Need some FARO arm advise from the experts

As I said I need some advise from you, The experts or at least The experienced. I am looking to follow in the footsteps of some others and purchase an arm to check chassis alignment on motorcycles (i.e. checking if a frame or a wheel is straight). I have found an 8 ft FARO Gold arm (circa 2002) that I'm interested in but they are currently unable to get their software (FARO Cam2 Measure) functional; thus unable to demonstrate whether the arm is functional. My biggest question is about software (this is where my ignorance will really show). Can non-faro software run/read from the arm? And get me the information I need, which would primarily be verifying planes and angles of various parts? Could I take a trial version on a laptop and use it to check the arm? I know software and license can be expensive and have briefly talked with someone at Faro who insisted on just sending out an engineer to talk to us. I have found a reference to Rhinoceros having Faro as a supported arm, but don't know if I would need any additional software besides something like that. Nor do I know if it would be proper to use either. Some websites say not to ever buy a CMM without functioning software, is this accurate??

Also the software key that I have read about. Sites talk say they are either USB or Parallel port plug-ins. Does modern software still use them? Are they machine specific or software specific? I can't honestly say whether this arm had a "key" with it.

Any advice, thoughts, comments would so greatly be appreciated.

I'd say that if you don't have the security dongle, the software won't work. That's most likely your problem....

there's lots of companies that make software that can read the data from a Faro Arm. Hi Res Advanced for example from 3D Reverse Engineering Laser Scanning Scanning Software (you might need to Google the proper address...)

I have a Microscribe arm (which is similar to a Faro arm, but less sophisticated). I use Rhinoceros to create 3-d surfaces with my Microscribe arm. Rhinoceros does not require a dongle. And can be installed on several computers. I started out representing Hi Res, and quit them disgusted. They wouldn't give their representatives fully functioning copies of their software. I am pleased with how Rhinoceros works with my Microscribe. When you boot up the Rhinoceros software, the Faro arm (along with Microscribe) is listed as a option. I think the software costs about $1,000, I got my copy for free as an educator. I've had my software for about 10 years, so I would think that later versions are improved.

Lord Byron

I have checked out the Rhinoceros site and many other software sites. If I were to take a trial version with me when I go to inspect the arm, might/should I be able to get it to work (assuming the arm is actually functional)?

Just an observation...

I think most companies would not allow you to install any software on their machines. Any that would allow such are crazy.
You could install it on a laptop and take it with you.

One very common problem with control programs is having the right device drivers.
Device drivers are small programs that live in the computer to provide communication between programs and hardware.
Some control programs require very specific drivers, even down to particular versions. Check this out before committing.

- Leigh

I was intending to take a program on my laptop. Hopefully I can get any driver issues squared away.

mammoth said:

I was intending to take a program on my laptop. Hopefully I can get any driver issues squared away.

Click to expand...

That's why I mentioned it, because drivers for laptop hardware can be much harder to find than for desktop hardware.

Just a cautionary note which might, or might not, be applicable in this specific case.

- Leigh

mammoth said:

I have checked out the Rhinoceros site and many other software sites. If I were to take a trial version with me when I go to inspect the arm, might/should I be able to get it to work (assuming the arm is actually functional)?

Click to expand...

My Microscribe arm works with Rhinoceros without any software security device or dongle. When you activate the arm in the software menu, the menus are as follows: Tools - Digitize - Connect - Select Digitizer - Immersion Microscribe - Faro SpaceArm - Serial Port - Baud Rate.

There are no other drivers needed to connect your computer to the Microscribe or Space arm. Just a note: It seems that the person that you are going to buy the SpaceArm from also has a Immersion Microscribe. The difference between the arms is that the Immersion Microscribe only lists the accuracy of their arm to .009.; while the SpaceArm is said to have a much higher resolution. My experience shows that the Microscribe repeats the drawing of geometric features to a much closer resolution than .009.

I have the Rhinoceros software installed on my laptop. The only other thing that you will need is serial cabling and appropriate adapters to connect the SpaceArm to your computer serial port. My computer does not have a separate dedicated serial port, so you have to get a adapter to hook the serial cabling up to your computers USB port. Your only task that you need to overcome is to get the SpaceArm to recognize your USB port as a serial port. I did not have any problem with this.

You can draw points, lines, splines, arcs and circles in any construction plane that you describe. If you get a copy of the software, a rather complete instruction manual comes with it. I would get a copy of the software and the instruction manual from Rhinoceros.

One thing that you need to determine is if there is a device included with the SpaceArm that allows you to digitize points. It will be some type of switch that you activate by a pistol grip or foot switch. However, there are no software drivers that you need. Leigh's posts do not offer any help, I doubt if he has any experience with these digitizers.

Lord Byron

I am working on cmm data using faro arm/cam2. I have a composite feature control frame the second call out is position of holes ".013|MMC|A". I realize this is referencing the holes location relative to each other and the pattern they form. I can not get the software to compute this properly. The deviation is either the same as my ABC locations or is reading .000. The .000 reading, I think this is the software computing perpendicularly to datum A(surface plate)not position. Can anyone help me? Is the CAM2 software capable of computing this callout?