Coordinate Measuring Machines and Machine Tools Selfcalibration and Error Correction

Abstract A procedure, by which it is possible to detect the geometrical errors of a coordinate measuring machine and a machine tool and to obtain the parameters necessary for software correction of these errors, has been studied, put into operation and tested. This procedure, called “seifcalibration”, uses the results of the measurements automatically made by the machine on a three-dimensional standard placed at different positions in the working machine volume. The dimensions of the standard need not be known with high accuracy: it is sufficient to guarantee their stability during procedure operations and to measure three scale factors separately. For procedure adjusting and testing, nine machines have been employed, seven of which operating in industrial environment (two of these being working stations). The results proved that machine performance can be Improved by a factor ranging between three and ten.