Chapter 7. Working in TOP View (Optional Feature)
Chapter 7. Working in TOP View (Optional Feature)
Note: While scanning in ENCODED or TIMED mode, TOP View data is first added to the display screen, which
contains data acquired while the scanning the approximate distance listed in the DISPLAY LENGTH Function
box. When the screen is full, as it is in Figure 68, the initial data “scrolls” into the instrument’s data buffer.
When the buffer is full the scanning process automatically stops, requiring the operator to take action before
the data is overwritten. At any time, the TOP View scanning process can be stopped, allowing on-screen and
buffered data to be stored. Storing the data in a data set erases the data buffer. Therefore, if analysis and
review of acquired data is to be performed directly on the instrument, it should be accomplished before the
data set is stored (Section 7.4).
Note: The TOP View quadrature encoder controls the collection of TOP View data in two ways. First, data is only
collected while the encoder wheel is turning (i.e., while the probe is moving over the test piece). Second, the
encoder allows data to be overwritten when its direction of travel is reversed. For instance, moving the probe
and encoder forward over a distance of 10 cm, then reversing the probe’s movement by 2 cm, will cause the last
2 cm of forward-moving data to be replaced by the 2 cm of reverse-moving TOP View data.
While operating in TOP View mode, pressing switches the display’s menu bar from any currently active menu to
the Knob Emulator/TOP View Control Menu. This menu, shown in Figure 68 on page 153, allows the screen to be
frozen by pressing below STOP, or (in TIMED mode only) cleared by pressing below CLEAR. It also allows the
display to be cleared and restarted or to resume data collection from the point at which it was stopped. See Section 7.3
to work with a frozen TOP View Display or Section 7.4 to store the acquired TOP View data in a data set.