Stylus Rack Maintenance

Geomet provides access to the Stylus Rack for Maintenance Operations and for use during an inspection through the Stylus Manager. Each method has unique capabilities in the operation of Geomet.

The Maintenance mode is primarily used to test the rack, change assigned locations, clean styli or replace damaged styli. It is important that the modules are not placed into the bays by hand. Each module must be aligned accurately to allow the probe head to reseat the module. On each module, there are three unique symbols that must correspond to the same symbol on the probe body.

To start the Maintenance mode press <Alt + w> on the keyboard. From this dialog you can control the operations of the Stylus Rack outside of part inspection programs.

This graphic shows a Touch Probe and the current status of the module. The graphic on the left indicates that the module assigned to bay number one is attached to the touch probe. The graphic on the right indicates that no module is attached to the touch probe. You have the ability to change the module assignment by left clicking on the graphic of the touch probe, which will remove the module. Please note that this will not perform the motion to park the module into the assigned bay, this will only remove it and its reference from Geomet.

This manual adjustment should only be used under certain conditions such as removing all bay assignments. The two buttons shown <Maintenance> and <Show Status> provide additional functions when selected.

This function will allow you direct access to performing motion in assigning and pre-loading Stylus Rack bays

When <Maintenance> has been selected the visual appearance of the graphic changes to show you the current status of the bays. Two additional buttons will appear <Load Bay> and <Pickup Tip>. These control the CMM operations in accessing the Stylus Rack bays.

To attach or remove a module in a bay without performing motion left click of the bay graphic. For example to add a module to bay number two, left click on bay two and a module will appear. To remove that module, left click on the module and it will disappear.

To load a bay under CMM control, select the button <Load Bay> followed by a left click on the bay to load. If it is empty, you will be prompted to load a new module onto the touch probe and when complete click on <OK>. Geomet will then drive to the staging position and proceed to load the module into the assigned bay. The module will then disconnect from the probe body and proceed to the staging area of the bay. Note: The touch probe will not leave the staging area for that bay. Should the CMM continue moving away from the bay, a false trigger will occur.

You can then continue to load other bays by repeating the loading procedure.

Select the <Pickup Tip> button followed by a left click on a bay selection. This will cause the CMM to retrieve the selected module and return to the staging area. If the touch probe has a module already attached, the CMM will park that tip before retrieving the selected module.

The <Show Status> button provides a graphical representation of the touch probe and bay assignments.

Related Procedures:

Stylus Manager, Choosing a Stylus, Stylus db Manager, Stylus Edit Control, Stylus Rack Setup