DAKOTA ULTRASONICS DFX-7 User manual

OPERATION MANUAL
DAKOTA ULTRASONICS
D
DF FX X- -7 7
Material & Coating Thickness Gauge
(Manual 1 of 2)
P/N P-220-0007 Rev 2.0, July 2017

CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1
1.1 GENERAL DISCLAIMER .......................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER TWO QUICK STARTUP GUIDE ....................................................... 2
2.1 DFX-7 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................ 2
2.2 AUTO PROBE RECOGNITION ................................................................................................. 5
2.3 SELECTING THE TRANSDUCER TYPE ..................................................................................... 6
2.4 PROBE ZERO & CALIBRATION ............................................................................................... 8
ONE POINT MATERIAL CALIBRATION ......................................................................................... 11
2.5 ZERO COATING .................................................................................................................. 13
2.6 COATING CALIBRATION ....................................................................................................... 15
KNOWN COATING VELOCITY ..................................................................................................... 16
KNOWN COATING THICKNESS ................................................................................................... 17
2.7 MEASURE .......................................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER THREE KEYBOARD, MENU, & CONNECTOR REFERENCE ...... 24
3.1 MENU KEY (OPERATION & SUB MENUS) ......................................................................... 24
3.2 PROBE – MENU .............................................................................................................. 26
3.3 CAL – MENU .................................................................................................................. 26
3.4 DISP (DISPLAY) – MENU ................................................................................................. 27
3.5 TUNE – MENU ............................................................................................................... 28
3.6 GT1 – MENU .................................................................................................................. 29
3.7 GT2 – MENU .................................................................................................................. 29
3.8 GT3 – MENU .................................................................................................................. 29
3.9 SETUP – MENU ............................................................................................................. 30
3.10 DATA – MENU ............................................................................................................. 30
3.11 UTIL (UTILITIES) – MENU .............................................................................................. 31
3.12 XFER (TRANSFER) – MENU .......................................................................................... 32
3.13 CLR (CLEAR) KEY ..................................................................................................... 32
3.14 MEAS (MEASUREMENT MODE) KEY .............................................................................. 32
3.15 OK KEY ...................................................................................................................... 32
3.16 ESC KEY .................................................................................................................... 33
3.17 ARROW KEYS ............................................................................................................... 33
3.18 ENTER KEY ................................................................................................................. 33
3.19 MULTI MODE KEY ..................................................................................................... 33
3.20 ON/OFF KEY .............................................................................................................. 33
3.21 TOP & BOTTOM END CAPS ............................................................................................... 34

TRANSDUCER CONNECTORS .................................................................................................... 34
PROBE ZERO DISK & BATTERY COVER ..................................................................................... 34
USB-C CONNECTOR ................................................................................................................ 34
CHAPTER FOUR PRINCIPALS OF ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENT ........... 35
4.1 TIME VERSUS THICKNESS RELATIONSHIP ............................................................................. 35
4.2 SUITABILITY OF MATERIALS ................................................................................................. 35
4.3 RANGE OF MEASUREMENT AND ACCURACY ......................................................................... 35
4.4 COUPLANT ......................................................................................................................... 35
4.5 TEMPERATURE ................................................................................................................... 36
NORMAL TEMPERATURE RANGE ................................................................................................ 36
HIGH TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS ...................................................................................... 36
4.6 MEASUREMENT MODES ...................................................................................................... 36
PULSE-ECHO MODE (FLAW & PIT DETECTION) – COATING OFF (P-E) ........................................ 36
V-PATH CORRECTION .............................................................................................................. 37
DUAL ELEMENT TRANSDUCER SHOWING V-PATH OF SIGNAL ...................................................... 37
ECHO-ECHO MODE – THRU COAT (E-E) ................................................................................... 37
DUAL ELEMENT TRANSDUCER IN ECHO TO ECHO MODE ............................................................ 38
ECHO-ECHO VERIFY MODE – THRU-VERIFY (E-EV) .................................................................. 38
DUAL ELEMENT TRANSDUCER IN ECHO TO ECHO MODE ............................................................ 38
CHAPTER FIVE SELECTING THE MEASUREMENT MODE ......................... 40
5.1 THE SETUP LIBRARY ........................................................................................................... 40
5.2 WHICH MODE & TRANSDUCER DO I USE FOR MY APPLICATION? ............................................ 40
HIGH PENETRATION PLASTICS AND CASTINGS............................................................................ 40
CORROSION & PIT DETECTION IN STEEL AND CAST MATERIALS .................................................. 40
THRU PAINT & COATINGS ......................................................................................................... 41
THIN MATERIALS ...................................................................................................................... 41
HIGH TEMPERATURE ................................................................................................................ 41
NOISY MATERIAL ..................................................................................................................... 41
RESTRICTED ACCESS ............................................................................................................... 42
5.3 FACTORY SETUP CHART .................................................................................................... 42
CHAPTER SIX MAKING MEASUREMENTS ................................................... 43
6.1 AUTO PROBE RECOGNITION & SELECTING THE TRANSDUCER TYPE ..................................... 43
6.2 PROBE ZERO ..................................................................................................................... 47
6.3 MATERIAL CALIBRATION ..................................................................................................... 50
KNOWN VELOCITY ................................................................................................................... 51
KNOWN THICKNESS ................................................................................................................. 53
BASIC MATERIAL TYPE ............................................................................................................. 56
CHAPTER SEVEN USING THE DISPLAY OPTIONS ..................................... 59

7.1 DISPLAY VIEWS .................................................................................................................. 60
DIGITS VIEW ............................................................................................................................ 60
DIGITS ..................................................................................................................................... 60
B-SCAN VIEW .......................................................................................................................... 61
B-SCAN ................................................................................................................................... 61
RF A-SCAN VIEW ..................................................................................................................... 63
RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) A-SCAN ............................................................................................. 63
RECT A-SCAN VIEW ................................................................................................................ 65
RECTIFIED (RECT) A-SCAN ..................................................................................................... 65
7.2 CHANGING DISPLAY OPTIONS ............................................................................................. 67
7.3 ADJUSTING THE DISPLAY .................................................................................................... 68
SETTING THE DELAY (B-START) ................................................................................................ 68
7.4 GAIN .................................................................................................................................. 73
7.5 THRESHOLD ....................................................................................................................... 78
7.6 UNDERSTANDING THE FEATURES OF THE GATE ................................................................... 82
7.7 GATES ............................................................................................................................... 85
EXAMPLE OF SURFACE OR TRANSDUCER NOISE ....................................................................... 86
NOISE BLOCKED ....................................................................................................... 86
CHAPTER EIGHT THRU PAINT MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUE ................... 90
8.1 INTRODUCTION TO THRU PAINT MEASUREMENT .................................................................. 90
8.2 USING THRU PAINT MODE .................................................................................................. 90
THRU-PAINT (INCORRECT) THRU-PAINT (CORRECT) ................................................ 91
CHAPTER NINE PULSE-ECHO COATING & COATING TECHNIQUES ....... 93
9.1 INTRODUCTION TO PULSE-ECHO COATING MEASUREMENT (PECT) ..................................... 93
9.2 ENABLING PULSE-ECHO COATING MODE (PECT) & COATING (CT) ...................................... 93
9.3 ZERO COATING .................................................................................................................. 97
9.4 COATING CALIBRATION (PECT) .......................................................................................... 99
KNOWN VELOCITY .................................................................................................................... 99
KNOWN THICKNESS................................................................................................................ 101
9.5 INTRODUCTION TO COATING MEASUREMENT (CT) ............................................................. 103
9.6 TWO POINT COATING CALIBRATION (CT) .......................................................................... 103
KNOWN THICKNESS................................................................................................................ 103
CHAPTER TEN ADDITIONAL FEATURES OF THE DFX-7 .......................... 108
10.1 BRIGHTNESS .................................................................................................................. 108
10.2 COLORS ......................................................................................................................... 109
10.3 LANDSCAPE (A-SCAN) ................................................................................................ 111
10.4 DIM ............................................................................................................................... 112
10.5 GRAPHICS OPTIONS (LOOK & FEEL) ................................................................................ 113

10.6 POLARITY ...................................................................................................................... 115
10.7 PULSE WIDTH ................................................................................................................ 117
10.8 PULSER VOLTAGE .......................................................................................................... 118
10.9 DAMPING ....................................................................................................................... 119
10.10 AUTO FIND .................................................................................................................. 120
10.11 HIGH SPEED SCAN ....................................................................................................... 122
10.12 ALARM MODE .............................................................................................................. 123
10.13 DIFFERENTIAL MODE .................................................................................................... 126
10.14 KEY CLICK ................................................................................................................... 127
10.15 SET DATE & TIME ........................................................................................................ 128
10.16 SHOW DATE & TIME ..................................................................................................... 130
10.17 FREEZE & CAPTURE ..................................................................................................... 131
CHAPTER ELEVEN DATA STORAGE – SETUP, EDIT, & VIEW FILES ..... 133
11.1 INTRODUCTION TO GRID AND SEQUENTIAL FILE FORMATS ................................................ 133
11.2 CREATING A NEW GRID OR SEQUENTIAL LOG (FILE) ........................................................ 134
11.3 STORING A READING ...................................................................................................... 146
11.4 VIEWING STORED READINGS ........................................................................................... 147
11.5 DELETING GRIDS (FILES) ................................................................................................ 149
11.6 EDITING A GRID (FILE) .................................................................................................... 152
11.7 CHANGING THE ACTIVE FILE - OPEN ................................................................................ 154
11.8 CLOSING AN ACTIVE FILE - CLOSE .................................................................................. 156
CHAPTER TWELVE SETUPS – CREATE, STORE, EDIT, & RECALL ........ 159
12.1 INTRODUCTION TO SETUPS............................................................................................. 159
12.2 OPENING A SETUP ......................................................................................................... 159
12.3 SAVING A SETUP ............................................................................................................ 161
12.4 DELETING A SAVED SETUP ............................................................................................. 165
12.5 USING THE DEFAULT SETUP ........................................................................................... 166
12.6 SELECTING A LANGUAGE ................................................................................................ 168
CHAPTER THIRTEEN USING THE UTILITY SOFTWARE ........................... 169
13.1 COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................. 169
13.2 INSTALLING DAKVIEW ..................................................................................................... 169
13.3 COMMUNICATING WITH THE DFX-7 ................................................................................. 169
13.4 UPGRADING THE DFX-7 ................................................................................................. 169
APPENDIX A - VELOCITY TABLE ................................................................ 171
APPENDIX B - SETUP LIBRARY .................................................................. 173

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The Dakota Ultrasonics model DFX-7 is both, an ultrasonic thickness gauge, as well
as a flaw detector. Since the DFX-7 is basically two gauges in a single package, we
split the manual into two manuals, one for each gauge type. This manual will focus
only on the thickness gauge portion of the gauge. The DFX-7 has the ability to
simultaneously measure coatings and material thicknesses while maintaining the
ability to locate pits, flaws and defects in the material. Based on the same operating
principles as SONAR, the DFX-7 is capable of measuring the thickness of various
materials with accuracy as high as  0.001 inches, or  0.01 millimeters. The
principle advantage of ultrasonic measurement over traditional methods is that
ultrasonic measurements can be performed with access to only one side of the
material being measured.
Dakota Ultrasonics maintains a customer support resource in order to assist users
with questions or difficulties not covered in this manual. Customer support may be
reached at any of the following:
Dakota Ultrasonics Corporation
1500 Green Hills Road, #107
Scotts Valley, CA 95066 USA
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
www.dakotaultrasonics.com
1.1 General Disclaimer
The manual should be read and understood prior to using the DFX-7. This operating
manual provides the user with all the general information necessary to use and adjust
the designed features. However, this manual is not a certified NDT training course,
nor is it intended to be one. Training, according to company requirements, is
recommended.
Inherent in ultrasonic thickness measurement is the possibility that the instrument will
use the second rather than the first echo from the back surface of the material being
measured. This may result in a thickness reading that is TWICE what it should be.
Responsibility for proper use of the instrument and recognition of this phenomenon
rest solely with the user of the instrument. Other errors may occur from measuring
coated materials where the coating is insufficiently bonded to the material surface.
Irregular and inaccurate readings may result. Again, the user is responsible for
proper use and interpretation of the measurements acquired.

2
CHAPTER TWO
QUICK STARTUP GUIDE
Turn the DFX-7 on and off using the switch located on the bottom right corner of the
keypad. When DFX-7 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. The DFX-7 is equipped with an “Auto Probe Recognition” feature that
attempts to identify special transducers with this built in feature. If the DFX-7 doesn’t
find a transducer equipped with this feature, the user will be advanced to a list of
transducers requiring the user to select a specific transducer type. The following
sections outline each scenario. Note: This section is primarily written as a basic
startup guide only.
2.1 DFX-7 Overview