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3-Axis Measuring/ Non-digital Faro

GEspo

Plastic
Joined
May 26, 2021
Hello. First post here so thanks for looking. I have a project that I need to make fairly accurate measurements for a large workpiece, lets say 2' x 5' x 4' roughly. A CMM is NOT in the budget. Any thoughts on how to take measurements in 3 space? (assuming I have a perfectly flat(close) table to start) Also has anyone made or seen offered a non digital faro arm, or something similar? You might have to make a few trig calculations etc. to get your location..
 
They used to make mechanical machines for this, forget what they were called. You can use a machine tool with known accurate readouts for this by sweeping in the features with a test indicator, or you can set the part up on a surface plate and use a height gage and indicator to locate edges, then flip the part 90° and do it again. Very time consuming on large parts with lots of features. Might be a good plan to find someone with a CMM and send the part out for inspection.
 
I think I spoke with a Keyence rep a few weeks ago, but never followed up. Does this sound like anything that could provide "decent" tolerance?:

Run 1 piece of 12' linear shaft(doesn't really matter length for the concept though) at a low middle point, run in X lets say, call it the main shaft.

From that shaft use a perpendicular shaft that will rotate around X(main shaft), which should give all points on X,Z lets say, call this the locator shaft.

Use bearings with the locator shaft so that it can translate along X, which will provide all points in Y...

Thoughts...
 
Keyence laser is 16 foot x 16 foot x 32 foot one thou tolerance
Don


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Just curious, what's the model on that? I've only seen their bench top stuff.

As with anything Keyence, look at the published error, triple it, and you should be good to go. Great easy to use machines if you can afford them, but I've yet to see one meet the listed accuracy claims, even during the sales demo.
 
I haven't looked into laser systems much past most of the auto repair stuff which has a tolerance of about 1mm, which isn't bad and probably would work but the cost didn't justify it since I'm only building a few chassis and not running an auto repair facility. My plan at this point is to create a small version of what I would hope to eventually build. So Id start with a 3' x 4' table and go from there, try to produce and measure a smaller item. Hoping there is a solution using an iterative process..
 
Confused as to "decent" tolerance and "1mm, which isn't bad and probably would work".

Apologies for any confusion. I would like the "best"/highest tolerance I can afford. Also I'm inexperienced in manufacturing and have no way of knowing what a realistic tolerance could be for a given part etc. I'll have a better idea soon of what materials will be used and how each component will/can be manufactured. At that point a high tolerance measuring system(If I actually created one or used a CMM) would only tell me how far off my components are from spec etc. I have (many)options since Im still on the drawing board with all this.. thx for the feedback
 
Continuing with the "learn as I go/keep my wallet hidden best as possible at same time"... Picked up 2 "large" Setco slides, both 12" square carriages, 12" travel.. great old shop/warehouse down in Tucson.. 1/2" of dust and have been there for 15 years, so it's possible not only do I get a crazy good workout(they probably 150# ea) but I may have a "decent" x,y table.. won't know yet, but looks possible to stack em.. No idea of the application yet but both for 100$ couldn't turn it down..
 








 
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