Editor’s Pick: FARO VantageE Laser Tracker

Dear DE Reader:

If you needed a sedan to commute to work and bought an Abrams tank instead because that’s all the dealer had, you might have made a wise safety decision, assuming the other drivers are as loony there as they are here in Dallas. But that would be overdoing it. The same thing can happen with hardware purchases. Today’s Pick of the Week is about a right-sized laser scanning tool for applications like quality inspection, tool building, alignment and reverse engineering.

3D measurement, imaging solutions and metrology software developer FARO recently announced the FARO Vantage^E Laser Tracker, the newest member of its Vantage Laser Tracker line of portable CMMs (coordinate measuring machines). It’s a lower-cost version of FARO’s premium Vantage Laser Tracker, only it’s engineered for enterprises with scanning applications that do not require an extended measurement range but definitely need the performance of the premium unit.

The Vantage^E is intended for short- to medium-range applications, which means its provides you a measurement range of up to 82 ft. (25 m) to work in. In comparison, the premium Vantage Laser Tracker can handle short- to long-range measurement applications of up to 262 ft. (80 m). Both offer accuracy of up to 0.0006 in. (0.015 mm).

Both of these two-camera laser trackers let you scan and take measurements continuously. There’s a nifty video on the landing page at the end of today’s write-up showing you how this works. Basically, what you do is connect a Vantage Laser Tracker with one of FARO’s Super 6DoF (Degrees of Freedom) TrackArm solutions and one or more FARO ScanArm. The Vantage tracks a spherical optical probe across the surface of your part, object or assembly.

FARO’s newest Vantage Laser Tracker portable CMM (coordinate measuring machine) is designed for short- to medium-range measurement applications of up to 82 ft. (25 m). Image courtesy of FARO.

The Vantage Laser Trackers come ready for wireless communications, have a special carrying case and fully support FARO’s line of 3D metrology software, including CAM2 Measure inspection software. In other words, with either of the Vantage Laser Trackers you can have a portable, integrated 3D measurement system that’s the right size for your needs regardless of most typical measuring ranges.

You can learn more about the Vantage^E and the premium Vantage Laser Trackers from today’s Pick of the Week write-up. Hit the link at the end of the main write-up to go to a dedicated web page where you can check out more features and read up on the software. Good stuff.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, DE