X-Rite and Pantone have announced a new fixture that helps manufacturers measure and control color on small plastic parts, cups, bottles, tubes, and other curved surfaces without damaging the sample. The Cup and Cylinder Fixture works with the eXact and Ci6x families of portable handheld devices to measure cylinder shapes and labels for a range of packaging, plastics and industrial applications. The new fixture solves specific quality control requirements from customers who need to measure color on final products using a non-destructive testing method. This helps reduce measurement time, streamline quality control processes, and supports sustainable manufacturing practices by reducing waste.

“Measuring any curved surface can introduce errors, making it hard to control color on cups, cans, sleeves, and bottles,” says Michael Beering, product manager, X-Rite and Pantone. “As a result, many manufacturers resort to destructive testing by cutting a piece from the finished product to lay it flat for measuring. This adds time, waste and potential safety risks into the quality control process. Working directly with our customers, we created the Cup and Cylinder Fixture to hold a range of cylinder-shaped objects for easy color measurement without destroying the sample. Initial customer feedback has been extremely positive, with one customer saving 12 employee hours per day due to significant reductions in measuring time by eliminating the need to cut samples.”

X-Rite’s Cup and Cylinder Fixture includes a sample-positioning arm to hold the sample at the correct height and angle, while accounting for the thickness of the sample wall. It also includes a bench to align the X-Rite instrument to the measurement plane. The fixture can be customized to support samples of various thicknesses and ensures that the eXact or Ci6x sits on the stand with the aperture aligned over the sample. The sample-positioning arm allows the operator to move the sample or rotate it to measure different locations.

“An operator in a manufacturing facility can use the Cup and Cylinder Fixture with an eXact to easily measure the color on a wide array of opaque materials, including plastic, foam, film, and paper,” continues Beering. “When the fixture is used with the Ci6x family, a manufacturer can measure textured, reflective, translucent and transparent samples using ISO-compliant Munsell backing material. Both uses provide actionable data to help operators control color throughout the manufacturing run, between presses, and even across sites, without the added work and expense of cutting samples.”