New styli for a stand up?

[Sl33stak]

I need to order some new styli for our Gage2000 stand up CMM. The previous dept. head used to order 4x50 ceramic shaft styli. The size is great for what we check here, BUT the guys on the floor doing the checks seem to break one every few weeks. Anyone have any reccomendations?
Looking at the Renishaw site I see a match in size with a tungsten carbide shaft, isn't tungsten carbide brittle as well?

I was hoping to find a 4x50 w/carbon fiber shaft. but they don't make an M3 like that. :(

Are there other sources for styli?

[bob mappes]

go here......

http://www.itpstyli.com/

about 1/3 the price of Renishaw ;)

[Wes Cisco]

Yes, carbide is brittle compared to say cobalt tool steel, but it is not nearly as brittle as ceramic. As long as the additional weight is not a problem, Tungsten Carbide is probably a great solution here. IMHO:cool:

[BSchwark]

Here an option to Renishaw. www.ITPstyli.com. Watch you sizes, PCDmis uses renishaw sizes for there library.

BS

[DaddyBluto]

Start charging the guy half the replacement cost until he learns to be more careful.

Seriously though, I use itp also and would highly recommend them.

[Sl33stak]

When you say that the probe library in Dmis is based on renishaw probes, will that matter? It "appears" that the ITP 4x50mm is the same as a Renishaw 4x50mm. Can anyone chime in otherwise?

Cuz the prices at ITP are WAY BETTER!

[BSchwark]

Most of the probes are the same. But there are some unique ones if you order from ITP or other manufactures. But there are way to modify Pcdmis if needed. Not a problem. When you run into that problem let us know.

BS