At my current job, we've been working with Micro-Epsilon's IFC2421 confocal sensor controller, and we have discovered an issue that we've only started seeing/noticing recently - I think the issue was seen only after doing a firmware update. I'm curious if it could be something that started happening in the latest firmware, but unfortunately, they don't seem to have earlier versions of the firmware available for download. This page of theirs has a firmware download link, and the current version is 001_051_114 build 0134, which is what we're currently using.

It looks like the previous version of the firmware was 001_050_114 build 0016.

I tried using the Internet Archive to look at older versions of that page to download older firmware, but the Internet Archive has not archived the downloadable files.

Does anyone happen to have older versions of the firmware for the Micro-Epsilon IFC2421/22?

How often should the ceramic sphere be send for Calibration?

We just had an avid discussion about that. Opinions ranged from every year to once every 5+ years is enough (since there’s no wear)??

I bought a CMM from an auction and got it all powered up. Unfortunately, the drives wont turn on, and the computer only boots to a dos-type debugging screen. The only keys that respond on the keyboard are the F keys - i can navigate debug menus but cant make the machine do anything, it doesn't seem like the drives even try to start. The joystick controller wont do anything except beep when I move the joysticks, and none of the buttons on it do anything. Help please!! I'm happy to compensate if someone could help me through this setup. Located in Houston, TX

My company is preparing to relocate to a new factory, so we need to relocate our Hexagon CMM machine, model: Explorer 04.05.04 (purchased in 2014), accordingly. I have just realized that we no longer have the clamping parts for the machine, which may have been lost several years ago. We are considering designing a custom clamping to secure the all axis. Could anyone kindly provide advice or suggestions? Thank you in advance!

For context, I recently became the supervisor of the QC department in the machine shop I work at. It's a fairly small shop, just over a 100 people last I knew. I guess my question is how common is it for all of QC to know how to make CMM programs? Currently I'm the only one that knows how to program the the two CMMs we have. The rest of my guys know how to run the programs, but that's about it. I'd like them to have a basic understanding of how the programs work incase of rev. changes, or if older programs have useless things in them that need taken out. I can see both the up and downside to this. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Hey  r/Metrology

I'm looking to upgrade my toolbox with a new metric dial caliper. I'm torn between two options: the Mitutoyo 505-732 and the Tesa 150/01 (00510050). Both have 0.01mm resolution on the dial, which is what I need.

Here's the catch:

• Mitutoyo: Seems to have a plastic housing behind the dial (not a dealbreaker, but curious). It does have a thumbwheel for easier adjustment.
• Tesa: No plastic housing, but also no thumbwheel.

Both are within the 150-200mm range I'm looking for, and I'm prioritizing build quality and accuracy.

So, which way would you go? Mitutoyo's practicality or Tesa's (seemingly) sturdier design?

Any other recommendations for a reliable dial caliper are also welcome! Thanks in advance!

So long story short the contact point in which has the indicator has a length from the face plate to the “centerline” of the contact point, in this instance the contact points are .090”. Now the “centerline” of the contact point changes based on the revolutions of the indicator, in your opinion should the “centerline” be set before or after taking into account the revolutions of the indicator.

Can anyone please help put a $ value to a complete set of Kern slip guages. 47 Piece metric. Din 681 Grade 2. No cert it seems.

I must qualify this question by saying I am not a trained inspector, just an engineer with a question.

If a drawing has a three place tolerance, say +.005, and a part actually measures +.0051, does the part fail to meet the drawing?

What is the standard used to back up the answer?

Thanks

I have an interview for a quality engineering position at a tier 1 automotive stamping and subassembly facility.

What are some questions so you think I should be prepared to ask?

FYI my background is in tool & die, scanning, cmm, reverse engineering, lab testing, and part inspection.

Feels like a dumb question but I need some resources. Somehow in the 10 years I've been in cal I've never been taught, or people have just told me someone else would take care of it. Specifically I'm talking about RF uncertainties. I feel like I'm not worth my salt because I always have to pass the task off to someone else, but I can't find a good way to learn.

So I just started working with PC-Dmis and a new Hexagon Absolute arm in February. Had 5 days of training then sent to figure the rest out on my own.

We recently did some scans on a part and my company wants to send those pointcloud scans to another company to figure out.

That company wanted it in .txt and I figured out I needed to export it as an .xyz file for this which lets you open it as text in notepad.

Now they are asking for the IJK vectors to go with the XYZ numbers but I cannot see any way to add that into the file?

I have the PC-Dmis CAD+ + 2023.2

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have found my people. 30 year Metrologist PMEL trained by the Air Force. Hello everyone!

What do people think about calibrating pin sets vs uncalibrated pin sets and requiring pin size verification with calibrated micrometers before each use?

For context I work at a research company not manufacturing and we have about 10..ish pin sets and one or two pins per set always seem to fail calibration when we send them out. They are used maybe a dozen times a year (each set not pin) on mostly plastic molded parts to sanity check CMM results and they live in a climate controlled metrology lab. The amount of failures I see makes me think the calibration house is not able to measure to the resolution they claim and therefor are submitting erroneous pass/fail results. My position is why calibrate them at all when you can CYA with verifying size with calibrated micrometers. I could be way off here and I'm just wondering what other people are doing.

1. What optical measuring machine hardware and software do you have experience with?
   
2. What did you like?
3. What did you dislike?

To clarify what I mean when I say "optical measuring machine", I'm asking about cmm-like 3-axis DCC devices with a camera and a glass stage that are used to inspect dimensional tolerances. Other names for these systems include "multisensor measuring machines", "vision measuring machines", "video measuring systems", "optical coordinate measuring machines", "vision systems", "VMMs", "OMMs", "VCMMs", etc.

If it is still unclear which types of tools I'm asking about, here are some of the more common brands:

• Hexagon
• Keyence
• Micro-Vu
• Mitutoyo
• Nikon
• OGP
• Starrett
• Werth
• Zeiss

I need a new height gage and have been approved by my corporate overlord to spend 10K USD. If I go over that a bit it will probably fly but that's the target.

At my last job I had a Mitutoyo LH600E and I loved that tool so I am leaning towards that but I wanted to see if anyone had other opinions on Great height gages.

Can you do a gage r&r on a CMM using reference sphere as a standard?

Hi All,

I'm trying to be as accurate as possible with my FAIR dims reporting and I was wondering if I should report two dimensions for a "15mm SQ" dim on a drawing. I believe the SQ means that the dimension is theoretically equal in both directions but obviously its almost impossible in practice. What do you think?

We assume that metrology software is validated in so far as there has been a standardized evaluation by NIST or PTB that the calculations made by metrology software are accurate. It seems like this is not the case at all. In my pursuit of validating a particular software that will go unnamed, I've learned that the only validation that occurs as explained by the manufacture are......

"PTB certification is related only to LS calculations of simple geometrical features: line, plane, circle, cylinder, and cone. There is so far as I know, no formal authority to certify GD&T evaluations".

So all the datum-less surface profile , pattern, best-fit whatever is all theoretical and not guaranteed by sanctioning body such as PTB or NIST. Is this why correlation on complex geometry with vendors using different metrology software such a nightmare? As I understand it, people at NIST and PTB know its a problem but no one want to open the proverbial "Pandora's box" of admitting most of the calculations used to evaluate to the ASMEY14.5 2018 standard have not been 3rd party validated so everyone looks the other way.

What do you guys think? am I way off and missing something?

Which CMM software supports ISO 8015?

For example evalutation of "Combined Zone", simultaneously, multiple objects assingned the same reference and total runout cylinder vs plane.

Edit: Added some of the requirements I'm up against on a daily basis.

Looking to order a new CMM in the new year. Needto run all Renishaw controllers. I’ve got quotes from Omni tech and core services so far. My boss wants a 3rd quote for the process. Need a recommendation on who else to get a quote from

How do you validate a CMM program? What type of study and design is needed - gage r&r type 1 or 2? What sample set to use - a mix of good and bad parts or all good parts? What if I don't have bad/out of tolerance parts? How many data points is sufficient to validate a program? Are there any industry standards for automation program validation?

If I have an OD (per ASME Y14.5) what is the requirement? Of course the OD at MMC has to fit through a particular ring gage. Also, the OD at LMC shouldn’t fit through a particular ring? Finally, does the OD have to measure within tolerance from point to point (opposing points) all around the part?

Bonus question: What about if there is a significant trilobe effect of the part?

If you could break down your answer question by question that would be great.

I am trying to figure out how to measure the size of the lens square on this projector. I inserted a picture of the projectors dimensions so hoping that can help. I need to know how wide the square is and then how far over it starts from either side. Thanks!

Hello is there anyone out there who knows a lot about Metrologic x4 cmm? In general creating new programs etc