two setups one alignment

[Joe Zastrow]

I have a part that won’t fit on my machine. The part fits the width of the machine but is about eight inches to long. My datum’s are in the middle of the part and if the part is centered on my table I have four inches both ends I cant reach. I ran into this a long time ago with a similar part. I made two programs with the same alignment and shifted the part down to reach the side I wanted to measure. That worked fine but I have some time with this part for a change and thought I would figure out how to keep this within one program.

any suggestions

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

Try using a start probe, hopefully one that will allow you to remove SOME of the tips. Then use a tip that points 'down' when you have the head a 90 degrees and it will reach the ends of the part. I have done this a lot with parts that are up to 8" longer than the travel of my machine.

[craiger_ny]

I have done this with one program. You need some features that can be measured and aligned to in each routine. Then you will have to set variables to represent the part. Essentially you measure the part, reposition it, measure some features you measured before, create an alignment, measure the rest of the part then use variables to put the whole part together. Make sense? It is hard to describe without code. The graphics window will look funny but it works. I did it on a part that was too long to measure in one shot. If you can't measure common features in each routine you can't do it.

Craig

[Mike N.]

Joe ....
check into the "equate alignment" function. F1-equate align
I know it used to work in earlier versions but i'm not sure if it will in newer ones

[Joe Zastrow]

Please see attached file in original post.

I can measure all datum features in both setups so I’m really looking for a way to add a comment after the first setup (reposition part for second setup) then realign to same alignment without losing previously measured features. I would think this would be an alignment feature or something?

[tking]

I think I would pick up my alignment and save it with a different name for each position, report features by recalling the alignment they were probed in. This should work if you don't have feature relationships that need to be reported between features probed in different positions.

.02

TK

[craiger_ny]

Please see attached file in original post.

I can measure all datum features in both setups so I’m really looking for a way to add a comment after the first setup (reposition part for second setup) then realign to same alignment without losing previously measured features. I would think this would be an alignment feature or something?

Yep almost the exact same thing I had going on, I did just like I said. Set variables to represent your features then dimension the newly "constructed" part.

Craig

[Joe Zastrow]

Equate Alignment is exactly what I am looking to do thanks Mike.

Matt I have always avoided star probes only used one once and it was for a customer I only have one and it has five 2 x 20 mm probes that are fixed.

Thanks for all the help guys!!

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

Yep, I know what you mean. When I was using it, the part sits on a fixture that weights about 3000 pounds (yep, 1.5 tons) and I would have to do 3, 6, or 10 piece studies. I ain't a-gonna slide that dang fixture around that many times. I have the 5-way knuckle, you can pick and choose what size, length, and position for all the tips you use. I can't stand using them either, but it is better than dragging a huge fixture around time and time and time again.