hexagon logo

Silicon Nitride Probe life duration

I feel like we are going through probes very quickly. We do a lot of aluminum parts. Some of them are decent size. maybe 1 foot in width 2 feet in length. We do a lot of scanning because flatness is usually a concern. I had to replace my 1mm probe this morning because it was not getting accurate results. I got some pictures of it and it looks like material is already in bedded in it even though its got that nitride coating on it. I cant find a clear answer online so im hoping that i could get some info from the forums on what people are seeing on how often they are changing probes that are used for manly scanning.

I use all auto features for scanning planes for flatness. So what ever the software decides is the what I use for speed.
One picture is the side of the probe. That's the one that has the circles on the probe. The other one is top down. That could either be the glue holding it onto the step, or a flat. Hard to tell im leaning twords the glue hold the ruby onto the stem.

Attached Files
Parents
  • I've never used any other probes besides the ruby tipped ones. The only ever had one fail calibration on me I suspect was not due to wear even though it was probably 5 years old or more. Most likely dropped even though no one would admit it. Rolling eyes I have had the glue fail on tips and I've seen them fall off during a routine.


    Falling off? Are you cleaning them with alcohol? Because that can cause the adhesive to break down...Dry/lint-free wipes are the way to go.
Reply
  • I've never used any other probes besides the ruby tipped ones. The only ever had one fail calibration on me I suspect was not due to wear even though it was probably 5 years old or more. Most likely dropped even though no one would admit it. Rolling eyes I have had the glue fail on tips and I've seen them fall off during a routine.


    Falling off? Are you cleaning them with alcohol? Because that can cause the adhesive to break down...Dry/lint-free wipes are the way to go.
Children
  • I've never used alcohol to clean the tips. I suspect some rough manual alignments may have been the reason behind the failures. Considering I've seen an operator drive the tip down hard enough to break the magnet on the module, so rough handling may be a bit of a conservative description. literally full sent the tip into the part.