Micro-Hite 05...problems with establishing a basic indirect reference plane...please help!

[steelweaver120]

Hello all! This is my first post, but I hope to stay because I love the machinist community. Anyways...I'm getting back into using our Micro-Hite 05 by Brown and Sharpe. We also have a Hexagon One by Brown and Sharpe. I love the CMM, but wow, I really love this micro hite more! I just got down to read the manual, and I understand almost anything that this thing can do....basic measurement, 2 point or 1 point measurement, establishing a smaller probe that can't contact the bottom of the granite table, doing 2D measurements and viewing and printing the results. But...for the life of me I cannot figure out how to establish an indirect reference plane. The examples of establishing the indirect plane is on page 14 and 15 of the manual that I have uploaded if that helps refresh anyone's memory out there. There is also a sample tutorial on page 41 that is similar to what I'm talking about: it's basically the procedure to establish a small probe that can't touch the granite table, to be homed out using a 1" gauge block (or any number really). I can wrap my head around this process...clear Datum A and B using shift key 3 and key 6. Then hit the 1 key and enter, establishing the height of the 1" gauge block. Then take 2 hits on the block, and it gives the reading of -1.00000, which I'm assuming the microprocessor is saying that the point is going to be -1.00000 from the point I just probed (the granite table). Then, the user has to take 2 more hits off the top of the block to confirm the 1 inch. Yay! The micro-hite now has a small probe calibrated off the top of the granite table that it couldn't probe, and now we can measure! The problem is...I want to establish an indirect reference plane 1" above the part that I'm measuring. And I just can't figure it out! The instructions are not clear. It says that I can enter the distance from the a or b datum (in my case a datum is the granite table), and I'm entering 3 inches because my part is 2 inches tall, and I have to take measurements from that 3 inch point that I can't take any hits off of because it's in space. So...first I clear a and b, shift key 3 and shift key 6. When I enter 3 inches, and then take 2 hits off the granite table...it just doesn't work? I *think* (i can check tomorrow at work), that it will say 0.00000, but then when I take measurements from the top of the part, instead of saying -1.00000 inches which I would expect, it is giving me 3.1372 or something like that. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but these instructions are very ambiguous sometimes.
Thank you in advance for ANY help!!! I feel like I'm just not hitting a key, or doing the procedure out of step. I don't know but I'm losing my mind!

Link to the .pdf of the manual for the micro-hite 05 if you need to see it (file was too large to upload): http://www.motorcitycalibration.com...al with 2 Dimensional Analysis Feature 05.pdf

 

[steelweaver120]

I think I *might* have just discovered the answer to my question, and thought I'd share it in case it helped anybody else, I'm going to test it tomorrow. Basically...I needed to enter a negative number, which I had thought of before but couldn't do it...you have to type the number THEN the negative sign. I hadn't tried that before because it doesn't really specify. rtfm is like trying to read IKEA furniture.

 

[steelweaver120]

I think I *might* have just discovered the answer to my question, and thought I'd share it in case it helped anybody else, I'm going to test it tomorrow. Basically...I needed to enter a negative number, which I had thought of before but couldn't do it...you have to type the number THEN the negative sign. I hadn't tried that before because it doesn't really specify. rtfm is like trying to read IKEA furniture.

YEP!!! The whole issue was that the example was very unclear, and only showed the user how to touch off of height gauge to compensate for a small probe that can't touch the granite table...you have to give it a positive number to take the 0,0 point to the granite table. But if you want the indirect number to be way above your part at a determined height, you have to give it a number, THEN push the negative sign and touch off of the granite table if you want the reference point above your part. If you want the indirect reference point (like for measuring Total Positioning) BELOW the granite table, then you would just give it a positive number, and touch off of the granite table twice, which would move the A datum even further down in Z. CASE CLOSED!!! yay.