Double cone stylus, touch probe, and method of calibrating double cone stylus

• US 9,341,460 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2013
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitutoyo Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitutoyo Corporation
• Inventors: Takahama, Yasuhiro, Miyazaki, Tomoyuki, Kurihara, Masaki, Arai, Masanori
• Primary Examiner(s): FULTON, CHRISTOPHER W
• Application Number:
  US14/056,321
• Publication Number:
  US 20140109420A1
• Time in Patent Office: 943 Days
• Field of Search: 335/02, 335/03, 335/56, 335/59, 73/17.9
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/042 Calibration or calibration artifacts G01B3/30, G01B9/02072 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 5/012 Contact-making feeler heads therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 5/016 Constructional details of contacts
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 7/012 Contact-making feeler heads therefor

Abstract

A double cone stylus includes a shank and a double cone-shaped tip attached to the tip end of the shank, the double cone-shaped tip being a rotationally symmetric body obtained by rotating a triangle having a base extending along the shank around the shank as the symmetric rotation axis. The double cone stylus allows the shape of an inner wall surface of a measurement object with the inner wall surface retracted from an upper reference plane to be measured from above.

Claims

1. A method of calibrating a double cone stylus included in at least one of a coordinate measuring machine and a contour measuring machine including a touch probe having the double cone stylus attached to a tip end thereof, the method comprising, when dimensions of a stylus tip of the double cone stylus are calibrated:

disposing a master ball with a calibration value in the at least one of the coordinate measuring machine and the contour measuring machine;

performing touch measurement on the master ball using the touch probe to acquire a center position and a radius of the master ball;

computing a radius of the stylus tip in a horizontal direction;

performing touch measurement to determine a position of an apex of the master ball using the touch probe to acquire a height of the apex of the master ball; and

computing a radius of the stylus tip in a height direction.

2. The method of calibrating the double cone stylus according to claim 1, wherein

the radius of the stylus tip in the horizontal direction is computed by:

determining provisional values of the center position of the master ball using values measured near the apex of the master ball;

performing measurement on the master ball along search lines extending in a vertical direction around an equator of the master ball that is determined from the provisional values of the center position to thereby determine final values of the center position of the master ball and a final value of the radius of the master ball; and

computing the radius of the stylus tip in the horizontal direction using the final value of the radius of the master ball, and

wherein the radius of the stylus tip in the height direction is computed by performing touch measurement at the center position of the master ball to determine the position of the apex of the master ball.

3. A method of calibrating a double cone stylus included in at least one of a coordinate measuring machine and a contour measuring machine including a vision probe and a touch probe having the double cone stylus attached to a tip end thereof, the method comprising, when dimensions of a stylus tip of the double cone stylus and an offset between the touch probe and the vision probe are calibrated:

disposing a master ball with a calibration value and a ring gauge on the at least one of the coordinate measuring machine and the contour measuring machine; and

performing measurement sequentially on the master ball and the ring gauge using the touch probe and the vision probe to calibrate the dimensions of the stylus tip and the offset between the touch probe and the vision probe.

4. The method of calibrating the double cone stylus according to claim 3, wherein an offset distance between the vision probe and the touch probe is computed by performing measurement on the ring gauge using the vision probe and the touch probe sequentially.

5. The method of calibrating the double cone stylus according to claim 4, wherein the offset distance is an offset distance between the vision probe and the touch probe in a horizontal direction computed by:

measuring a circle center position of the ring gauge using the vision probe; and

measuring the circle center position of the ring gauge using the touch probe.

6. The method of calibrating the double cone stylus according to claim 4, wherein the offset distance is an offset distance between the vision probe and the touch probe in a height direction computed by:

measuring a position of an upper surface of the ring gauge using the vision probe; and

measuring a height when the touch probe touches the upper surface of the ring gauge.