Anybody out there have any personal experience with converting their CMM from one software to another.

Specifically converting from Zeiss/Calypso to Brown & sharpe PCDMIS?

I have successfully converted from Sheffield MeasureMax to PCDMIS and was very pleased with the end result. I was able to employ a simple A-B switch to switch from one to the other until all of my programs were converted.

Any positive or negative stories would be appreciated.

Hi alspread and Welcome to the Cove!!:bigwave:

I can't help you, but have you tried this forum on PCDMIS?

http://www.pcdmisforum.com/

Why in the world would you want to do go from Calypso to PC-DMIS?

/bias

Now to be serious: I'll be honest this is probably pretty tricky.

Your main concerns will be that DMIS export is an option for Calypso, and DC-DMIS doesn't use pure DMIS itself, so you'd be taking poorly translated information out, and trying running it through another not perfect translator into PC-DMIS.

Most Zeiss/Calypso units I see run Vast XT or Vast Gold probe heads, which are fixed units designed for custom probes / star probe setups, and usually scanning input. My much more limited experience with Browne and Sharp units is that they tend to have a PH-10 probehead, which is another issue relating to easy translating.

Good luck. And my condolences.

We have been using Calypso since its inception and have nothing but trouble with all of the bugs (smashing probes, etc.) Zeiss has replaced all of the equipment they broke and continued to give us free software upgrades up to version 3.8.

I come from a Brown & sharpe PC DMIS world and have had good success. I even converted a Sheffield Apollo over to PC DMIS with no problems.

I expect to set-up a router switch to be able to continue to use Calypso until I have converted (re-wrote) my existing Calypso programs.

However, I don't do this without some trepidation.

Of course the PC DMIS guys say it can be done with no problem and the Zeiss guys say I'm in for nothing but trouble.

If anybody has done it, I like to talk to them.

Any problems reading the controls, probes, etc?

How odd, I've had nothing but good luck with Calypso. Versions 4.x and 3.x both have been amazing, never having crashing issues as long as you set your retract planes correctly.

We have been using Calypso since its inception and have nothing but trouble with all of the bugs (smashing probes, etc.) Zeiss has replaced all of the equipment they broke and continued to give us free software upgrades up to version 3.8.

I come from a Brown & sharpe PC DMIS world and have had good success.

I am in the middle of deciding whether to purchase a Global 9128 (B&S) or a similar Zeiss model. It looks like it will come down to ease of use and programming between Calypso and PC-DMIS. Which software is truly better? Which machine is better?

Are you familiar with this site? http://cmmtalk.com/index.html

Stijloor.

I am in the middle of deciding whether to purchase a Global 9128 (B&S) or a similar Zeiss model. It looks like it will come down to ease of use and programming between Calypso and PC-DMIS. Which software is truly better? Which machine is better?

I personally think Calypso is easier to learn from scratch and more powerful, but PC-DMIS has a larger installed user base, more programmers, and generally more 'familiar' to someone used to running other machines. If your customer/suppliers use one particular CMM trying to match them is also a huge advantage since it allows you to share data back and forth much easier.

As for the machines, if you're going to be checking a lot of deep bores or other features where long probes will be required as well as high precision, something with the VastXT head shines. If you're dealing with relatively small parts, especially those with holes on odd angles, something with a rotating probe head (B&S with PH10, Zeiss with RDS) would be superior.