NDI Has Expanded the Versatility of its OPTOTRAK PROseries Portable Coordinate Measuring Machine
(NDI: Waterloo, ON, Canada) - October 2, 2009: NDI has expanded the versatility of its OPTOTRAK PROseries portable coordinate measuring machine (CMM) with the addition of the wireless Universal Probe Controller. This new addition provides complete freedom of movement for all of the NDI probing options. When combined with the Multi-Sided Probe (MSP) with 360° viewing, the user is free to measure without restriction. The powerful combination of an MSP and the Universal Probe Controller can be further enhanced when fitted with an AUTOsense Touch Trigger module.
Together, this combination gives the operator complete, untethered freedom to move within the 20-cubic-meter measuring envelope of the OPTOTRAK PROseries, capturing 3-D or 6-D data.
As a touch trigger probe, AUTOsense reduces unnecessary tip-deflection errors by automatically taking measurements when the probe stylus contacts the workpiece. During contact-surface scanning, AUTOsense ceases measuring when the stylus loses contact with the workpiece, eliminating invalid points and manual data trimming. In addition, a quick-release changing system ends the need for additional tools and stylus recalibration. The AUTOsense Touch Trigger module was designed specifically for NDI by Renishaw.
The MSP offers six degrees of freedom measuring capability for probing, tool tracking, or robotic applications. The addition of the Universal Probe Controller now creates a cable-free shop floor and working environment that improves set-up time and reduces the safety hazard of tripping over cables.
The portable CMM with wireless Universal Probe Controller, MSP and AUTOsense Touch Trigger module from NDI offers an impressive improvement in measurement throughput providing greater convenience and a high degree of accuracy. This makes the system comparable to portable measuring arms or laser trackers for hard probing applications, but with a greater ease of use and none of the drawbacks of those technologies.
The unique feature that sets the OPTOTRAK PROseries Portable CMM ahead of traditional laser trackers and measuring arms is the ability to define the coordinate reference system. This functionality allows the compensation for movement in the part or the optical tracker without significant degradation to measurement accuracy. This virtually eliminates the need for any type of leapfrog techniques to expand your working volume and allows for real-time compensation of everyday vibration encountered on the shop floor. For instance, a loaded tow-motor may pass by unnoticed to the user but the vibration noise of up to hundreds of microns that is translated through the shop floor will be present in traditional measurement technologies.
Because the OPTOTRAK PROseries can take more than 4,500 measurements per second, it can be used for dynamic 3-D and 6-D measurement applications while providing a shop floor probing accuracy of up to 20 microns.
For more information on NDI, the OPTOTRAK PROseries Portable CMM, or the MSP AUTOsense Touch Trigger module, visit www.ndigital.com/industrial.
Contact
Bob Embleton
bembleton@ndigital.com
Tel: +1-519-884-5142 ext 227 Toll Free: +1-877-634-6340
