Anyone have experience with the Keyence IM-7000 unit?

If anyone is using any of Keyence's "Instant Measurement" systems such as the IM-7000 series, what have your experiences been? The Pro's seem self evident, but anyone have any Con's?

Accuracy in "Precision Mode" is supposed to be within 80-millionths. Anyone with a confirm or deny on that?

Thanks in advance.

I'm sure Keyence will bring one out to you and demo it. They've brought their wireless scanner thingy here, even knowing I wasn't a buyer. On a side note, I've never bought anything from them that didn't do exactly what they said it would, and on a rare occasion if something didn't do what I wanted they happily either exchange it or refunded me. Great company to do business with!

This unit just stopped in for a demo on it's way through our area today.

I am impressed with it's ability to "see" blind features that a shadowgraph otherwise would not be able to see.
He was even able to pick up both sides of end chamfers.

It also has a probe that will come in to hit features that it has trouble seeing as well, and you don't need to tie the part down even.

The bigger unit has ability to add an optional depth gauge as well.
The base unit is not able to measure depth, but if you opt up to the bigger unit, and then opt for the depth gauge, then you can.

The smaller base unit is $55K and the opted up larger unit is $65K, so the options don't kill yuh on this.

If the part is too big to get in one go, you can hit part of it and slide it down for another hit, and it will blend the multi hit together.

Another thing that sticks out to me is that you could toss up to 99 parts on the table and it would read them all at once, and show you which (if any) were out of spec.
All inside of 3 seconds? (for basic 2D shadow graph type parts)

Made in Japan, and certed in USA.

Training was free (included?) and my guy (that came down from Detroit) actually had to delay b/c a customer in Toledo needed help before one of their customers came in today, so he stopped in and got them going on their new part post haste. Sounds like he is out-there a lot.



Now - I don't run CMM's at all, but I would put this high on my list if I was buying.
I was looking at it specifically for a job that we are looking at that has blind features, and this thing can light it up with 2 or 3 different lights and will refocus for different heights and whatnot.

I quit getting "Quality Magazine" and so it may be advertised in there, but I don't think that I have seen this unit anywhere before.
The other ones I have seen at IMTS and PMTS. I guess I didn't ask how new this unit was?


Optical Comparator | Automated technology for fast, accurate and easy-to-achieve measurement results | KEYENCE America



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Might have been the previous model, but we had a pair of these at the last place I worked. Keyence guys are always happy to bring their stuff by to show it off, so don't hesitate to ask.

Positives:
1. After a 5 minute training session, if you can figure out how to work an iPhone/iPod on your own you can figure out how to use one of these. I didn't use ours for several months after my 30 minute initial demo and had no issue getting my part measure in a few minutes.
2. Support from our rep was pretty good. I've been in a few different locations and the Keyence guys have always been helpful across different products.
3. We had near minimum wage shop floor operators abusing this thing 3 shifts a day, and it held up just fine for the couple years I was there. Didn't even break the table glass (although we kept a spare on hand).
4. For those who put a bit more effort into the programs, the feature where you just slap a part on the table and hit the go button is pretty cool. It would ID our parts, determine orientation, measure, and produce a report. My parts were always different, so I would just throw a new layout together, then put each part in roughly the same orientation to measure a batch.
5. The good news about telecentric optics is that you don't actually need to be in perfect focus to accurately find an edge. In fact being slightly out of focus can improve edge finding accuracy. In short, the fact that it can't give you a perfect zoomed picture on the screen doesn't mean it can't accurately find that edge.

Issues:
1. The usual issues with optical comparators applies. If you try to measure a cylinder that is a bit tilted it'll think it is an oval. Not a big deal at ±0.005", but you start measuring microns and not much tilt can become a large source of measurement error.
2. It's a Keyence product, so while it's easy to use, the accuracy specifications are only obtained when measuring matte finished gauge blocks deep in some NIST lab. A good check is to put a part down and measure it 10 times without picking it up. Then pick it up and put it back down between measurements. Just doing this the range of results exceeded the stated accuracy. It is very useful, but much as your micrometer probably isn't really accurate to 1 µm if you just zero it, this isn't quite good for what it's rated to. If that still meets your needs it is very useful.
3. Until you get the hang of it, it has a hard time picking up chamfers, especially if the edges round a bit. Sure, you can adjust the lighting until it looks right, but you don't really have a way to know if you got it right or not. Having a number is not the same as knowing you have the right number. Items which need to be front lit will not measure as accurately as those that can be back lit.