Z-Axis Spring Broken - Duramax with Vast XXT Head

[[Ja...]]

Well this is a first! Let me start by saying that I have already opened a support ticket with Zeiss and am waiting to hear back from them but wanted to see if any of you have experienced this before.

I was running parts on our Zeiss Duramax, nothing out of the ordinary, then I heard an alarming noise. Sounded like something was loose and rattling around anytime the Z-Axis was in motion. I then noticed a spring that was barely popping out the bottom of the cover. Very odd and concerning! So I then removed the Z-Axis front cover and found that the spring was completely loose with one of the hook ends broken or worn through. The other spring on the left side is still intact and I appear to have full range of motion with our CMM.

Besides needing to clean and grease the CMM axis and scales (judge away) any thoughts on this?

Is it something we can replace/install if we get the right spring ourselves through Zeiss or is this going to require a Zeiss tech to come out and do this with a full recalibration. Is the machine safe to run in the meantime if I take it slow and monitor everything or is this machine going to have to be considered down until we replace that broken spring? Definitely in a bit of a jam and right before the holidays. We do have another identical CMM so we aren't completely down but this is a nice kick in the you know whats.

 

[[Ja...]]

Issue has been at least temporarily resolved as we await our Zeiss Support ticket to be answered. Company ownership (they make the calls) chose to rebend the end of the broken spring into a hook and reinstall it. I am monitoring it and haven't had any issues and everything requalified without hiccups. Will report back if issue persists or Zeiss tech support has an action plan.