Considerations for Stylus Selection for Machine Touch Probes

The accuracy of machine tools has always been a major factor pursued by all professionals in the machine tool industry. In addition to relying on its own materials and exquisite craftsmanship, CNC machine tools can also use machine touch probes to improve the machining accuracy of machine tools. To make good use of the machine touch probe, it is necessary to choose suitable machine touch probe stylus to ensure that the machine touch probe can exert its precise measuring function. Therefore, the selection of machine touch probe stylus is very important.

Machine touch probes can be installed on most CNC machine tools such as CNC lathes, machining centers, and CNC grinding machines. In the processing cycle, there is no need for manual intervention. It directly measures the dimensions and positions of the tool or workpiece, and automatically corrects the offset of the workpiece or tool according to the measurement results, so that the same machine tool can process higher-precision parts.

As an important component of the important CNC machine tool measuring system used in conjunction with the machine touch probe, machine touch probe stylus is mainly composed of three parts: measuring ball, measuring rod, and measuring handle. It is an important executive element for measuring as a trigger-type sensor in the machine touch probe. The probe stylus is generally divided into ruby probe stylus, ceramic probe stylus, and stainless steel probe stylus according to the probe ball. According to the material of the measuring rod, it can be divided into ceramic, tungsten carbide, stainless steel, and carbon fiber.

Different types of machine touch probe stylus will also affect the measurement results of the machine touch probe. Therefore, when choosing machine touch probe stylus, you should learn to choose the best solution. And our Pioneer probe will be a good choice.

Select the corresponding machine touch probe stylus according to the different processing materials

For example, when we measure relatively hard workpieces, we can choose stainless steel probe stylus or tungsten carbide probe stylus with better rigidity to ensure that the machine touch probe stylus will not bend or bend too much during the probing measurement.

For example, when measuring some specific materials processing parts, we must always avoid adhesion wear between the machine touch probe stylus and the corresponding material. When measuring workpieces of aluminum or cast iron materials, if you choose a ruby machine touch probe stylus, adhesion wear will occur on the measuring ball, causing inaccurate measurement.

Select machine touch probe stylus according to the measurement accuracy requirements that the manufacturer needs to achieve

Generally speaking, the shorter the measuring rod, the larger the measuring ball diameter or the fewer components of the probe stylus, the higher the measuring accuracy of the machine touch probe. Because the longer the measuring rod of the machine touch probe stylus, the easier it is to bend or deform, affecting the measurement and probing results of the machine touch probe. Choosing a larger measuring ball diameter is because the larger the measuring ball diameter, the less likely it is to cause collision of the measuring rod during contact measurement, and it can also effectively reduce the influence of the corresponding measurement workpiece surface roughness on the measurement accuracy.

Choosing fewer probe stylus components is because when the probe stylus components increase, a connection point will be added to the probe stylus, and the more connection points, the more likely it is to cause bending and other conditions of the probe stylus. At the same time, too many components will cause the allowable probe stylus length and weight of the machine touch probe to exceed the standard, thereby affecting the measurement accuracy of the machine touch probe stylus.

Choose the appropriate probe stylus according to the actual vibration of the machine tool equipment where the probe needs to be installed

Many times, the selection of machine touch probe stylus does not take these into account, which often leads to the situation where the CNC machine tool is prone to fracture or breakage of the measuring rod on the machine touch probe due to excessive vibration, affecting the measurement results of the machine touch probe.

In general, for CNC machine tools with large vibrations, if a machine touch probe is used, carbon fiber measuring stylus with strong anti-vibration performance should be selected instead of ceramic rod measuring stylus with poor anti-vibration performance.