Anyone in here have any experience with the Faro equipment, if so I would like to ask a few questions about the software.......

Good morning,

I have no experience with the FARO arm here in our shop. The person that runs ours suggested that you get on-line at the FARO arm help line and see it they can help

Have a great day.

I'm using a FARO gold arm with CAM2 Measure 3.72.

Please post your questions for discussion... if you're going through the trouble to type it out, try www.cmmtalk.com (http://www.cmmtalk.com) as well.

I like the CAM2 Measure software and features but the time it takes to do simple tasks is untenable. In this environment, the ideal software would be geared to speedy inspection instead of CAD handling.

I was involved in the analysis of both Portable CMM's (what you call Arm) and Laser Trackers from various distributors for a large multinational aerospace organisation using various Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) principles.

With regards to the hardware:
Laser Trackers: there are three main distributors; FARO, Leica & API. The FARO & Leica are comparable in accuracy, though the FARO did get marginally better results and has a faster moving head, and the latest technology, the Leica is showing its age and doesn’t seem to have developed over the past 5 plus years. The UK distributor of the API could not get hold of a tracker for himself, let alone lend one out, so that cancelled the testing of that.

Portable CMM’s (Arms): Again there are a few distributors of these types of measuring equipment, and also various models within the arm range such as the use of laser scanners for non contact measurement. They are FARO, Romer/ Cimcore, (also Leica produce the T-Probe & T. Scan that is compatible with one of their laser trackers, though I don’t feel it is what’s being questioned here). The FARO Arm (Platinum edition) was tested and produced some startling result, a lot better than thought, and better than what was achieved using a previous generation of Arm similar to the gold you state. The Romer/ Cimcore provided a good result but not better than the FARO.

With regards to support, The FARO has a strong team of engineers employed from various industries with actual knowledge of the application of the products, and FARO had been eager to support both the trials conducted and the any other use of the device that may have been required. In fact they offered, and the organisation accepted, the free loaning of a tracker for over 4 months whilst trials and other uses were carried out. The Leica team certainly new their stuff, though I feel it was very academic and the application, or integration into a production facility seemed lacking.

With regards to software:
Okay, personally, I have some concerns regarding the long term support of the Leica software for one reason; they have been bought out by Hexagon. Leica have thier own software that is really good, however within the Hexagon group is another large company selling measurement software. I think perhaps somewhere down the line Leica will be ‘encouraged’ to start selling the trackers with this other software (Well it would make no sense not to). I have only used CAM2Measure 4 so cannot comment about the FARO software, but I found it easy to pick up. Out of interest the company used another product named Build!it.

That’s my take on this type of equipment, although I have no idea to your questions as you haven’t asked any.

Regards

Hello,
I’m here accidently
I’m using laser trackers since 8 years
Was very used to Leica Trackers which are reliable but with some issue with cables and not so easy to transport.
I tested SMX :mad::mad:tracker it was very awaful and not recommended at all.
Now it is commercialized by Faro with other colors!!!
Have some colleagues worked with Faro Tracker they will not recommend it at all!!!
You need to calibrate the Tracker each time you start it up!!!! Self com is not enough if you need to measure a big volume. And quiet often there are measurement errors about 52 mm!!!:mad:
I’m using API T 3 tracker and now it a very good solution, really very compact only 36 centimeters and it is as accurate as the Leica new tracker.;)
You can see on my YouTube page some video about this nice system. if
you need comparative tests don’t hesitate to ask me!!!

My question to people that have experience using it is how accurate and repeatable this piece of equipment is, also how suitable it is for harsh manufacturing enviroment?