Knocked off Star Probe

[[Pe...]]

If a star probe is knocked off sideways due to a programming error on a VAST XT and knocks off the entire adapter plate from the head, do you think there's any damage to the head?

Asking for a friend. 🤠

[[No...]]

The VAST XT head is quite susceptible to damage from collisions like this. Our Contura is 20 years old (running 3-shift) and during that time we had the head replaced nearly 10 times because of hard collisions. The main problem is not the mechanics but the damping. Damping is what makes the probe settle quickly after movement. It usually survives one or two hard collisions, but the more often it happens, the worse damping gets. When it's worn out, settling takes longer and longer, until one day it doesn't work anymore.
Another thing that can fail out of the blue is the taring function. The head is then no longer able to compensate the probe weight.
Both issues require a new head.

[[Er...]]

Really? We have two vast xt, and one of them are operated by a brain damage. It has taken more punishment then Connor McGregors sandbag. It's like a tank, no a bomb shelter. Still measuring fast and perfect.

I smashed it like hell, when it was new. We bought one of the first really fast ACCURA 2's, and I was trying to shave off inspection time on a blade. The probe configuration flew over 2 meters... Scared the sh*t out of me, never seen any CMM move that fast back then. 🤣

The HSS is in my opition even tougher. One head tought, was bent to a banana shape by an operator. (He shut the collision detection off!) That one did die.... But the machine stayed square 😱

But many seems to have problem with thier heads. I have never experienced any issues. Guess the best stuff is shipped to Sweden?

[[Mi...]]

Judging by the abuse our XT heads take on 4 shop floor Gagemax CMMs, and 2 Contura's. You're fine. Recalibrate and keep going. You'll know if you have a problem by high S values and problems balancing. If it's starting to take longer than usual to balance, get ready to buy a new head.

One of our Contura's runs ver 4.0 and likes to forget what it's holding, "Stylus not defined" in the middle of programs, it then travels full speed in +Y usually and takes the stylus system right off. It's never caused a functional problem. I've seen it send the system across the room.

The worst type of collisions are in Z. If you smash the probe system straight down into the part or table then you can almost guarantee you're replacing it.

[[No...]]

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The XT Gold is said to be more robust than the normal XT, but that has yet to be proven. Some time ago we replaced the XTs on both our machines with Gold types. They're still good.
I doubt they ship the best stuff to Sweden 😉 , but once a new head goes belly up, the standard replacement is a reworked one unless you explicitly order an expensive brand-new head. I once received two replacement heads in succession with a twisted probe holder. So if your company is cash-strapped, you're often condemned to second class after your first head died.

[[Da...]]

I ripped a probe and plate out of an XTR on a micura ! Takes a licking..... 😃

I bash it around all the time, Still works fine !

[[No...]]

I *really* hope they improved the newer heads and what I read here sounds promising, but I won't believe it before our new heads last at least 5 years without failure. 😡 I'm in this job too long to cherish illusions. Some heads last longer than others and not every collision does equal damage.
I guess Zeiss has a good reason why they log every collision in the controller and deny warranty if a faulty head had more than a certain limit of hi-speed collisions.

[[Ow...]]

My experience correlates with Norberts on the Accura 1 and the smaller Vast XT active head. A company I worked for bought one brand new in 2005 and after it was set and fully calibrated, a representative/trainer (not Zeiss) from the company we bought it from accidently run the actual head (not the stylus system) into a probe rack running in the Y axis and knocked it significantly out of square. Zeiss had to come in and reset it. We run 2 to 3 shifts a minimum of 20 hours a day for the 8 years I was there and the vast XT head was replaced 3 times.
I've been running a Vast Gold on an accura II for 6 years and knock on wood, no problems whatsoever. That said, I'm the only one that uses it and I have only knocked a stylus system off 1 time when I missed a decimal place on the approach parameters after loading and it went up before it cleared the rack.