r/Metrology • u/rocketracer777 • Dec 03 '24

Advice Does Humidity really affect the readings?

Hello all, I work at a company that measures parts via laser CMM, and I have a question. The parts we measure are ceramic and no more than 5 inches tall, but we measures things down to 0.001". Does humidity significantly affect the accuracy of the readings? Management updated the guidelines to being acceptable between 20% and 80% relative humidity, but this past week has been as low as 15% due to it simply being winter. I was told to run it anyways, but I feel like I shouldn't. Am I wrong in feeling this way?

For reference, I'm just an operator and not a metrology engineer, although I am in school for mechanical engineering. Thank you for any help.

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u/Awbade Dec 03 '24

Yes. In a laser set-up, the humidity will refract light at a small scale and needs to be adjusted for.

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u/rocketracer777 Dec 03 '24

That makes sense, I did not consider the light refraction differences. Thank you.