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Equate Alignment program problem

seppley
I have a part program, i have successfully written it to where i can flip the part, and equate the alignment, all works well, until the next part is ready to be measured. I cannot get the Dmis to go back to the startup alignment at the beginning of the program. I am forced to do a manual alignment for each part. Normally, i manually align the part once, run it through, then the next time i turn off the manual alignment features and run it over and over again letting the dcc alignment take over.

This program will not do that, everytime i start the program over again without the manual alignment features selected, it thinks that the probe head is still on the negative side of the Z axis, which is not true. I don't know why it is not looking at the startup alignment that should tell the program that the probe head is in the space relative to the machine and not the part.

any thoughts? i hope i have just missed something stupid here....

Sam
  • I don't think there is a way to get around that. Once you Equate alignment, you are fundamentally altering your workspace. The manual alignment allows you to redefine it at the beginning of the program. I've only used it to leapfrog though, so I'm no expert on this.
  • I figured it out, at the very end of the program you just have to equate back to the original alignment, and it will set things right.

    Thanks guys/gals!

    Sam
  • IMHIO (humble and ignorant), this a useless feature. It involves being able to level, align, and origin on the same features to equate. So why not just skip the equate and and create a new alignment using the same origin? What would be super cool is if they could come up with a way to shift a part longer than the machine envelope, origin off the last feature measured, and offset the shift by the amount of the last result with said feature.
  • IMHIO (humble and ignorant), this a useless feature. It involves being able to level, align, and origin on the same features to equate. So why not just skip the equate and and create a new alignment using the same origin? What would be super cool is if they could come up with a way to shift a part longer than the machine envelope, origin off the last feature measured, and offset the shift by the amount of the last result with said feature.

    That would be leapfrogging, and that is what equate alignment does, basically. Whether flipping the part, or just moving it. I measured a 20ish foot long part in 3 segments on an 11-22-10 CMM. Well, I was a green operator at the time, so it was my programmer who accomplished the task, but still.

    If you physically flip a part, what you suggest wouldn't relate the old measured data to the new alignment. You don't have to use the same features, you just have to have features that can be reached in both orientations.
  • I figured it out, at the very end of the program you just have to equate back to the original alignment, and it will set things right.

    Thanks guys/gals!

    Sam

    Ah, simple enough. Thanks for sharing.
  • A 20 foot long part. Let's say your original origin has been shifted beyond the parameters of the machine travel. Suppose your original origin is your datum reference, which is call out in a FCF. How can you equate to an origin off the machine if you can't reach it? Especially if your origin is a hole at the very end of the part, with a TP of let's say .010 to all the other holes 18 feet away? How does one use equate alignment for that? From what I have read in posts, can't be done.
  • A 20' long part? How long the CMM table?

    There are options like glueing tooling balls at a location that when moving the part down the tooling balls are accessible to equate.
    Common sense, if the part is more than double the inspection area don't bother.
  • My point is.....if one can reach the original features for level, rotation, and origin after a "shift" or "flip", why use equate at all?
  • Say you need to report a distance between to circles in a long part.
    First circle is measured in the first section of the prog, the second one is measured "After" shifting the part.
    How would you keep the relationship?
  • What if that first circle is the datum specified on the print and in the FCF? Having shifted it off the machine travel, how does on perform an equate? I think I'm quite lost here. I also think I hijacked a thread. Is this a crime? The hijacking of a thread?

    I must read more on equate. Thanks Roberto. I appreciate the input.
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