Styli Stem Preference……

[Coy Buchanan]

Which do you prefer:
Carbon Stem Styli or Stainless Steel Styli?
And Why?

[#2#]

All we have is SS. It is what was here when I started and I haven't had a reason to change. I think the biggest advantage to Carbon is that it is lighter.

[Wes Cisco]

Well that depends on a number of factors, how long is the stem, which type of probe, (tp2, tp20, tp200, sp25, etc), how fast will you be moving and touching, how smooth is your machine, and maybe a few other that do not readily pop into my brain just now.
In general however,:
steel is cheap, fairly rigid and durable, but heavy

ceramic is lighter than steel but more expensive
ceramic is also cheaper and more rigid than carbon fiber, but very brittle

carbon fiber is very light & the most expensive.

I generally prefer carbon or ceramic mostly for weight reasons, but I do have some steel tips I really like, such as the 1.5x30mm, b/c the steel shank in a smaller diameter than the ruby.

If your machine does not move smoothly or if you try to use too long/heavy a tip you will have many false hits.

Renishaw can provide you with maximum weight numbers for each style of probe. If you exceed those numbers you could either wear the probe/module out faster, ruin the probe/module, and/or generate bad data.

As with so many other CMM issues, there is no law or really even exact science, it is more art and trial/error. Hopefully not too much error. HTH

[craiger_ny]

What Wes said. I love ceramic, it has allowed me to rotate larger rubys to angles I was not confident with in the past. It also has a slightly smaller shank diameter than the carbon fiber.

[Duckhunter]

Love the Carbon fiber....but the shank diameter steers me more towards the SS or Ceramic... Will only use the ceramics on proven programs...

[Mike N.]

personally I would stay away from Carbon fiber if you do analog (constant contact) scanning, IF you have long extensions. I have found they 'chatter' more often than ceramic or SS. For normal probing or long probe needs they are great!

my .02

[dwade]

Nothing but carbide for me. Almost all of our probes are small and I'd reathre break one than run on a bent shank and give nothing but bad data all day or all week or all month....

Duane

[MJBolster]

Bent shank, a problem??

I'm new at this, but I don't care if the shank is moderately bent so
long as it's been quailfied since the last bend

[#2#]

I'm new at this, but I don't care if the shank is moderately bent so
long as it's been quailfied since the last bend

Ooooh! Thats gonna generate some noise. I'm with you as long as you are not shanking on your hits AND you check the tip under magnification for chips or cracks AND you qualify after any of the following:

1) The probe gets bent again.
2) You unscrew any part of assembly.

I have actually straightened probes that were bent about .010 off. As long as you qualify the tip the bend shoud be compensated for.

[MJBolster]

No doubt. With all of your cautions noted. I work with some guys
who think everything about a stylus needs to be perfect. I have rotated unused new tips fresh out of the box to see that the spheres aren't perfectly
concentric with the shank- but close enough to avoid shanking.

[Jan d.]

If you need long styli (>50mm), hands down, cabon fiber! Causes a lot less false triggers and gives real good form.


Jan.

[kthompson]

Nothing but carbide for me. Almost all of our probes are small and I'd reathre break one than run on a bent shank and give nothing but bad data all day or all week or all month....

Duane

That's what we are doing here. I've only been here since they've gone to all carbide, but I've heard the stories of probes made into fishhooks during a crash, and then the concern that a probe got bent slightly and it's not apparent to the naked eye and what kind of data are we getting. Try to bend a carbide probe, and you'll know it.

[Andrew Gardner]

Carbide has a distinctive "ting" to it as it crashes. Just rumor though, I wouldn't know

[Coy Buchanan]

Thanks for all the input.
You have been a big help.

[dwade]

Carbide has a distinctive "ting" to it as it crashes. Just rumor though, I wouldn't know

It is a beautiful "ting" and when it happens you'll be lucky to find all of the missing pieces. Not that I would ever do such a thing....