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Questions Regarding a 45° Fixed Probe

InspectorJester
Hello!
Running PC-DMIS 2013 MR1 SP5 With a TP200 Tactile/Vision System
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So I've got this probe here; a 45° on a knuckle (I believe is the term)
It does not rotate, it's fixed at 45°.

Well... I recently had a crash and destroyed the TP200 module ($$$) which has been replaced. [If that's correct; the piece with the red light!]
This module is, as you can imagine, clocked slightly differently than the last one (I had to reload all of my probes into the probe changer manual/DCC or they would not seat correctly)
Which was easy.


Well now I've got this probe! It's swayed!

With the old module, the 45° probe was **** near (if not) perfectly in line with Y- (So it faces 45° between Z- and Y-)
With the new module, it's tilted 45° towards X- (So now it's 45° between Z- and Y-, AND 45° between Y- and X-!)

I'm curious on if that matters.

Ideally I'd just unscrew it a little, make the adjustment, lock it back in and calibrate.

I'd like to know how precisely I need to have it aligned, I guess? I think the fixed 45° won't change, because of the knuckle, I just need to change its X rotation.
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Will "eyeballing" (e.g. not using an indicator) to "level" the probe to Y- be fine? As in there will be negligable uncertainty from doing so, or should I call Hex-a-Tech?
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Hmm... All looks like word soup to me. Hopefully you guys understand what I'm looking for. Per my understanding (of star probes) it doesn't matter a whole lot (as long as it's not like crazy tilted), but I don't use this probe (literally ever except today, though I'd like to use it more) and I want to make sure my setup is correct.

We're due for calibration pretty soon, so someone'll be out here I can defer all my questions to, eventually
Hoping y'all have some advice
  • Eyeballing is usually fine.

    What you need to worry about is will the probe shank when checking your part.

    If the ball is close to the same diameter as the shank it COULD shank on the sphere if your eyeball is not so good, but with most probes this isn't likely. More likely you'll stick the probe in a hole too deep for your eyeball error and shank on the part.

    Pull the knuckle off the extension/module.

    Bring the extension/module down to a 1-2-3 block or the plate.

    Lock off X travel on the jog box.

    Make a mark with a sharpie on the block/table.

    Move in ONLY X one way or the other.

    Make another mark.

    Connect the marks with a scale so you have a line.

    Move the head up but keep Y locked.

    Put the knuckle on the extension/probe.

    Rotate the ruby so it is on top of the line, remember keep Y locked, you can move X and Z for this.

    Tighten the knuckle.

    This will be extremely close to correct and minimize your chance of shanking.

    This is also what you do with a star, putting the tip that is straight down in one of the holes on the 1-2-3 block.
  • in reply to Caemgen
    +1 for thouroughness!
    This is sort of the process I use for the star probe we use;
    I'm curious how I would "Lock off X travel on the jog box"? I don't know if I have this option or not (not a new fancy jogbox or anything) but it would make it easier for me; lol!
    I'll look into it. Thanks!
    I needed the verification
  • This post points out the design flaw, IMO, of the TP200 mounting process. We have 3 machines that all have TP200's and we can swap probes between all machine except for any stars & angled/L probes. It's a pain having to create multiple identical probes for different machines. Poor design, but definitely a money maker on selling more probes. Angry

  • in reply to Caemgen
    My jogbox has none of these.
    I have a big black plastic box, with 4 buttons; E-Stop, Rotation, one that does literally nothing (I read the manual) and one that makes a clicking sound when I press it.
    Thanks though!
  • in reply to Max Tasty
    I believe it's due to the inherent "clocking" of the TP200 module itself. The 3 shapes won't line up perfectly from machine to machine.
    Still, I don't see why it couldn't be the same probe, just calibrated each time it switches machines (which you should do anyway...)
    Also curious
  • in reply to Caemgen
    Maybe not music, but Morse is pretty fun :P
  • in reply to Caemgen
    Sorry for slow reply on this, but you can use the bottom ribbon bar of pcdmis with the XYZ for a DRO and after you move along X to the second point for drawing a lline, move Y REALLY slow to the same location it was before.

    Be sure when doing this you are in machine coordinates (STARTUP) so you are using numbers square to machine axes. Much bigger pain, but I'm hoping you have a speed control knob on your box.
  • You can use the same probes if you position your part differently on each machine. But an L probe built in +X direction on one machine will not be in +X direction on the next, due to the TP200 module being threaded differently on each one, so it will shank out. They don't all screw in to the same position. So you either have to position the part differently on each machine to compensate or create individual probes.for each machine.
  • in reply to Max Tasty
    My question follows the thought that you would just adjust the probe to match the machines +X direction and calibrate using the same probe.
    Is this not the case?
  • Not necessarily. Adjusting the angle of the probes from machine to machine takes time because there is no calculable angular reference from TP200 to TP200. You have to put it on the TP200, make adjustments, check it against the machine axis, and do that until it's square. We also have probes that are built very specific to certain parts that fit into very tight spaces at different angles. Breaking those down is not cost efficient. It's cheaper to either run the same parts on the same machine all the time or build separate probes for each machine.
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