CMM Buyers Dilemma

SidSprang · Jul 13, 2015

Hi All,

First time on the forum, hence a newbie question.

We are in the process of procuring a new CMM machine. We are a small machine shop with 3 VMCs doing largely prismatic parts for now, but hoping to move on to bigger/more complex parts as well as we are not completely loaded currently.

We have decided to go in for a CMM machine and have spoken to Zeiss and Hexagon folks.

Hexagon have offered their Chroma range with PH10M probe.

Ziess have quoted for XDT probe with RDS-C5 Head for indexed holes. When we said that their price was too high they offered to offer the same with TP20 probe or XDT Direkt without the RDS-C5 for the same price as Hexagon.

My question.

Is the price demamded by Zeiss for the XDT probe (over the TP20) justified (around $3K-$4K). Why s the XDT better than the TP20 if both are touch trigger probes ?

Thanks In Advance

Sid

Gordon B. Clarke · Jul 14, 2015

SidSprang said:
Hi All,

First time on the forum, hence a newbie question.

We are in the process of procuring a new CMM machine. We are a small machine shop with 3 VMCs doing largely prismatic parts for now, but hoping to move on to bigger/more complex parts as well as we are not completely loaded currently.

We have decided to go in for a CMM machine and have spoken to Zeiss and Hexagon folks.

Hexagon have offered their Chroma range with PH10M probe.

Ziess have quoted for XDT probe with RDS-C5 Head for indexed holes. When we said that their price was too high they offered to offer the same with TP20 probe or XDT Direkt without the RDS-C5 for the same price as Hexagon.

My question.

Is the price demamded by Zeiss for the XDT probe (over the TP20) justified (around $3K-$4K). Why s the XDT better than the TP20 if both are touch trigger probes ?

Thanks In Advance

Sid

Hello and welcome.

When you said to Zeiss that "their price was too high" was that a "standard" buyer's remark or .....?

Of the two types my opinion is that Zeiss would be a bit better re quality than Hexagon so the two IMO can't be compared on just price alone.

If you know the dealer (dealers?) and they know you then I'd listen to what they had to say.

Just my opinion but to me it's best to find out exactly what you want and need and then discuss price to see if you can get a rebate. Never start off with "The price is too high" as that tends to go in one ear and out of the other with reputable dealers.

Mike1974 · Jul 14, 2015

I don't know cmm's personally, but here is my two cents. Our Hexagon has the pcdmis(?) and I hear the Zeiss does not have this, but maybe that is model specific, or maybe an option? Do you, or any other employees, have previous cmm experience? I would look at ease of use and support as well as price if you are new to the cmm world.

rwbaldwin · Jul 14, 2015

In the real world, the comparison is often Hexagon + PC-DMIS vs Zeiss + Calypso.

IMO, the Zeiss solution is every bit as good as the much lauded Hexagon and has the edge when it comes to scanning.

Zeiss quality is better than Hexagon, but Zeiss falls down on running/service costs and although it is better now, the support has been hateful.

TWiltonIV · Jul 22, 2015

In my experience with the two companies Hexagon stands behind their product with better customer care then Zeiss. Both are only as good as the operator.

htm · Jul 22, 2015

We are in the same boat as far as size and parts. We are going to look it the Mitutoyo manual cmm Crysta plus M574 for a demo. I believe this should fit our needs. It should be a large jump from our electronic height guage. Any thoughts on these machines?

Dylad · Aug 4, 2015

TP20 modules are also very cheap and have been around forever. I have no experience with the Zeiss head, but unless you're going to be doing a lot of scanning, I can't see the increased initial price, plus the increased repair costs or module prices, being justified.

tbm0115 · Aug 10, 2015

htm said:
We are in the same boat as far as size and parts. We are going to look it the Mitutoyo manual cmm Crysta plus M574 for a demo. I believe this should fit our needs. It should be a large jump from our electronic height guage. Any thoughts on these machines?

Myself and coworker just demoed the Mitutoyo manual and couldn't stand it. Our shop has been on the fence about DCC vs Manual CMM's and that demo set us back over the edge to a DCC machine. We both felt that we didn't have solid control over the machine and I'm sure that would go away with time.

Overall it just felt squirrelly and we weren't impressed with the software as it felt too much like PCDMIS. MCOSMOS just didn't have the "Operator Friendly" interface we were looking for that software like Modus, CMM Manager, or OpenDMIS could provide. Too many dialogs.

IMO save your money for a couple more years and get a fully DCC (CNC) CMM, something like a Wenzel with CMM Manager or OpenDMIS.

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CMM Buyers Dilemma

SidSprang

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Gordon B. Clarke

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Mike1974

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rwbaldwin

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TWiltonIV

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htm

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Dylad

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tbm0115

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