VAST Adapter with Scale

[[Da...]]

From browsing this forum it seems clear that the chip ID feature is pretty much universally disliked and is wrought with problems. Instead of having a pcb on the adapter plate that sits there and does nothing, I'd much rather have that replaced with something that has angular scale markings. Add some additional markings to the magnetic steel plate and you have yourself a nice little vernier scale that you can use to set a precise rotation of the cube.
Has anyone done anything like this with their existing adapters or is this something that you think would be useful?
I'm curious to know everyone's thoughts on this.

VAST Adapter Plate Assembly.JPG

[[Me...]]

I suppose if you had access to a laser marker and wanted to modify existing plates, you could put the scale around the cube similar to what ITP does on their Easy! plates. Another relatively inexpensive option would be to pick up the "Cube Squared Plus" from Q-Mark.
https://qmarkdirect.com/epages/9aa7a105-b791-4fba-a1ac-b71d46ec4c64.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/9aa7a105-b791-4fba-a1ac-b71d46ec4c64/Products/1244/

I always figured that Zeiss never implemented something like this in order to push the FixAssist, which I personally like. It comes in handy for knuckles & rotary elements, but the convenience is not cheap, and is often a difficult sell to the "bean counters".

[[No...]]

I don't know what would happen if you replace the PCB with something else. If you try, better don't use metal or you might short-circuit the two spring-loaded contact pins on the VAST head and possibly damage whatever electronics sits behind them. If it has to be metal, leave a gap where the pins are.

I'm not 100% sure what will happen if the head can't make contact to the ID chip (even if ID sensing is off). All I know is that we had problems (error messages) with various plates over the years and cleaning the two contact pads on the PCB from corrosion seemed to fix them. Maybe it's for a reason why itp and others put the scale on the bottom side of the plate.

[[De...]]

I can only speak to what happens on our machines. We only have Prismo's. On the Prismo's if the contacts do not contact anything the plate is recognized and the stylus system will be able to be used. If they contact bare metal it will throw an error and the plate will be unusable.

[[Ow...]]

I have one of the the ITP Easy 001 adapters .
https://www.itpstyli.com/OnlineShop/Pro ... M5MEASY001

It's adjustable in 15° increments and much easier than loosening the 3 bolts and it does come with the chip (which I don't use).
You can't see them in the pictures I'm attaching (not great pic's) but, it has ball bearings in the rotating part.

ITP Styli Rotating Plate-2.jpg

[[Da...]]

The ITP adapters are interesting. Do you notice any difference in error between it and a regular standard adapter when qualifying?

[[Ri...]]

Interesting on hearing issues with the ID Chip on the MT Plates. I've encountered issues with the XXT Plates, but that typically is from dirt and debris getting on the plate (especially DuraMax machines in not-so-great enivornments).

I'd love to see the angular positioning added to the MT Plates, and I'd also like to see the location of the screws changed to match where they are on the XTR Plates (on the bottom side, so you can adjust the plate while on the Probe Head)

[[Ow...]]

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No.
This particular plate is currently composed of 5 stylus, one 3mm dia down probe with a 120mm x 20mm dia titanium extension and four 3mm probes with 11 dia x 100 mm titanium extensions and the S value is less than .001 mm on all of them.

[[De...]]

The following was what I came up with a few years ago for dealing with this, I drew this up and milled it on the face of a 4x4x4 Cast Iron Angle Plate.

I modeled it so it mounts the plate on the same three carbide rolls that locate it in the machine head.

I mount the probe and clamp it using the clamp shown.

Then I indicate the stylus tip shanks with a height stand on a surface plate to verify alignment.

There are two sets of 3 v-slots located 90 degrees from each other to allow mounting the probe in 'square' to the plate.

This allows me to use this for probe positions parallel with the machine axes easily, if the probes need to be at a given angle, that is also easily accomplished by using a sin plate to hold the fixture.

The nice thing is this allows you to measure the actual probe shank for squareness, rather than counting on the mounting faces of the plate. A lot of the probes and extensions are not square and I have even mounted probes on opposing faces of a 25mm titanium cube and had them be out of parallel to one another by up to 0.006 over approx. 2.2 inches. Using this fairly simple fixture has allowed me to make sure our stylus systems balance out the error that is built into the stylus system components.

The through hole allows for tightening the screws once the stylii are aligned.