CMM Points

CMM Points

for the Brown & Sharpe pc-dmis for Windows and AutoCAD2000

Download the program here:

For pc-dmis ver 3.0 cmm1.exe. (58k)

For pc-dmis ver 3.2 cmm32b.exe

For pc-dmis ver 3.5 cmm35b.exe

No installation needed - just put it somewhere and run it.

Help file cmm.hlp

This program extracts hits from the coordinate measuring machine program and draws them in AutoCAD.

The Brown & Sharpe Coordinate Measuring Machine uses pc-dmis software that controls and records the probing of the part. The program is made up of part features that it probes. Each feature has one or more probe hits. The coordinates of the probe hits are recorded in the program.

With this program it is possible, while the pc-dmis and AutoCAD software are open, to transfer any or all of the probe hit coordinates to an open AutoCAD drawing. They are drawn as circles or solid spheres. This allows you to visually check the probe hits against a drawing or solid model to see how close they follow the desired part surface.

With this technique, it's easy to check castings or surfaces or other complex shapes.

1. Start CMM Points

Start CMM Points when pc-dmis is open and a program is loaded, and AutoCAD is running. If CMM Points is able to connect to them, the pc-dmis Machine Name and probe diameter will show up in the window. The probe diameter is automatically taken from the current probe program being used in pc-dmis. This value will be used for the size of the circles or spheres drawn. This value can be changed manually in the box if needed.

2. Choose Features

In the pc-dimis program the features that were probed were named by default "F1", "F2" and so on. These will show up automatically in the Feature drop-down list. Use this list to pick a single feature that you want to display the probe hits. Each feature may contain any number of probe hits, depending on what kind of feature it is.

Or, if you want to draw a series or all the features, fill in the "Plot Features" boxes with the first and last feature in the series. This will only work if the features are named with "F" and number.

3. Drawing the Circles or Spheres.

The circles or spheres are drawn in the current AutoCAD drawing in the current coordinate system, and in the current color.

To help the placing of objects, the other boxes are optional.

Check Part With -- choose circles drawn in the current view, or solid spheres.

Shift -- entering values in X,Y and Z will draw the circles or spheres shifted over in the AutoCAD drawing by this amount.

Change Depth Of -- You can change all of the X,Y,or Z coordinates of the objects drawn. If "Zero" is checked all the X,Y,or Z will be changed to 0. If "Start Point" is checked, all the objects will have the X,Y,or Z of the first object drawn.

Mirror -- X,Y,or Z values will be changed from plus to minus and minus to plus.

Create Spline -- When this is checked, a spline will be created between the center of all the drawn circles for each feature.

Sphere Tolerance -- not implemented in this version.

Press the "Send to Acad" button and you will see them drawn.

Visual Checks:
Check contours and shapes. Layout castings. See if points lie within min and max profile. Can be shown as probe diameters around a 2D profile or solid spheres around a solid part.

Reverse Engineering
Check intersections of angles. Connect the points to create profiles, sections.

Other CAD Systems
If you insert the Probe Spheres into an empty AutoCAD drawing you can save it as an '.sat' file and then import it into another CAD system.

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2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
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