Alignment from Fixture Base

[Skeeter]

Hey,
Need help with getting my alignment. Got some old fixtures from a sister plant and I just can't get the alignment correctly. I'm use to fixtures with tooling balls and these fixtures don't have them.
Using PC-DMIS 3.5 mr 2 on a Brown & Sharpe Typhoon CMM.
Measuring a small interior part for the automotive world. Part Fixture has the part facing toward the front of the vechicle ( X + ). The Fixture has circles indicated where to take the hits for the plane, line, and point. The numbers on the fixtures are as follow :
Top of Base : 675
Front of fixture ( Line ) : 1900
side ( Point ) : 400
I know that I need to go to : New, Alignment, and then level to the Plane, but from there - I am lost. I need to know how to rotate (to the X + about the Z + or do I need to change this). I also need to know how to do the offset / origin.
Thanks in advance for any and all help...........

[jmgreen]

There are others here better at this than me but I think I can get you going.
Take your hits and create your plane, line, and point
Alignment --> new
Level to your plane
rotate line to +x around +z
highlight your plane and click on the Z box, type your offset and click origin
Highlight your line and click X box and type offset and click origin
highlight your point and click y box and type offset and click origin
Hit OK
Should be done. you can check by moving your probe and watching how your coordinates change. Go back if possible and do everything in DCC
May have to play with it. We use TB and I'm a little rusty too.
Hope this helps and good luck.

[Paul Barriage]

I copied my comments from earlier, as they apply here.

Let's address this differently.
You want the CAD (probe CAD as well) to appear correct. This requires your alignment to alter the machine coordinates to CAD, as opposed to the other way.

Example.

Your part sit with CAD X+ up, CAD Y+ to machine X+.

Take your manual hits for temporary manual alignment, including leveling CAD X+, and rotating CAD Y+. After taking the points, and before your alignment, switch work plane to X+. Then go into alignment. The CAD will look crazy UNTIL you finish and leave the alignment.

So,....

I am leveling X+ (machine Z+)
I am rotating Y+ (machine X+)
Setting origins per CAD (set origin to a feature, then adjusting it to what CAD says it should be.

THEN CAD = Part.

email with questions, hate mail, etc,.....


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