Shop-floor CMMs
Defects are only cheap to fix if they are found before the next operation. Shop-floor CMMs are built for that: structural compensation for thermal drift, sealed construction against dust and coolant, and a vibration-tolerant layout that removes the dependency on a temperature-controlled room. They suit first-article inspection, in-process sampling and end-of-line verification in volume manufacturing, shortening the loop between machining and judgement.
6 products
What makes a CMM shop-floor capable?
A shop-floor CMM is not a less accurate CMM. It is one engineered to hold a repeatable result where the temperature is not controlled. Three things change: temperature compensation, dependence on compressed air, and protection against dust.
The Mini Pico range drops the compressed-air supply a conventional CMM requires, which makes it straightforward to relocate, and adds temperature compensation with dust-protected linear rails so it holds relative measuring accuracy where ambient temperature gradients are large and site conditions are imperfect. The Cooling 1632 liquid-cooling machine ships with temperature compensation as standard and holds accuracy across a 10–40 °C ambient range with no air supply — plug in and measure.
What accuracy can you expect on the shop floor?
Accuracy has to be read together with the conditions it was achieved in. Pico 655 and Pico 955 integrate real-time temperature compensation and start at 4.5+5L/1000 µm maximum permissible error. The MGH 422 is the high-accuracy option in this class: dovetail granite air-bearing guideways on all three axes, flexible ball-screw drive, scale resolution ≤0.05 µm and an integrated temperature-stabilising enclosure, starting at 0.5+L/1000 µm.
So "shop-floor" does not mean low accuracy. It means accuracy you can still trust outside the metrology room. Sub-micron work still belongs in a temperature-controlled laboratory.
How do you choose a shop-floor CMM?
Start with the largest part envelope — machines in this class cover 400×200×200 mm to 600×500×500 mm. Then audit the site: compressed air availability, the temperature range through a working day, and dust. Those three answers usually decide between Pico, Mini Pico and MGH on their own.
If inspection has to fit inside the production cycle, weigh clamping time and automation interfaces alongside the accuracy figure, not after it.
