|
A Coordinate-measuring machine (CMM) is a device for dimensional measuring. It is a mechanical system designed to move a measuring probe to determine the coordinates of points on the surface of a workpiece. Dimension (from Latin measured out) is, in essence, the number of degrees of freedom available for movement in a space. ...
Various meters Measurement is the estimation or determination of extent, dimension or capacity, usually in relation to some standard or unit of measurement. ...
See Cartesian coordinate system or Coordinates (elementary mathematics) for a more elementary introduction to this topic. ...
Technical details
Parts Coordinate-measuring machines consist of four main components: - The machine itself
- The measuring probe
- The control or computing system
- The measuring software
System (from the Latin (systēma), and this from the Greek (sustēma)) is an assemblage of entity/objects, real or abstract, comprising a whole with each and every component/element interacting or related to at least one other component/element. ...
Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ...
Uses They are often used for: - Dimensional measurement
- Profile measurement
- Angularity or orientation measurement
- Depth mapping
- Digitizing or imaging
- Shaft measurement
Look up depth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In classical physics, depth is a distance measured vertically from top to bottom (height) or horizontally from outside to inside (thickness). ...
Features They are offered with features like: - Crash protection
- Offline programming
- Reverse engineering
- Shop floor suitability
- SPC software and temperature compensation.
- CAD Model import capability
The machines are available in a wide range of sizes and designs with a variety of different probe technologies. They can be controlled and operated manually, or by CNC or PC controls. They are offered in various configurations such as benchtop, free-standing, handheld and portable. Computer programming (often simply programming) is the craft of implementing one or more interrelated abstract algorithms using a particular programming language to produce a concrete computer program. ...
Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of taking something (a device, an electrical component, a software program, etc. ...
Macs like the iMac Core Duo are also personal computers. Unlike many PCs, the iMac is an all in one with all its components, including processor and speakers, in one case. ...
Diagram
Specific parts
Machine body The machines can be constructed with certain kinematic and/or physical principles.
Kinematics:
One of the first co-ordinate measuring devices was the UMS 500 (Zeiss/Germany). Leitz/Germany subsequently produced a fixed machine structure with moving table. In modern machines, the gantry type superstructure has two legs and is often called a bridge. This moves freely along the granite table with one leg (often referred to as the inside leg) following a guide rail attached to one side of the granite table. The opposite leg (often outside leg) simply rests on the granite table following the vertical surface contour. Air bearings are the chosen method for ensuring friction free travel. In these, compressed air is forced through a series of very small holes in a flat bearing surface to provide a smooth but controlled air cushion on which the CMM can move. The movement of the bridge or gantry along the granite table forms one axis of the XY plane. The bridge of the gantry contains a carriage which traverses between the inside and outside legs and forms the other X or Y horizontal axis. The third axis of movement (Z axis) is provided by the addition of a vertical quill or spindle which moves up and down through the centre of the carriage. The touch probe forms the sensing device on the end of the quill. The movement of the X, Y and Z axes fully describes the measuring envelope. Optional rotary tables can be used to enhance the approachability of the measuring probe to complicated workpieces. The rotary table as a forth drive axis does not enhance the measuring dimensions, which remain 3D, but it does provide a degree of flexibility. Some touch probes are themselves powered rotary devices with the probe tip able to swivel vertically through 90 degrees and through a full 360 degree rotation.
As well as the traditional three axis machines (as pictured above), CMMs are now also available in a variety of other forms. These include CMM arms that use angular measurements taken at the joints of the arm to calculate the position of the stylus tip. Such arm CMMs are often used where their portablity is an advantage over traditional fixed bed CMMs. Because CMM arms imitate the flexability of a human arm they are also often able to reach the insides of complex parts that could not be probed using a standard three axis machine.
Mechanical probe In the early days of coordinate measurement mechanical probes were fitted into a special holder on the end of the quill. A very common probe was made by soldering a hard ball to the end of a shaft. This was ideal for measuring a whole range of flat, cylindrical or spherical surfaces. Other probes were ground to specific shapes, for example a quadrant, to enable measurement of special features. These probes were physically held against the workpiece with the position in space being read from a 3-Axis digital readout (DRO) or, in more advanced systems, being logged into a computer by means of a footswitch or similar device. Measurements taken by this contact method were often unreliable as machines were moved by hand and each machine operator applied different amounts of pressure on the probe or adopted differing techniques for the meaurement.
A further development was the addition of motors for driving each axis. Operators no longer had to physically touch the machine but could drive each axis using a handbox with joysticks in much the same way as with modern remote controlled cars. Measurement accuracy and repeatability improved dramatically with the invention of the electronic touch trigger probe. The pioneer of this new probe device was David McMurtry who subsequently formed what is now Renishaw Plc, even today the driving force behind many developments in the CMM field. Although still a contact device, the probe had a spring loaded steel ball (later ruby ball) stylus. As the probe touched the surface of the component the stylus deflected and simultaneously sent the X.Y,Z coordinate information to the computer. Measurement errors caused by individual operators became fewer and the stage was set for the introduction of CNC operations and the coming of age of CMM's.
Optical probes are lens-CCD-systems, which are moved like the mechanical ones, and are aimed at the point of interest, instead of touching the material. The captured image of the surface will be enclosed in the borders of a measuring window, until the residue is adequate to contrast between black and white zones. The dividing curve can be calculated to a point, which is the wanted measuring point in space. The horizontal information on the CCD is 2D (XY) and the vertical position is the position of the complete probing system on the stand Z-drive (or other device component). This allows entire 3D-probing.
Physical Principles:
Optical probes and/or laser probes can be used (if possible in combination), which change CMM's to measuring microscopes or multi sensor measuring machines. Fringe projection systems, thodolite triangulation systems or laser distant and triangulation systems are not called measuring machines, but the measuring result is the same: a space point. Laser probes are used to detect the distance between the surface and the reference point on the end of the kinematic chain (i.e.: end of the Z-drive component). This can use an interferometrical, a light deflection or half beam shadowing principle.
External links | 
Feeds |
Contact