Looking at buying a new Romer or FARO. Trying to decide on length

[Parker]

Looking at buying a new Romer or FARO Arm. Trying to decide on length, probably a 10' or 12', to replace an 8'. Does anybody have regrets going too long/large? I know the accuracy is slightly lower and they are a bit more "clunky" to use. Is there any other downside you can think of?

[kingsld1]

My rule of thumb for buying the first of any 3D measuring equipment is to go at least one size bigger than what I think I'll need. Nothing sucks more than to go to war for a piece of equipment and then 6 months later a new part comes in that is bigger than anything else you wanted to measure with that equipment. As long as accuracy and space is not an issue, bigger is better in my opinion.

Having said that, is an arm your best option? I've never used one besides a demo but I used to hear a lot about them gathering dust in the corner because of accuracy and repeatability issues. Don't know if that has improved or not.

[Tater]

My old boss always said "you can run a small part on a big machine but cannot run a big part on a small machine" Get the biggest one you can!

[DAN_M]

go big

if used correctly they work fine within their advertised tolerance zone

[bfire85]

DAN_M You're alive!?!

[AdrianH]

IMO having to short of an Arm is a bigger problem

In my shop we Downsized by 2 Meters and everybody is regretting it.
(but we have very variable sizes on our parts.)