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For those of you that have been fortunate enough to not have notice my posts, I'm completely Self-Taught, and I'm running a Global Performance 12-15-10 with 2018 R2, a B&S 10-12-10 with the same system, and an old Sheffield Discovery D12 with 2017 R1.
The main problem I have is not knowing what I don't know, so the purpose of this, I suppose, is to throw out there what I figured out (finally) today, and hopefully spare somebody else the embarrassment of asking what I never got around to...
As with every program I write (no CAD. Strictly touching off the part and correcting the program to reflect the print) I insert a Report Command, Comment to instruct the operator how to load the part on the CMM surface plate. We've got stops screwed into the table, and often use them, and sometimes we take manual hits to get an initial alignment (only to realign when we have more precise data). That's all well and good, but I've been wanting to figure out Read Points for a while. Give me a rough orientation on the table, move the ruby to a specific point in relation to a feature on the part, and pull the trigger. Here's what I've figured out:
After the Report Command, Comment (which tells the operator where to place the ruby in relation to the part. Something like: "Orient part per print, roughly in center of table. Move Ruby to .1" above left corner of part nearest you"), Click "Insert", then "Feature", then Read Point. Ensure offsets are at 0,0,0. Click on "New Alignment". As you've only got one feature in the window, click on the Read Point, and hit Auto Align. Then switch it to DCC Mode, and touch off a small area on top of the part as a Z plane (I only touched off a small .15 X.15 area. 3 hits), insert a move point to clear the edge of the part and touch off the front of the part in much the same manner. Another move point, and then I can touch off a small area of the left side of the part, and now I've got 3 planes to create a line and a point. This gives me all I need for a rudimentary alignment. I leave my prehit generous for the time being, until I retouch off those same features (using a larger area) and realign using the more accurate data. From there, it's simply a matter of measuring the part as I would if it were fixtured on the table.
(of course, at this point, there's much "cleaning up" of vectors, etc, anticipating the ideal part.)
Please, you folks who have known this stuff for so long, have I got the basics down (of installing Read Points that is...)
Oh, and just in case any of you were wondering: Yes. I did do a search for "Read Points". Do you know how many times the word "read" and the word "points" appear separately in these forums?
For those of you that have been fortunate enough to not have notice my posts, I'm completely Self-Taught, and I'm running a Global Performance 12-15-10 with 2018 R2, a B&S 10-12-10 with the same system, and an old Sheffield Discovery D12 with 2017 R1.
The main problem I have is not knowing what I don't know, so the purpose of this, I suppose, is to throw out there what I figured out (finally) today, and hopefully spare somebody else the embarrassment of asking what I never got around to...
As with every program I write (no CAD. Strictly touching off the part and correcting the program to reflect the print) I insert a Report Command, Comment to instruct the operator how to load the part on the CMM surface plate. We've got stops screwed into the table, and often use them, and sometimes we take manual hits to get an initial alignment (only to realign when we have more precise data). That's all well and good, but I've been wanting to figure out Read Points for a while. Give me a rough orientation on the table, move the ruby to a specific point in relation to a feature on the part, and pull the trigger. Here's what I've figured out:
After the Report Command, Comment (which tells the operator where to place the ruby in relation to the part. Something like: "Orient part per print, roughly in center of table. Move Ruby to .1" above left corner of part nearest you"), Click "Insert", then "Feature", then Read Point. Ensure offsets are at 0,0,0. Click on "New Alignment". As you've only got one feature in the window, click on the Read Point, and hit Auto Align. Then switch it to DCC Mode, and touch off a small area on top of the part as a Z plane (I only touched off a small .15 X.15 area. 3 hits), insert a move point to clear the edge of the part and touch off the front of the part in much the same manner. Another move point, and then I can touch off a small area of the left side of the part, and now I've got 3 planes to create a line and a point. This gives me all I need for a rudimentary alignment. I leave my prehit generous for the time being, until I retouch off those same features (using a larger area) and realign using the more accurate data. From there, it's simply a matter of measuring the part as I would if it were fixtured on the table.
(of course, at this point, there's much "cleaning up" of vectors, etc, anticipating the ideal part.)
Please, you folks who have known this stuff for so long, have I got the basics down (of installing Read Points that is...)
Oh, and just in case any of you were wondering: Yes. I did do a search for "Read Points". Do you know how many times the word "read" and the word "points" appear separately in these forums?
I believe this was the most important sentence in your paragraph. Kidding aside, good for you. keep it up.
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