Michał Jankowski

Setup for Triggering Force Testing of Touch Probes for CNC Machine Tools and CMMs

Abstract Touch-trigger probes are commonly used both in coordinate measuring machines (CMM) and in computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools. In both cases accuracy of measurement of the overall system and probing unit are closely interrelated. Key parameters of the probes are repeatability and pre-travel variation dependent on adjustable stylus force. To enable testing of the triggering force of the probes, the new setup was developed. The principle of the method and set-up is presented and its validity is experimentally confirmed.

Master artifacts for testing the performance of probes for CNC machine tools

Methods of testing the performance of probes for CNC machine tools, the same as methods of testing the performance of probes for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) can be divided into indirect methods and direct methods. Indirect methods give information about performance of the whole on-machine measuring system, including the probe and the machine tool. Direct methods enable separation of the probe’s errors and the machine tool’s errors, but they need an additional equipment. One of the direct methods of probe testing is a method with moving master artifacts. Performance of this method depends on the master artifact used. In the paper various master artifacts are presented, as far as results of probe testing with use of them.