Editor’s Pick of the Week, 12 in a Series

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

One of the hassles of using an articulated arm CMM is that you have to be as limber as a yoga instructor to get an accurate scan. If you’re a circumferentially challenged person, such as I, bending and grunting to stripe the angles can be almost as irritating as the snickers of the younger set watching you struggling to get into position. A new 7-axis manual coordinate measuring arm (MCA) Metris launched last week at the Euromold exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany,  may have a solution to this bit of humiliation.

Metris says that its 7-axis MCA — called the I7 — is designed for full freedom laser scanning. By which they mean that the I7 moves freely and easily so that you can focus on the scanning and not the scanner. For example, it has a brake that locks the second axis of the arm into position and a counter balance for lightweight handling. Its handgrip even has integrated buttons to make the I7 easier to operate, and the I7‘s carbon fiber tubes make it lightweight.

Metris says that the unit’s accuracy is certified according to ISO 10360-2 or ASME B89 standards. I’m not sure of the I7, but the single-point accuracy of its 6-axis sibling ranges from 0.028mm to 0.062mm, depending upon model variants — models differ mainly in their laser stripe width. This makes the devices accurate for true metrology applications.

You can read more about the I7 MCA from today’s Pick of the Week write-up. There’s a link to the I7’s landing page in the write-up, although most of the current data online is for the 6-axis version. You’ll also find a link to sign up for the I7 brochure.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering magazine