Table of Contents

Using a Wrist Device ....................................................................................................... 1

Using a Wrist Device: Introduction ............................................................................... 1

Wrist Installation .......................................................................................................... 1

Notes for Renishaw PHS with Leitz Interface........................................................... 1

Tip Calibration.............................................................................................................. 2

New Probe File......................................................................................................... 2

Calibrating a "L"-Shape Star Probe with a Wrist Map .............................................. 3

Calibrate the Unit for Infinite Wrist Devices ................................................................. 6

Wrist Calibration ....................................................................................................... 7

Qualification Check ...................................................................................................... 9

Home the Unit............................................................................................................ 10

Using the Wrist in a Measurement Routine ............................................................... 11

Option 1 ................................................................................................................. 12

Option 2 ................................................................................................................. 12

Option 3 ................................................................................................................. 12

Calibrating and Using a CJoint Device ...................................................................... 12

CJoint Tip Calibration Information .......................................................................... 13

CJoint Calibration Procedure for Infinite Third Axis Wrist Devices ......................... 13

Calculate Error Map for CJoint ............................................................................... 15

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Using a Wrist Device
Using a Wrist Device: Introduction
PC-DMIS provides complete support for calibrating and using infinitely indexable wrist
devices such as the Renishaw PHS, the DEA CW43, and the DEA CW43L as well as
devices provided by other manufacturers.

The main topics in this chapter include:

• Wrist Installation
• Tip Calibration
• Calibrate the Unit
• Qualification Check
• Home the Unit
• Using the Wrist in a Measurement Routine
• Calibrating and Using a CJoint Device

Wrist Installation
If a wrist is installed on your CMM, PC-DMIS adds A and B axes to the Probe Readouts
window where the X, Y, and Z values are normally displayed. The wrist option must be
turned on in the LMS license or portlock for PC-DMIS to enable the wrist support. In
addition, you may need to set certain registry entry values. Because of the variety of
infinite wrists and interfaces supported, you should consult with your software vendor for
specifics on what PC-DMIS registry entries need to be changed (see the "Modifying
Registry Entries" appendix for information on using the PC-DMIS Settings Editor to
modify registry entries).

PC-DMIS automatically queries the controller and determines that the wrist is present.

Notes for Renishaw PHS with Leitz Interface

When you are using the kinematics mount for the Renishaw wrist, you need to set the
RenishawKinematicMount registry entry to 1 in the Option section of the PC-DMIS
Settings Editor. For information on modifying registry entries, please view the "Modifying
Registry Entries" appendix.

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 Using a Wrist Device

When the system starts, PC-DMIS asks if the PHS Wrist is mounted on the CMM. PC-
DMIS only asks this question when the controller has just been powered on. Once you
inform PC-DMIS what is on the end of the arm, it does not ask the question again until it
senses the controller has been shut down and restarted. When you have the wrist
mounted, PC-DMIS adds A and B axes to the Probe Readouts window. This is in
addition to the X, Y, Z axis readouts that are normally displayed.

The Probe Readouts window does not reflect the value changes until you run
PC-DMIS after click Yes to the question regarding the PHS Wrist.

Tip Calibration
Tip calibration assumes that you have already calibrated the wrist. It does not need to
be done for the tip that is used to calibrate the wrist. Tip calibration is done
automatically for the tip used to calibrate the wrist.

The purpose of tip calibration is to calculate the distance from the last joint's center point
(A joint) to the tip center. Theoretically, measuring one tip AB combination is sufficient
for PC-DMIS to compute this distance once the wrist is calibrated. However, to get
better accuracy, it's a good idea to measure more than one AB combination so that PC-
DMIS can average the computed tip offsets.

New Probe File

Once you have calibrated the wrist, you can change the tip attached to the wrist and do
a tip calibration.

To calibrate a new tip on the wrist:

1. Access the Probe Utilities dialog box by selecting the Insert | Hardware
Definition | Probe menu option.
2. Make sure the probe description matches the new tip that you have loaded.
3. Select one or more AB combinations from the Active Tip list that correspond to
this new tip. If a desired AB combination is not in the list, you can add it by
selecting the Add Angles button. You must select at least one AB combination
from the tip list in order to calibrate the tip. If you select more than one, PC-DMIS
averages the results to get a more accurate tip offset.

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Tip Calibration

4. Once you select the desired tips, click the Measure button. The Measure Probe
dialog box appears so you can set the number of hits; the prehit and retract
values; and the speeds.
5. From the Options to Calibrate area, select the Calibrate Tips option.
6. Set any other desired parameters. For more information on the Measure Probe
dialog box, see the "Measure" topic.
7. Click the Measure button.

PC-DMIS will begin to measure the sphere with the selected AB angle combinations.

Calibrating a "L"-Shape Star Probe with a Wrist Map

If you need to calibrate a star probe that uses a wrist map, you must perform a specific
sequence of operations. You must also pay particular attention when you set the wrist
rotation angles. Consider this example which shows how to calibrate a typical "L"-shape
star probe configuration with a wrist map:

Overview

A star probe is not always composed of all five tips. Star probes often have only two
tips. One tip connects along the central axis of the wrist. The second tip connects to an
empty connection point to form an "L"-shape configuration like this:

Example of an "L"-shaped star probe formed from two tips

To calibrate the star probe, you must define at least five wrist rotations (AB angles) and
then measure the calibration tool with those rotations.

The wrist must already be mapped. Also, from the Probe Utilities dialog box (Insert |
Hardware Definition | Probe), you must mark the Use wrist map if available check
box. This ensures that PC-DMIS uses the wrist map and takes a sufficient number of
measurements on the calibration tool to calibrate the star probe.

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 Using a Wrist Device

Define Wrist Five Rotation Angles

Example of a star probe defined with five wrist rotations (AB angles)

• On the ARM2 arm, the wrist holds a probe that has two tips: T1 (the central tip)
and T2 (the side tip). These form an "L" configuration.
• When the wrist rotates to A = 0 and B = 0, T1 has a Y- direction, and T2 has Z+
direction.

You already start with one AB wrist rotation on your current tip. To get the minimum of
five wrist rotations, you need to add four more wrist rotations that to later measure the
calibration sphere. This provides the best distribution of points during the calibration
process.

When you define the four rotations, you can unintentionally define rotation values (AB
angles) that can calibrate T1, but cannot calibrate T2. To avoid this, take care to choose
the most suitable values for the direction of the T2 tip.

You should choose rotation angles that allow T2 to always touch the calibration tool but
won't collide with the tool's stem.

To accomplish this, the above example adds these wrist angles:

• A = -90, B = 0
• A = -90, B = 180
• A = -90, B = -90
• A = -90, B = 90

With these additional wrist angles, during calibration T2 always touches the calibration
sphere, but it never collides with the calibration sphere's stem.

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Tip Calibration

Once PC-DMIS detects these new tips in the Active tip list, it automatically creates an
additional five tips. This gives you a total of ten tips: five tips with an identifier of "T1",
and five tips with an identifier of "T2".

Calibrate Mapped Wrist

Once the ten wrist rotations appear in the Active tip list, you can calibrate them. To
calibrate, you must measure the calibration sphere separately for each group of T1 and
T2 tips.

You can use the AUTOCALIBRATE command to invoke the parameter sets for each
group. The image below shows two parameter sets (UPDATE_T1 and UPDATE_T2)
that combine the respective rotations for T1 and T2:

Example of a Star Probe with parameters UPDATE_T1 and UPDATE_T2

Calibrate Non-Mapped Wrist

If the star probe was calibrated without a mapped wrist, you can calibrate the T1 and T2
tip list in the traditional method.

Example of a Star Probe without a wrist map

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 Using a Wrist Device

You can use a custom parameter set with the AUTOCALIBRATE command to measure
all ten tips in the list on the calibration sphere.

The example above shows a parameter set named CALIBRATE_TIPS for this purpose.

Calibrate the Unit for Infinite Wrist

Devices

When you have an indexable wrist on the CMM, PC-DMIS allows the Calibrate the
Unit and Home the Unit options in the Type of Operation area of the Measure Probe
dialog box.

Measure Probe dialog box showing Calibrate the unit and Home the unit

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Calibrate the Unit for Infinite Wrist Devices

This wrist calibration is only done with a single stylus, not star probes. After
PC-DMIS completes this calibration, you can use any angular position of the wrist in
new probe files by calibrating a minimum of one probe angle. For additional information,
see "Calibrate the Unit" under the "Type of Operation area" topic. See the "Calibrating
Probe Tips" topic in the PC-DMIS CMM documentation for general information about
calibrating probes.

The Calibrate the Unit option calibrates the wrist. It only works with single-arm
configurations. It measures several angles on a sphere to determine the internal
distances within the wrist itself. Once this information is calculated, PC-DMIS uses it to
accurately predict the tip position at any A, B angle pair. This allows you to use any A, B
angle in your measurement routine without calibrating each individual position.

Be sure you type your desired measurement values in the Measure Probe
dialog box for the sphere measurement, and select the qualification tool before you
measure with the Calibrate the Unit option selected. From the Measure Probe dialog
box, you can set the number of hits, the probe prehit and retract distances, and various
speeds used in the measurement process. For more information on the Measure Probe
dialog box's options, see "Measure" in the "Defining Hardware" chapter.

Wrist Calibration

In order to calibrate the wrist, you need to measure at least three A angle positions and
at least three B angle positions for a total of nine sphere measurements (each A angle
position must be measured at every B position). The Wrist calibration area of the
Measure Probe dialog box gives you the ability to specify the angles for calibrating both
the A and the B axes. The first three options are for calibrating the A joint.

For information on using the Wrist calibration area to define the AB angle positions,
see the "Wrist Calibration area" topic in the "PC-DMIS CMM" documentation.

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 Using a Wrist Device

When using a Renishaw PHS, every time there’s an interruption in electrical

power to the PHS controller, you must either perform a wrist calibration; or in the
Measure Probe dialog box, from the Type of Operation area, select Home the Unit
and click Measure again.

Caution When Using SP600 Probes

For most probe types on an infinite wrist, the wrist device calibrates a zone of angles
and approximates the rest. However, if you have an SP600 probe on an infinite wrist,
the SP600 probe needs its own deflection matrix. You must, therefore, calibrate each
AB tip angle that wasn't part of the original mapping process or suffer inaccurate results
in your measurements.

Calculate Error Map

Normally, wrist devices are calibrated at relatively small increments (such as 20

degrees). When you calibrate an infinitely indexable wrist, and the Calibrate the Unit
check box is selected on the Measure Probe dialog box, PC-DMIS automatically
creates a wrist error compensation file named abcomp.dat that it uses to correct for
angular errors in the wrist. Creating an error map increases the accuracy of the wrist
when used to measure at positions not previously calibrated by allowing PC-DMIS to
interpolate the probing offsets.

After calculating the error map, the results are stored on your computer’s hard drive so
that any time you use the wrist, it takes advantage of the improved angular accuracy.
You should only calculate the error map periodically (once a week or less), or as
necessary. When calculating the error map, PC-DMIS also performs a valid wrist and tip
calibration for the currently loaded probe file.

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Qualification Check

You should do a wrist calibration each time the mounting of the wrist changes.
Also, refer to your hardware and vendor information for all appropriate times to map a
wrist since this can change based on device construction and manufacturer
recommendations.

Once the infinitely indexable wrist device is calibrated and a wrist error map file exists,
you need to tell PC-DMIS to use the error map file. To do this, from the Probe Utilities
dialog box, select the Use Wrist Map If Available check box (For information on this
check box, see the "Use Wrist Map If Available check box" topic in the "Defining
Hardware" chapter). You can then create and use any position of new probe files with a
minimum of calibrations.

To do this, create a new probe file and perform a normal tip calibration using at least
one probe position on the qualification tool that maintains a link to probe file used during
the Calibrate the Unit process. However, you need to use more than one probe
position for this calibration to provide a better "fitting" of the probe offset data to the wrist
error matrix. This is especially true if you indent to utilize several wrist positions in the
new probe file.

Failure to maintain a link to the probe file used during wrist mapping results in
measurement errors.

Qualification Check

Type of Operation area showing Qualification Check option

After you calibrate the unit, a qualification check is recommended, but not required.
Performing a qualification check provides you with information regarding the general
accuracy of the wrist calibration and future measurements. You can also use a
qualification check to check the errors of new tips added to new probe files.

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 Using a Wrist Device

To perform a qualification check:

1. Access the Probe Utilities dialog box by selecting the Insert | Hardware
Definition | Probe menu option.
2. On the Probe Utilities dialog box, from the Active Tip list, select the angles you
wish to use for the qualification check. You should select probe angles both used
and not used in the wrist calibration.
3. Click the Measure button to open the Measure Probe dialog box.
4. Provide the parameters you wish to use during the calibration check including
selecting the appropriate calibration tool.
5. From the Type of Operation area, select the Qualification Check option.
6. Click the Measure button.
7. Follow any on-screen instructions.

Home the Unit

Type of Operation area showing the Home the Unit option

Some wrist devices, such as the Renishaw PHS, do not have predefined zero positions
and use potentiometers instead of scales to position the wrist. These types of wrist
devices need to have the zero redefined every time power to the probe head controller
is interrupted. To redefine the wrist zero position, you may choose the Calibrate the
Unit option (For information see the "Tip Calibration" topic discussed in this chapter) or
the Home the Unit option.

Selecting Home the Unit calculates the angular error offset from the previously
calculated wrist zero position by qualifying one or more probe angles on a previously
calibrated sphere position. The advantage of this is you can use a minimum of one
probe tip angle thereby making the process much faster than a wrist calibration.

Since PC-DMIS averages the errors of the homing procedure to provide a more
accurate adjustment to the wrist error map, you use more than one probe angle to
accomplish the Home the Unit operation.

To perform a Home the Unit operation:

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Using the Wrist in a Measurement Routine

1. Access the Probe Utilities dialog box by selecting the Insert | Hardware
Definition | Probe menu option.
2. Select the same probe file that was used to calibrate the unit.
3. From the Active Tip list, select the angles you wish to use for the calibration
check
4. Click the Measure button to open the Measure Probe dialog box.
5. Provide the parameters you wish to use during the calibration check. Also select
the same calibration tool used during the Calibrate the Unit operation.
6. From the Type of Operation area, select the Home the Unit option.
7. Click the Measure button.

After calibrating the unit and prior to homing the unit, do not move the
calibration sphere. If it is moved, you must re-calibrate the unit (for information on
calibrating the unit, see the "Tip Calibration" topic in this chapter).

Using the Wrist in a Measurement

Routine
On machines that support it, PC-DMIS automatically senses when the wrist has been
rotated with the jog box. The tip offsets are dynamically updated based on the current
AB angles. That is, the XYZ readout displays the current tip position as it is being
rotated. There are four ways (discussed below) to add a new AB tip combination into a
measurement routine.

Once you have added a new AB tip combination into your measurement routine by
using one of the options below, PC-DMIS displays the active tip as programmed in the
measurement routine in Probe Tips list on the Settings toolbar (View | Toolbars |
Settings). The selected item is the same as the TIP/ command above where the
cursor is in the Edit window.

To move the wrist to this AB angle combination, from the Settings toolbar, pull down
and choose the probe from the Probe Tips list. PC-DMIS asks if you want to rotate the
probe. A Yes response rotates the wrist to the desired position. This is useful when you
want to go back and insert measurements and moves into the measurement routine.

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 Using a Wrist Device

Option 1
In the Probe Utilities dialog box (Insert | Hardware Definition | Probe), select the
Add Angles option. You can use this option to key in new AB angle pairs to the probe
file. If the tip is already calibrated, then the new AB combinations are also calibrated
and made ready to use. Once you leave the Probe Utilities dialog box, you can use
these new AB combinations by selecting them from the Probe Tips list located on the
Settings toolbar (View | Toolbars | Settings).

Option 2
Manually jog the wrist to the desired AB angles using the jog box. When you reach the
desired position, press the Store Move button on the jog box, or take a manual probing.
The current AB angles are read automatically. If the A or B angles have changed by
more than the PH9 Wrist Warning Delta value available on the Part/Machine tab of
the Setup Options dialog box (Edit | Preferences | Setup) then PC-DMIS
automatically adds the current AB angles to the Probe Tips list and inserts a TIP/
command in the measurement routine. The new TIP/ command is added to the
measurement routine before the stored move or manual probing. When the
measurement routine is then executed, PC-DMIS first changes the tip before moving to
the programmed location.

For information on the Wrist Warning Delta option, see the "Automatically Adjust Probe
Head Wrist" topic in the "Setting your Preferences" chapter.

Option 3
Type a TIP/ command in the Edit window. Once you finish editing the vector, PC-DMIS
calculates the best AB combinations that put the tip shank parallel to that vector.

The Auto Wrist icon in the Measurement Properties area in the Auto Feature dialog
box is available if your measurement routine has a wrist probe. You can use this icon to
enable PC-DMIS to determine the best wrist position to use when an Auto Feature is
measured. For more information, see "Auto Wrist".

Calibrating and Using a CJoint Device

PC-DMIS provides complete support for calibrating and using a three continuous axes
wrist obtained by mounting a CJoint device on the DEA CW43L wrist.

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Calibrating and Using a CJoint Device

If a CJOINT is installed on your DEA CW43L wrist, PC-DMIS adds A, B, and C axes to
the X, Y, and Z values that are normally displayed in the Probe Readouts window.

The following sub topics are available to help you calibrate your CJoint device.

• Tip Calibration Information

• CJoint Calibration Procedure for Infinite Third Axis Wrist Devices
• Calculate Error Map for CJoint

CJoint Tip Calibration Information

The purpose of tip calibration is to calculate the distance from the second joint's center
point (the A joint’s center) to the star probe’s tip center. You may want to measure more
than one AB combination so that PC-DMIS can average the star tip offsets computed,
resulting in better accuracy in reaching the sphere when the CJoint calibration cycle is
performed.

Before proceeding, verify the following:

• You should already have calibrated the AB wrist device; and the files named
acomp(s).dat and wrist(m)(s).dat should exist on your computer’s hard drive.
• You need to mount a star probe on the CJoint device with the tip pointing in the
X+ direction. PC-DMIS uses this tip to calibrate the CJoint. Tip calibration in this
case does need to be done.

You can also obtain the AB calibration map with the CJoint mounted on the
wrist. This increases the accuracy of angle position computations for any A,B, and C
angle combinations.

CJoint Calibration Procedure for Infinite Third Axis

Wrist Devices
The Calibrate CJoint option allows you to calibrate the third axis of the wrist. Once this
information is calculated, PC-DMIS uses it, together with the AB calibration data, to
predict the tip position at any A, B, and C angle combinations for a probe that needs to
be installed on a CJoint device, such as a Perceptron probe.

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 Using a Wrist Device

Type of Operation area showing the Calibrate CJoint option selected

To Calibrate using the CJoint Option

1. Ensure that you have already performed the preliminary steps discussed in the
"CJoint Tip Calibration Information" topic of this chapter.
2. Select Insert | Hardware Definition | Probe to display the Probe Utilities dialog
box.
3. Click the Measure button to open the Measure Probe dialog box.
4. From the Type of Operation area, select the Calibrate CJoint option. Selecting
this item enables the Wrist Calibration area if the appropriate wrist entries from
the Option section in the PC-DMIS Settings Editor are set to 1 (either DEAWrist
or RENISHAWWrist).
5. Ensure that you have a star probe configuration connected, with a tip pointing in
the X+ direction.
6. From the Available Tools list, select a sphere qualification tool
7. Type the desired measurement values for the sphere qualification.
8. Set the number of hits, the probe pre-hit and retract distances, and various
speeds.
9. Fill out the Wrist Calibration area. In order to calibrate the C joint, you need to
measure at least three C angle positions. This gives you the ability to specify the
angles for calibrating the A, B, and C axes. The Start, Increment, and Angle
boxes for the C row are for calibrating the C joint.

• C Angle Start defines the starting C angle used for the calibration of your
wrist's C joint. The default value is -180.
• C Angle End defines the ending C angle used for the calibration of your C
joint. The default value is 180.
• C Angle Increment defines the angle increment between the starting and
ending C angles. Angles are calibrated for your C joint device for the
starting, ending, and additional angles based on the increment value. For
example, an increment angle of 10 degrees adds angles for calibration
every 10 degrees between the starting and ending angle. The default
value is 10.

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Calibrating and Using a CJoint Device

Be sure that the wrist's A Angle Start and B Angle Start are set to 0
when you calibrate a C joint device.

10. When you are ready, click the Measure button to start the calibration process.

Calculate Error Map for CJoint

Normally, wrist devices are calibrated at relatively small angle increments (such as 20
degrees). When you calibrate a continuous third axis of a wrist, with the Calibrate
CJoint option selected, PC-DMIS automatically creates a wrist error compensation file
named ccomp(s).dat that it uses, together with abcomp(s).dat, to correct for angular
errors in the three axes wrist.

After calculating the error map, the results are stored on your computer’s hard drive so
that any time you use the wrist, it will take advantage of the improved angular accuracy.

Recalculating the Error Map

Generally, you should only need to calculate the error map periodically (once a week or
less). However, you should perform a wrist calibration each time the mounting of the
wrist changes and at other times recommended by hardware and vendor information.
This varies based on device construction and manufacturer recommendations.

15