Option Not Available: Curve

[[Ni...]]

Good Morning,

Our company recently purchased a Contura Zeiss CMM machine based on the Zeiss's team recommendation and had some programs developed for us while the machine was installed. I went to the 4 day basic training and now am currently working on this CMM.
The program they made for us worked perfectly at the Zeiss facility but here in our CMM machine i am getting an error when it comes to Curves. I get the message "Option Not Available: CURVE"
Do I have to turn something on? Or is that something extra that needs to be purchased but were never made aware of?

I would love some help since I am new to programming on CMMs.

Thank You,
Nixon U

[[Me...]]

Its an extra feature you can buy from Zeiss.

What is the program checking, we may be able to help you with a work around.

[[Jo...]]

EXTRAS>SETTINGS>MISCELLANEOUS LICENSES TAB

It is an option with about $8k price tag ?

[[Ni...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

It is checking profile on an L shaped feature, that is a bit angled, using 3d curve. I will try to do a simplified drawing on paint as I am not sure if i'm allowed to post part of the blueprint per the company's policy.

[[Ni...]]

Feature that uses 3D Curve to measure profile. But our machine does not have that Curve Option.

profile.png

[[Ni...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

I don't see anything with a price tag. So this Curve feature is something that we don't have and need to buy or find a workaround?

license.PNG

[[Jo...]]

It doesn't look like you have it. Work arounds can be tough. Are you new to the company, and is there an established programmer above you ? It might be a hard sell to your employer to purchase it. It also really requires another week of training on top of Basic and Advanced.

[[Ni...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

I've been at the company for 5 years but just recently joined the Quality Tech position. I am new to CMM but have experience programming Vision Systems.
There are other two people with CMM experience but just PC-DMIS. Calypso is new to everyone here. But will get their input when they get here.

Selling the idea to buy this feature will be very hard considering that the machine was purchased per Zeiss's recommendation and programs created for us were supposed to be Plug and Play with our machine once it was setup.

Also what other training do you recommend besides the advance training.

[[Jo...]]

After Advance course, seat time is going to be the next step. If you can analyze some existing programs then start writing some simple ones yourself. My plan is to take the Curve/freeform course but it is only available in about 6-8 locations so requires travel, none are local to me. Hexagon had some free e-learning on metrology which will be helpful . Zeiss also has a few, and the Cookbook will guide best practices on programming. Not having Pc-dmis experience isn't going to hurt you as Calypso is a totally different approach. Basic metrology and GD&T knowledge helps because it is up to you to arrive at the correct measurement. Software is only the tool.

[[Me...]]

For the Form callout, talk with your engineers and let them know your current setup cannot handle this callout easily. Its easy to sell an engineer so they can help you get approved for the curve license. I'll do more research on a workaround but its slim. maybe one of the other experts on here can help?

as for class recommendations, Take advanced as well as a GD&T course (does not have to be by Zeiss, i had mine done at Honda). Then when you feel comfortable with your CMM, I recommend the Expert course. It may be limited in availability but has been the most helpful class I had.

[[Ow...]]

Call the representative you bought the CMM through or Call 1-800-327-9735 and talk to Zeiss.
If it was a turn-key purchase, they might of just forgot to load Curve from the disk and can give you a link to download it.

[[Jo...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

I think you download everything, just activate what you licensed for. Depending on when it was purchased I would definitely leverage that Turn Key idea for negotiating Curve price.

[[Me...]]

Please sign in to view this quote.

Curve is awesome and a must have, IMO. The plots alone are worth the price.

However, you don't need curve or any add-ons to measure profiles. You can measure virtually any profile by using Space Points and properly constructed alignments.

[[Er...]]

We had to check profile without the Curve license for years. The best work around that i have found is taking space points along the surfaces that have profile called out. Report the Space point distance (which reports how far the surface deviates from the model based on your alignment) for each point. I then would use a minimum result and maximum result to find the worst deviation away from the surface. This value doubled is essentially your profile result. It's not fun, because you have to take enough points to be confident the surfaces are within the profile limits, which means longer CMM program run times. Once you have the Min. and Max results, you can use a Result element to calculate the result for you. It would look something like this in the calculate formula box :
max(abs( getActual("Minimum1").actual),abs( getActual("Maximum1").actual))*2

This works great specifically for bilateral profile. Unilateral or Uneven profile becomes more difficult to calculate.

[[Er...]]

But, just like the others have said, Curve is a must. It has saved so much run time with our programs checking the surfaces with thousands of points in a lot less time. It only took me 8 years to convince my management team it was a necessary tool. Now i am hoping they will send me to the training class so I can learn it better. With it being an expensive class, they want to know it will be worth the time and money.