Anyone have experience with TMA autocollimating alignment laser use?

[guythatbrews]

I have a chance to buy this system cheap but know precious little about it. In a nice case with the power supply, laser, 2 readout units, and 2 targets. The laser works and the targets provide feedback to the readout units.

It appears TMA has been out of business since sometime after this 1992 unit was made. A company called TSW bought TMA and I do have an inquiry with it about legacy manuals.

Does anyone out there know about this thing? Any idea what it is worth? As usual there is no manual so a copy would be just great. The owner will let me bring it back to the shop so I can put it on the plate and see what happens on the readout when I manipulate the targets. That may be as good as it gets.

Thanks for any input!



Front of power supply



Back of power supply



Back of readout unit

 

[Milling man]

I have a chance to buy this system cheap but know precious little about it. In a nice case with the power supply, laser, 2 readout units, and 2 targets. The laser works and the targets provide feedback to the readout units.

It appears TMA has been out of business since sometime after this 1992 unit was made. A company called TSW bought TMA and I do have an inquiry with it about legacy manuals.

Does anyone out there know about this thing? Any idea what it is worth? As usual there is no manual so a copy would be just great. The owner will let me bring it back to the shop so I can put it on the plate and see what happens on the readout when I manipulate the targets. That may be as good as it gets.

Thanks for any input!

View attachment 348504

Front of power supply

View attachment 348505

Back of power supply

View attachment 348506

Back of readout unit

If it's not a secret - how much are they asking for this beauty? If you have tasks for it, then buying it for cheap in working condition is just incredible luck.

 

[guythatbrews]

No price agreed yet. It's 30 years old and no support. Readout is .001 degree, I think. Need to study on that some more.

What's it worth?

 

[eKretz]

The company being out of business with no chance of service or support means it wouldn't be worth much to most people. I'd jump on it for a few hundred bucks. Would have to think a bit about it for any more than that. But I'm a deal hunter...YMMV.

 

[Milling man]

It's a hard question how much it costs.... Of course, it's better to buy it as cheaply as possible I don't know why you need this device, so it's hard for me to judge how much it makes sense for you to pay for it.
A new similar device (if I understand its principle of operation correctly, this is similar to Renishaw XM-60 and XM-600 multi-axis calibrator But your device can measure only angular deviations) costs approximately 350-450 thousand euros. My ex named the price, so I could be very wrong
For example, maybe you repair large precision grinders and get $10,000-15,000 for each machine. Does it make sense for you to buy such a device for $500? Undoubtedly! And for $5,000? In my opinion - also definitely yes. Judging by ebay, such devices cost between $ 1-2 thousand.
If you don't have tasks that immediately make you think "Oh my God, this is what I need!", rate this as a nice trinket. I would pay $500 for it without hesitation and run into the sunset before the seller changes his mind.
Here I see the RS-232 port, maybe this thing can transmit readings over the bus. But without documentation, it will be easier to connect to segment indicators, take readings from them, digitize them and transfer them somewhere to build a map of bumps. Such devices reduce the time for measuring the geometry of the machine by a factor of 10, sometimes even more. What takes a day with a normal machine level takes 10 minutes with this instrument - and you can move the axes at any speed and watch the readings change.

 

[Mark Rand]

As an alignment telescope it might be alright. As an autocollimator for calibrating surface plates, grinder ways etc. it needs about 10-15 times better precision.