Somashekar,
Thanks for the suggestion, but I already tried that route. I conducted several studies where I observed the line operator all day and recorded which spacers would give him the readings that he needs to pass the part. There range is 18-50 ft. lbs., I know a big range. But there is zero consistency in which spacer he chose, just what ever made the rear end fall into that range, and normally several different spacer would fit that criteria. But the responsible engineer is still not willing to loosen the tolerance. As a matter of fact the last time I was there observing, he actually went on the floor with me, and I had to explain their process to him.
JRKH, and bobdoering,
On another note, heat does affect these parts greatly. For one trial run when the customer was at our facility, I actually stored the spacers in my office over night and set the air conditioner at about 50°. It helped the first time we measured the parts, but after they sat for awhile, my advantage disappeared.
But, the customer is not going to measure these things in a controlled environment, so that is not an option for us.
I love all of the discussions that are going on in this forum. As a matter of fact I took bobdoering’s suggestion of cranking up the air on the measuring device to see if it makes a difference. I did not get a chance to run a study today, but I will over the weekend. I did observe thought that with the increased air pressure, the top of the measuring machine flexes quite a bit. I may end up reinforcing it in the long run. I don’t know, but it is another suggestion toward solving this problem part. Thanks.