Unexpected orientation change

[[Te...]]

I have a program I wrote that successfully ran several times. I found, though that my profile measurements weren't coming out correctly because I tried to combine the complete surface. Through reading the forum I found that I'd likely have better results if I measured each section as shown on the CAD.

When I broke those sections out and saved the program everything appeared fine, but the next time I opened the program to run the software now thinks that the stylus is coming up at an angle from the -Z/+X direction. I didn't change anything in the base alignment.

I have an older program that this one is based on, and the same thing happens in that one when I open it, and I made no changes to that one in case I needed to revert. Is there a way to get Calypso to re-orient correctly, or will I need to completely rewrite this program? This is not the first time I've had this happen, but I have a lot of time into this program.

TIA for your assistance.

[[Ma...]]

Have you tried manual alignment before CNC?
In manual you can make some mistakes:

• 2d line must be measured in same direction as defined ( with defined +X points must be taken from left to right )
• cylinders with wrong number of taken points can be evaluated as different axis ( ex. from +X to Z+ )

[[Er...]]

First things I would check to see if the base alignment changed.

Blocked Edges and see where -Z is located or if it changed.
Click on Clearance Planes and see if Calypso wants to change anything.

I have been able to re-orient base alignments that have -Z Clearance planes in +Z. Use Save As to make a copy I can discard if it goes wrong. In the program create an Alignment that matches what I want the Base Alignment(BA) to be. Use Transfer to make all other features use the Alignment. After this step I have two options. One is try creating a new BA, then Transfer to the new BA. Two is start a new inspection, load the CAD, create the BA, create the Alignment with the same name, then copy characteristics with references.
Sometimes it works the second time 🤣

[[No...]]

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Two more things that can go wrong in a base alignment:

• If you create a line from two circles, do not use point recall
• Whenever possible, start measuring the manual alignment by clicking the button in the base alignment window instead of doing it from the CNC start dialog. I have seen some special alignments ending up flipped when measured during CNC start. Maybe this bug is fixed by now, but I'm rather safe than sorry 😉

[[To...]]

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I've also seen this issue before when doing manual alignment. Cylinders require a minimum of 5 points to calculate but those points should be taken 3 at one level and 2 at another level. The problem arises when 4 points are taken at one level and 1 taken at another. Of course, I would use many more points in my program.

[[Er...]]

Those are some good points!

So are they Standard Alignments? RPS? ...

What type of features? I avoid calculated features in Base Alignments because sometimes Calypso gets ahead of itself and miscalculates.

[[To...]]

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Can you post screen shots of your base alignment window and the windows of each of the b/a features?

[[Te...]]

Thanks for all the replies. I did try manual alignment first. I followed the prompts from Calypso as best as I could. I wasn't successful in copying and realigning, but I may have done something wrong. I've only been working with the CMM for just over a year, and am still something of a novice, so it's quite possible that it is something stupidly simple that I am missing. I have attached screenshots of the base alignment and component feature windows. One thing to note, the probing object now shows it coming from -X/+Z, and I don't know what changed it 😕

[[Er...]]

Maybe try deleting the Base Alignment under pulldown menu File? Then going into the Base Alignment to do manual alignment?

Plane1 is recalling feature points? I avoid recall in an alignment whenever I can.
Check the points being recalled. Is the Space Axis +Z? Maybe Calypso is flipping the vectors?

[[Ch...]]

Plane1 is set to "Recall Feature". Is this intentional? If not, it could be the issue. Just redefine the strategy for Plane1. Also, I try to never use periods in Base alignment names. Not sure if it still does but years ago it caused issues, so I just got in the habit of not including them in the name.

[[Ch...]]

Sorry, Eric already raised the question on the "Recall Feature"