Dear Bill,
I assume that you have received the Solver programs from Jack. If you encounter any problems using them do not hesitate to ask me for advice.
On the question of dimple diameter and depth measurement I also do not know of a commercial service. My advice is to do it yourself!! A simple procedure is to: (1) put your sample on a scanner together with a ruler, (2) scan at the highest resolution, (3) save as a jpeg, (4) open Word and INSERT the file as a PICTURE, (5) increase the size of the inserted picture using the 'grab handles', (6) increase the magnification of Word to the maximum (500% in my case), (7) use a ruler to measure the projected image of the ruler (in order to get 'real-time' magnification), (8) use the ruler to measure the on-screen dimple diameters and finally (9) convert these on-screen diameter measurements by dividing by the 'magnification factor'. All that may seem daunting but don't be put off - it is simple in practice and some fun.
The attached file is an example that I did a few minutes ago on a part-peened Almen strip that is not at all photogenic. Please try manipulating the image in Word - bear in mind that the strip is curved so that only part is in focus. I got to an on-screen linear magnification of 20 (the 1mm ruler divisions appear as 20mm on screen). Measuring individual indents with the same ruler gave me values averaging 2.5mm. Dividing 2.5mm by the magnification factor of 20 shows that the dimple diameters are arranged around 0.125mm. Dimple depth can be estimated using the shot size and dimple diameter.
Use of the scanning technique removes the problem of lighting effects influencing the character of the image produced using a camera.
Regards
David
