Tip calibration after crash?

[why me]

I work at a place where I am the only horse in the race. Production on all 3 shifts use the Dcc for there checks every two hours. It never fails one of them will open the wrong program or use the wrong manual alignment and execute. Then crunch
Well now that you understand that. I get a call at all hours of the night to come in to fix the machine replace & recalibrate tips. Is recalibrating the tips really something that needs to be done right away? (you see they have ±.3 to ±.5 tolerances on the measurement) or can it wait till morning? How much will one Styli vary from another?

As you may have guessed last knight I had one of those 3:00AM Calls.

[rebeldude]

Styli dont usually varie that much, but the crash may have actually jarred the PH10 or whatever you have and it could be out of whack

[craiger_ny]

You need to requalify or they will be calling you back as soon as you get home telling you that the CMM is not measuring well.

I love the part about running the wrong program. That happens to me a lot too. The guy will actually say "I just ran the program that was open" when I ask him why he ran the wrong program. If he just loaded a part in a CNC machine and ran what ever program and crashed turrets constantly he'd be fired. Different with a CMM though for some reason.

I had a guy make bad parts one time that were so far out I could not even measure it so he thought the routine was done because the machine stopped (crashed where a feature should have been but there was material instead). So he ran the probe all the way to the other end of the machine to unload his part. The next guy comes up and loads a different part to measure. What does he do? He hits the continue button on the execution mode options dialog as if that is going to measure his part. The machine takes off like a raped ape and slams into his part completely breaking the quill that holds the PH9 on the ram. That was actually the second time that happened.

I feel for you.

[cmmguy]

I work at a place where I am the only horse in the race. Production on all 3 shifts use the Dcc for there checks every two hours. It never fails one of them will open the wrong program or use the wrong manual alignment and execute. Then crunch
Well now that you understand that. I get a call at all hours of the night to come in to fix the machine replace & recalibrate tips. Is recalibrating the tips really something that needs to be done right away? (you see they have ±.3 to ±.5 tolerances on the measurement) or can it wait till morning? How much will one Styli vary from another?

As you may have guessed last knight I had one of those 3:00AM Calls.

Get a Test part that they can run after a crash. If the numbers are within an acceptable range(you decide) then I guess you could make a case to wait. Make sure the test part checks the same features with each different tip and also if you could check the same feature from opposite sides this would check probe alignment. Depending on how many tips you have, it might be easier to recal all tips...

[Tested]

I work at a place where I am the only horse in the race. Production on all 3 shifts use the Dcc for there checks every two hours. It never fails one of them will open the wrong program or use the wrong manual alignment and execute. Then crunch
Well now that you understand that. I get a call at all hours of the night to come in to fix the machine replace & recalibrate tips. Is recalibrating the tips really something that needs to be done right away? (you see they have ±.3 to ±.5 tolerances on the measurement) or can it wait till morning? How much will one Styli vary from another?As you may have guessed last knight I had one of those 3:00AM Calls.

I know this has little to do with your question but, I've been there. I ended up putting the programs on CD's one program per part number, per CD. It cut the wrong program from being run way down. Next I had a plate made to sit on my CMM it has holes labled special for the parts fixtures, clamps & stays so that the part gets put in the same place located the same way every time and thus they never need to run a manual alignment. I went from as many as three times a night to once maybe twice a month.

[#2#]

I work at a place where I am the only horse in the race. Production on all 3 shifts use the Dcc for there checks every two hours. It never fails one of them will open the wrong program or use the wrong manual alignment and execute. Then crunch
Well now that you understand that. I get a call at all hours of the night to come in to fix the machine replace & recalibrate tips. Is recalibrating the tips really something that needs to be done right away? (you see they have ±.3 to ±.5 tolerances on the measurement) or can it wait till morning? How much will one Styli vary from another?

As you may have guessed last knight I had one of those 3:00AM Calls.

Well, I don't know a good solution for your problem. You should always re-cal after a crash even if the tip looks ok (how many times have you not been called because it looks ok???).

I assume you have tried extensive training. I guess my advice is to start keeping detailed records of everything. I am not talking CYA records but records you can present to the boss and say "look, I kept track for the last 3 months and I've been called in an average of x times per week. I've also replaced x number of tips and spent x number of hours." Total up how much that is costing the company and try to convince someone that either a dedicated operator or at least extensive training (maybe even pc-dmis basic class) for 1 night shift person (supervisor maybe?) is in order to try to reduce this problem.

[why me]

Well, I don't know a good solution for your problem. You should always re-cal after a crash even if the tip looks ok (how many times have you not been called because it looks ok???).

I assume you have tried extensive training. I guess my advice is to start keeping detailed records of everything. I am not talking CYA records but records you can present to the boss and say "look, I kept track for the last 3 months and I've been called in an average of x times per week. I've also replaced x number of tips and spent x number of hours." Total up how much that is costing the company and try to convince someone that either a dedicated operator or at least extensive training (maybe even pc-dmis basic class) for 1 night shift person (supervisor maybe?) is in order to try to reduce this problem.

I've tried that. It seems they don't mind spending the money. We use alot of renwood fixtures here and just last week I had a call around 1:00AM about a machine crash. I arrived at work to find that not only was the styli driven into the renwood but the TP20 magnetic tip was burried in there as well. I replaced the TP20 $800 Replace the Styli $38 and that same person is still here and has crashed the machine 2 more times this week. I have alot of calls due to the
ID-10-T Error (put it together ID10T error)
I guess I already knew I needed to requalify but I was just grabbing for straws

[Farmer]

In short, yes you always need to calibrate after a crash.

Could you not create a cheat sheet so that the night guys know exactly what to do after a crash? Or would this cause you more suffering?

Either way, there is no way in **** I would be on call 24hrs.

[Wes Cisco]

I've tried that. It seems they don't mind spending the money. We use alot of renwood fixtures here and just last week I had a call around 1:00AM about a machine crash. I arrived at work to find that not only was the styli driven into the renwood but the TP20 magnetic tip was burried in there as well. I replaced the TP20 $800 Replace the Styli $38 and that same person is still here and has crashed the machine 2 more times this week. I have alot of calls due to the
ID-10-T Error (put it together ID10T error)
I guess I already knew I needed to requalify but I was just grabbing for straws

I hope they are as willing to cough up the dough for your paycheck!!!

[why me]

In short, yes you always need to calibrate after a crash.

Could you not create a cheat sheet so that the night guys know exactly what to do after a crash? Or would this cause you more suffering?

Either way, there is no way in **** I would be on call 24hrs.

That is not an Option. most of the inspectors wouldn't do it or wouldn't do it right.
The only redeeming factor on being on call is I get 4 hours pay no matter it only took me 2hours or 20minutes

[John Kingston]

That is not an Option. most of the inspectors wouldn't do it or wouldn't do it right.
The only redeeming factor on being on call is I get 4 hours pay no matter it only took me 2hours or 20minutes

And you should. Do you get mileage too? How far away are you?

[inspector212]

It really depends on how violent the crash is. If the TP20 module get knocked off, then they can put it back on and continue. But if you are talking about burying the probe into the part, well, then you have to requalify.

[#2#]

Well, do you trust them to change the tip?

You could always write the probe cal into the beginning of the program. I have my programs set up with an input comment and an if/end that will cal the tips used in that program if they answer the input comment accordingly.

I always cal. before the first part is run on a program no matter what. Then, if they are running two more parts right after it they can skip the cal.

Or, if you are so inclined, they can skip the cal. unless they crash.

The cal. is pretty simple. Take a hit A0B0 on the sphere, let it run and replace the tp20 module/tip when prompted to do so.

That way, if they crash, they can replace the tip if it is hooked, and run the cal. without calling you.

Let me know if you want me to post code.


Oh, it also prompts them to look at the std. dev. and decide if it is acceptable. If so, the program starts. If not, it prompts them to start over and ends the program.

[bw_bob]

After a hard crash I requalify. I've also had my number changed to an unlisted one.........

[AuRules]

have had the same crashes here a few times and we added the STI from B&S and used pictures to pick programs and it cut it down at least 75%... Maybe it won't hurt to look in to that.....