What's new
What's new

How old is too old for a laser tracker ?

Spud

Diamond
Joined
Jan 12, 2006
Location
Brookfield, Wisconsin
Laser trackers capable of digitizing a part in all 3 dimensions are prohibitively expensive, even ones that are a few years old.

So regarding used ones, how old is too old? What model year would you feel is the cut-off for the offerings from the top brands (Nikon, Leica, Faro, Zeiss etc..) for being obsolete ?
 
Spud --

I wouldn't go for any laser tracker that doesn't have an absolute distance meter. Earlier-generation trackers used a laser interferometer distance meter, which requires continuous measurement of Spherically-Mounted Retroreflector (SMR) location. No beam breaking allowed, although newer versions of the interferoneter tracker automatically pointed to the most recent recorded location rather than having to go back to the SMR nest on the tracker base.

I haven't seen any tracker software that is a better fit with my own thought processes than SMX's Insight, but Insight went away with Faro's purchase of SMX, which is now decades past.

All in all, I'd lean toward Spatial Analyzer rather than Faro's -- I've forgotten what it's called -- successor to CAM Ii.

You did ask about Laser Trackers, but you mention Nikon. To my knowledge, Nikon "Laser Radar" is not a laser tracker, but Laser Scanner with the accuracy of a Laser Tracker. I regard the Laser Radar to be the bell of the ball, but the last I heard, the starting price for a new system is right at $US 750,000 . . . nearly 20 times that is an entry-level Laser Scanner, and 10 times the price of an entry-level Laser Tracker.
 
Spud --

I wouldn't go for any laser tracker that doesn't have an absolute distance meter. Earlier-generation trackers used a laser interferometer distance meter, which requires continuous measurement of Spherically-Mounted Retroreflector (SMR) location. No beam breaking allowed, although newer versions of the interferoneter tracker automatically pointed to the most recent recorded location rather than having to go back to the SMR nest on the tracker base.

I haven't seen any tracker software that is a better fit with my own thought processes than SMX's Insight, but Insight went away with Faro's purchase of SMX, which is now decades past.

All in all, I'd lean toward Spatial Analyzer rather than Faro's -- I've forgotten what it's called -- successor to CAM Ii.

You did ask about Laser Trackers, but you mention Nikon. To my knowledge, Nikon "Laser Radar" is not a laser tracker, but Laser Scanner with the accuracy of a Laser Tracker. I regard the Laser Radar to be the bell of the ball, but the last I heard, the starting price for a new system is right at $US 750,000 . . . nearly 20 times that is an entry-level Laser Scanner, and 10 times the price of an entry-level Laser Tracker.


Thanks, that is a lot of valuable info. There was a Nikon laser scanner or tracker at auction a few months ago. I don't recall it going over $40K. It was a couple of years old. What do you think of Leica?

So Nikon aside, what brand and model would you choose if you were buying one that was 5 years old ? What is the oldest model year you would go for?
 
Spud --

In re-reading your original post, I noticed that you asked specifically about ". . . digitizing a part in all 3 dimensions . . . ". That is not what a Laser Tracker does; a Laser Tracker measures the location of a Spherically-Mounted Retroreflector" (SMR), which is to say it measures the locations of targets mounted on the object of interest.

Typically, each SMR is magnetically held by a "Nest" that is attached to the object mechanically. If the SMR and Nest is included in the design file, the measured locations of the Nest-mounted SMRs can be used to analytically derive the locations of object-of-interest features, to conclude the orientation and location of the object.

Creating a 3D file capturing the shape of an object of interest can be done in a number of different ways, including physical probing, "structured light scanning", Laser Scanners, and Nikon Laser Radar. The uncertainties of point locations varies with the measurement technology used, and distance between the scanner and measured object, in addition the the usual factors of thermal and atmospheric stability.

A common Laser Scanner in a typical application has an uncertainty of 2 to 3 millimeter; a Laser Radar system has an uncertainty of +/-(0.001 inch, +/- 0.001 inch per 10 foot of distance to object).

Going on to your questions:

1. I generally like Leica equipment, more so since they discontinued their policy of voiding the warranty if ANY item not supplied by Leica is used with their hardware.

2. I don't think age of a measurement system is especially important, I do think capability, condition, and support are important. I'd suggest quizzing the factory on their support policies to be sure that parts and service will be available for any Laser Scanner or Laser Tracker that I was interested in.

3. I'd hesitate before buying a Laser Scanner or Laser Tracker that was made by anyone other than Leica or Faro. That said, I haven't had any experience with the API Laser Tracker since 2010. At that time, API was a distant third in the field and their Trackers had a reputation for being temperamental . . . but API is a capable company and their Trackers may have been greatly improved since then.

John

John
 
Last edited:








 
Back
Top