Beginner : the steps of creating a new alignement

[Mranaskw]

hey once again

I have been for 4 weeks now on my new job position in a lab as an operator , I have been googling stuff and asking , taking notes etc , to learn about cmm coding / we have rainshaw probe , magnetic styli , global machine.

This is my brief, correct me if im wrong

1, you need drawing file to know the cordinnates of the points to be measured
2, you need cad file , then import it to pc dmis
3, do 321 aligenement for the gauge/jig ,then saw on youtube that they go te menu/aligenemnt , a window pops up , they select the axe etc , didnt get that part , if i hv already selected the points on the jig and were added to the code , what this feature then do?
4, ctrl+alt+p to select probe ,(same window that pops up for calibration) ,I didnt get this part at allll , were those profiles already been in the program list or they are generated , i understaned that each profile represents an angle of rotation for the probe to measure the part
5, you manually select the points on the cad ,, thats all so far lool , what else guys?


sorry for my bad english i hope i was clair enaugh


Thank you for this amazing community

[Schlag]

Get to a level class offered by Hexagon to get you started. Its critical to start on the correct path. This forum can help considerably for all types of issues but it cannot teach you to program a CMM from the gound up.

[NinjaBadger]

Hi,

I know your employer won't pay for training, but it is very very difficult to teach (and learn) this from scratch online, especially with a language barrier.

[Schrocknroll]

The need of the drawing and/or CAD is dependent on the part. Older parts were defined completely on the print, and the CAD was just nice to have. Some newer designs have some dimensions on the print and the rest come from the CAD. Some even have the dimensions/GD&T embedded in the CAD.

To start with a simple part I would say don't worry about the CAD unless you specifically want to learn programming from CAD.

The probe selection should be the first thing in the program. You will need to know how to measure various features, e.g. points, lines, planes, circles, etc. You can start off just trying to manually measure features of a part. Read about the different types of alignments and try creating them and make sure you understand what you are doing with Level, Rotate, and Origin.

That's just a start.

[Caemgen]

Also, remember to use the CMM like you would a surface plate.

You wouldn't sweep a 1mm square area on -A- and call it level if -A- was a 250mm square. You would spread your points. You want that here.

Also, if you didn't care about square, maybe you'd glance at the indicator twice while sweeping 100mm length (2 hits with a CMM), if you REALLY cared, you'd stare at the indicator the whole way, maybe 100 hits with the CMM (better be scanning).

Many people want to learn the CMM without understanding it is just a tool, not a magical wizard. If you tell it to do dumb things, you will get bad answers. You'll say good parts are bad, and you'll say bad parts are good, and you'd be better off throwing darts blindfolded.

The very first thing to do, learn how to inspect a part manually.

When making your alignment, you are doing the same thing, just using software instead of shimming and tapping the part to get -A- parallel to the surface plate, -B- square to -A- and find the point that would hit a hard tool for -C- (basic 3-2-1 alignment with 3 planes as an example).

You want to replicate that on the CMM, spread your points, take as many points as you'd glance at an indicator.

If you expect problems, be sure to take hits where you expect the problem and output that data, just like you'd be sure to check it with a mic or height gage.

If you can't inspect on a plate, you shouldn't write CMM programs.

Once you can, then you do the exact same thing on the CMM. Use your knowledge of inspection to place the hits and construct reference systems.

I would say then, program without a model. The class doesn't use a model until the 5th day. The first 4 days, no model. If you can program with a calculator and blue print, programming with the model is like going back to 1st grade.

There are a lot of powerful tools in PcDmis (like programming from a model) that will make you skip things you should learn and do them wrong because you are getting the advancement without first gaining the knowledge.

Go slow. Program on a 1-2-3 block (not sure what it would be called in metric, 25-50-75 block maybe if they make such a thing). Plane, Line, Point. Then Plane, plane, plane. Plane, line, circle.

Go slow, learn not just how it is happening, but how it relates to the manual inspection and WHY it works on a CMM.

The class spends an entire day teaching how to align a part and the 6 degrees of freedom. If you screw up the alignment, everything you do is garbage. Practice that the most. And practice it a LOT.

Good luck

[Ncogneto]

Hi,

I know your employer won't pay for training, but it is very very difficult to teach (and learn) this from scratch online, especially with a language barrier.

A new head is about $10k USD, training at local Hexagon site $2K. if your employer is expecting you to just sit down at a cmm and go without proper experience and or training then you should consider finding a new employer.Now if you have some old salt there and he said I will you show you what to do in time, be patience and listen, but like others have said, you need real training not online problem solving