PC-DMIS Displaying Autocalibration Results | CMM Tech Tips - CMMXYZ

This Tech Tip Video from CMMXYZ shows how to create a warning message to flag a failed Autocalibration. By using the "Probedata" function in an expression, we can extract needed information, like standard deviation or measured tip diameter, from the Probefile.
Hey, so today, I wanted to talk about autocalibration. So, if you've taken any of our training courses, you know that we teach this in level two PC DMS. In that course, we show you the basics, we just show you how to create a parameter set, how to answer this autocalibrate command, and also to use an F-go-to expression to optionally skip that command. So, that's great. I've been teaching this for years, until one day a student asked me, "What happens if the calibration fails?" So, my answer was, "I don't know. We'll set it up to fail and see what happens."
So, when I did that, I entered a larger tip diameter and it just kept going. It didn't flag it, it didn't stop, so this is a bit of a problem. So, I worked out a solution that I'm gonna share with you today, and it involves a command called 'probedata'. So, 'probedata' is a function that we can plug into an expression that extracts information from the profile. And then, we can use that information to set up comments or warnings, or some sort of an alert that tells the operator that there's a problem.
Okay, so here we are in PC DMS. I have a program with an 'autocalibrate' command, and I've intentionally put the standard deviation tolerance very low so that it will flag that. Okay, so let's just run this, and I'll show you what I've done. We'll just hit Execute.
Okay, so you can see I've also used 'probedata' to plug in the time of the last calibration, so I'm also giving the operator the option to calibrate now. So I'll say 'yes', and you can see it's flagged a fail. So, I won't rerun it. Since this is just a simulation, I'll just say 'no'. Do I wanna see the calibration results? Yes. So, I'll say 'yes' so we can review it, and with that open, you can see that the fail is in the standard deviation. So, it's half a micron tolerance, and we've measured one micron. So, that's a fail. I can review that, click OK, and then make adjustments as necessary. Okay, so let's click OK here, and I'll show you my code.
So, you can see the four variables I've created - date, deviation, time, and diameter. So, using those, I plugged them into various prompts, various questions, operator comments, and yes/no comments. The first one I did was the date and time, and you can see how I plugged that into the yes/no comment, asking the operator if he wants to calibrate. So, if he doesn't wanna calibrate, it'll just skip it and go right to the first command in the program.
So, the most important one is the evaluation of the results. So, you can see there, I have an expression for the diameter. If it's less than 2.75 ml or greater than 3.25, it will get flagged as a fail. Or, if my deviation exceeds half a micron, which in this case it did, if the calibration is good, it just goes to the next step and the operator never sees this message.
So, let's scroll down a little bit. At the very end of my program is my summary, and that's also optional, so I've also put a yes/no question, asking the operator if he wants to see the results. If he doesn't want to, we can just say 'no' and it'll go to the end of the program.
So, again, you can see my variables, DIA, DEV, and I've just plugged that into what's called a string function, leaving spaces before and after the quotations. So, that will plug the results of the variable, or the value of that variable, into that sentence.
Okay, so it's a little bit complicated, so what I usually recommend to students is, watch the video, pause it, and then just make note of the code that I've done. But, it's a nice solution to a problem that we discovered in class one day, and I just promised a few people that I'd make this video so that they can have a nice workaround.
Okay, so well, I hope you found that useful. Thanks for joining me, and we'll see you next time.
CMMXYZ - Coordinate Measuring Machines - www.cmmxyz.com/
Follow us on Facebook - / cmmxyz
Get the latest on Twitter - / cmmxyz
Follow CMM on LinkedIn - / canadian-measurement--... .
Learn more about CMM on our blog - www.cmmxyz.com/...
Subscribe to our RUclips Channel - / cmmxyzvideo