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Switching to PC-Dmis Vision

We have Hexagon coming in tomorrow to demo PC-Dmis Vision Offline.
we are thinking of converting our 2 OGP Smart Scopes to Vision.
any thoughts on this would be appreciated (good or bad)
  • What I have learned with vision is that you have to un-think your CMM visualization. Mainly think in 2d versus 3d, as depth for surface features are still difficult to repeat.
    The one thing I do is minimize the amount of focusing by establishing an edge point on 1 edge of a part - Focus this point - Set this as zero in Z. Then measure your features on the same side of the part as this point. You will not have to focus these features if you maintain the Z at 0.00. Create another point on the other sides and do the same thing, if you notice the features move out of focus, from the original Z position.
  • Mistake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • We have decided to pull the plug on this project. There were numerous problems that lead to this decision. The one that is the most significant is the fact that each and every time Hexagon would come in to calibrate this machine, they would always find it “Out of spec limits” which would require us to write a justification explaining why we can still use it. (We only use a small portion of the overall measurement field, and when you apply their findings to only this area, it meets spec.)
    Hexagon could never cut the cord from the OGP software, which meant that each time there was a power interruption; we would have to re-home the machine using the OGP software. This would require removal of all of the custom fixtures. After homing, the PC-Dmis alignments for all of the programs would be impacted.
    The lack of support from management to have the “Inspection” group trained in just the basic understanding of how to use this system, lead to me being involved in a babysitting capacity.
    My responsibility went from programing and developing fixtures to constantly having to correct programs, and correct problems from inexperienced “Inspectors” and “Operators”.
    If you are the operator/ programmer, then it may work for you. I liked the results that it gave and the ease of programing, but with no support here and constant problems concerning the “Calibration results”, we have moved on.