIAL . 4) Continue on to the next section “Setting the Differential Value” . Setting the Differential Value 1) Assuming DIFFE...
Page 90 - Introduction to Setups; 4 custom setups; Opening a Setup; 4 setup locations; Only
86 CHAPTER ELEVEN SETUPS – CREATE, STORE, EDIT, & RECALL 11.1 Introduction to Setups Often times, users are faced with a variety of tasks and applications that are sometimes similar, but often times very different. With a standard thickness gauge, the user would have to recalibrate for each indi...
Page 92 - Saving a Setup
Dakota Ultrasonics 88 4) Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to scroll through the setups until the target setup is highlighted. 5) Press the ENTER key to activate the confirmation screen. 6) Press the OK key to load the setup from memory. 7) Press the MEAS key to return to the measure screen. 11.3 Savin...
Page 93 - Saving a Setup
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 89 Saving a Setup 1) Press the MENU key once to activate the menu items tab. Press the MENU key multiple times to tab right and the ESC key multiple times to tab left until the SETUP menu is highlighted and displaying the submenu items. 2) ...
Page 97 - Using the Default Setup
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 93 3) Press the ENTER key to display the Setups List . 4) Press the UP and DOWN arrow keys to scroll to the Setup Name . 5) When the Setup Name is highlighted, press the ENTER key to display the confirmation screen. 6) Press the OK key to d...
Page 98 - Using the Default Setup
Dakota Ultrasonics 94 Using the Default Setup 1) Press the MENU key once to activate the menu items tab. Press the MENU key multiple times to tab right and the ESC key multiple times to tab left until the SETUP menu is highlighted and displaying the submenu items. 2) Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys t...
Page 99 - Selecting a Language
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 95 11.6 Selecting a Language The CMX is equipped with a language option. Currently, the only languages supported are English, Spanish, and German. The steps to select one of these languages are outlined as follows: Selecting a Language 1) P...
Page 100 - Computer System Requirements; will run on many different operating systems: Windows 98 (1st or 2nd; Installing DakView; icon to begin the installation.
96 CHAPTER TWELVE USING THE UTILITY SOFTWARE 12.1 Computer System Requirements DakView will run on many different operating systems: Windows 98 (1st or 2nd edition), Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 5, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows 2000 Advanced S...
Page 101 - Accessing and Using the XFER Menu
CMX High Performance Material & Coating Thickness Gauge 97 12.3 Using the XFER menu ( CMX ) The XFER menu of the CMX will be used in conjunction with the DakView PC software. The steps below outline the procedure for accessing the XFER menu and basic operation as follows: Accessing and Using the...
