Question regarding CMM probe damage

[Ron Rompen]

I have a (sort of) silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway, to get a consensus amongst people who (hopefully) know what they're talking about.

I came in this morning to find that someone had crashed our CMM (Mitutotyo, with a Renishaw TP2-5W Legacy probe, and a 4mm ruby stylus. The stylus shaft was bent about 30° out of true.

I know that this needs to be replaced, sooner rather than later, however (as with most places right now) cost is always a factor.

We ONLY use this CMM to measure the flatness of a 25mm diameter plane on a part - no other features are measured.

Since the points of the plane are all with reference to each other, should the stylus (in theory anyway) continue to work correctly for this measurement?

 

[Johnny Quality]

Ron,

Assuming the only damage is to the stylus shaft I would give it a try. The CMM should still be able to calibrate the probe with the bent shaft.

 

[Ron Rompen]

Thanks Johnny. That was my assumption as well. Even without calibrating the probe (another long story), the use of it to measure flatness ONLY should not be affected.

 

[dwperron]

I have a (sort of) silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway, to get a consensus amongst people who (hopefully) know what they're talking about.

I came in this morning to find that someone had crashed our CMM (Mitutotyo, with a Renishaw TP2-5W Legacy probe, and a 4mm ruby stylus. The stylus shaft was bent about 30° out of true.

I know that this needs to be replaced, sooner rather than later, however (as with most places right now) cost is always a factor.

We ONLY use this CMM to measure the flatness of a 25mm diameter plane on a part - no other features are measured.

Since the points of the plane are all with reference to each other, should the stylus (in theory anyway) continue to work correctly for this measurement?

I'm not an expert here.
Heck, I don't even play one on TV....

I'm wondering if you couldn't use a step height standard or .1000 & .1001 gage blocks to perform a linearity / sanity check.

 

[Ron Rompen]

I'm not an expert here.
Heck, I don't even play one on TV....

I'm wondering if you couldn't use a step height standard or .1000 & .1001 gage blocks to perform a linearity / sanity check.

Yes, that is pretty much what I did - verified in 3 axes, plus on my calibration artifact (sphere).