Design of a calibration system for measuring probes

The probe is a major component of CMM. New high precision designs are available. In the corresponding literature little information can be found about the 3D calibration of these probes. The paper gives an overview of the novel probe designs, outlines the construction of a 3D calibration system, discusses it´s error sources, their contribution to the measuring uncertainty. A facility has been developed to calibrate analogue probes to an accuracy of 0,02 mum. A high precision three-axis translation stage moves the probe stylus and the position of the stage is determined by three mutually-orthogonal plane mirror laser inter-ferometer transducers. The coordinates indicated by the probe are compared with the co-ordinates indicated by the interferometers and the errors of the probe are then calculated. The working volume of is 100 x 100 x 100 mum. The full measurement strategy and design considerations are discussed and results are given to demonstrate its performance.