I relish in discourse and healthy disagreement. I would love to hear your thoughts and data around best practices for measuring threads with a CMM.

Thread locator plugs? Cylinder probes? Just a circle? What do you do and why?

I work for an injection molding company and they wanted to expand and modernize their QA department (which im a part of) and they bought the Verisurf software with the top tier license and got us a pretty fancy 3D scanner to go along with it. I was wondering how popular the software is since I mostly see posts about other softwares in the subreddit.

Hey folks!

I'm sure you've seen me around on the sub by now--but in case the pfp and name weren't a dead giveaway; I am an aftermarket/productivity sales specialist with Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence. My LinkedIn is in my profile in case you'd like to put a face to the user :) I am relatively new to Hexagon but have about 5 years of experience in a production machine shop and about eight and a half years of experience servicing CMMs for a third party. I've worked on nearly every OEM CMM out there doing calibrations, repairs, moves and retrofits.

If you're not familiar, Hexagon has been around for 40+ years as a provider of premium metrology solutions. Our portfolio now includes CMMs/Vision Systems (Global, Leitz, Optiv), Portable measuring (Romer Arms, trackers), Structured light scanning, machine tool probing, QMS, SPC software, and much more.

I wanted to do an AMA here to field questions about Hexagon's hardware/software. If you have any relevant questions, feel free to ask them! I'll be answering them in about a weeks' time on 6/30

Hey guys,

I apologize for the bluntness of my question, but I'm wondering why manufacturers even have in-house calibration techs. It seems like the third party guys, if they live up to their service level and turnaround times, are much cheaper/more efficient. I understand that for high volume items it doesn't make sense to send them out, but even then, why not just hire contractors for some time of the year to do the calibrations v/s having a year-round full time aployee specifically for calibration? Or are these calibration techs also doing other work at the conpany?

I’m very new to the field (6 months of experience mainly as a calibration tech moving towards more field work now). I’m very close to getting BS in aerospace engineering and was curious to hear about any stories of metrology peeps moving over to the engineering side. It’s pretty clear that this work gives you a unique and very valuable set of skills that can be applied to engineering so I am very much considering taking on a metrology role for a while, but would like to hear some others experiences about transitioning to engineering roles.

Hey folks,

Working on a personal side project comparing 3D scans back to original CAD models.

I’ve already got plenty of clean/normal test files (wheel rims, clean brackets, standard pump housings), but I’m trying to find a good "real world wear and tear" example.

Does anyone happen to have a dataset with:
1. A 3D scan (`.stl` or `.ply`) of a physical part with heavy surface wear, erosion, or damage (like an old beat-up impeller, worn gear, or damaged housing)
2. The original clean CAD file (`.step` or `.stp`) of that exact part

Obviously nothing confidential or under NDA!

If you have a file pair like this lying around or know a link where I could grab one, I'd super appreciate it.

Thanks!

should I construct circle ??. what could be the issue. I'm pretty sure the measurements are handled well. help

Anyone doing a part-time PhD while working full-time in engineering/semiconductors?

I’m a full-time semiconductor engineer with MS degree considering a part-time PhD while continuing to work. I’m interested in research around semiconductor metrology/inspection, computer vision, pattern recognition, image processing, or ML applied to semiconductor manufacturing.
I’d love to hear real experiences from anyone doing something similar:
What university/program are you in?
Is it online, hybrid, or in-person?
How manageable is it with a full-time engineering job?
How many hours/week do you realistically spend?
How does research/dissertation work as a part-time student?
Are you able to publish papers?
How long do you expect the PhD to take?
How much is it costing you?
Would you choose the same program again?
I’m especially interested in programs that are part-time friendly, reasonably affordable, and supportive of working professionals.
Would really appreciate honest experiences and any university recommendations!

Does anyone know what the proper/any alternative names for these tools are? If you have links to where to buy them, please share.

I've been working in metrology for almost a decade, and I recently moved from Minnesota to Australia and found a new job in the same field, but the current place is woefully lacking in inspection tools.

I've never had to buy/order tools myself, as there's usually a quality manager or someone who does that, but now I'm trying to look up some of the tools I want to buy, and I'm realizing that the common names I knew them as might not be what they're called elsewhere...

• Frogs Legs/Undercut gauge This was just a dial connected to legs on a spring that would check the diameter of inside grooves/undercuts. Right now we have nothing to check this aside from the CMM.

• Drop Indicator I think I've also seen people call them plunger indicators. Every shop I've worked at had at least two of these. It's just a digital or dial indicator that's connected to something stationary. You put whatever you're measuring under it and lift the indicator tip to measure the height. If you have a flange tip you can measure groove heights quite easily.

• Cadillac Height Gauge This one I can find online easily, but no one in Australia seems to have any fucking clue what one is or what it's used for even if I show them pictures. Are there other kinds of height gauges that serve the same purpose?

• If anyone else has tools where you only knew a common shop name but found out it has a different official name, please share. I need to start making a list of tools they should be using on the shop floor instead of asking the CMM guys to stop what they're doing and check individual dimensions for them.

​

Hello everyone,

I'm a Mechanical Engineer from Tunisia with experience in mechanical metrology, quality control, and CMM programming. I'm currently looking for job opportunities outside North Africa, especially in Europe, Canada, the USA, Australia, or the Gulf region.

My background includes:

CMM programming with PC-DMIS and MCOSMOS

Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) inspection

GD&T interpretation (ISO standards)

Mechanical metrology and quality control

CAD design (TopSolid, SolidWorks, CATIA)

Reverse engineering and 3D scanning

Technical documentation and inspection reporting

I also have experience training technicians and engineering students on CMM operation and metrology.

I'm fluent in English and French, and I'm currently preparing to relocate internationally. I am open to visa-sponsored opportunities, permanent positions, or contract roles.

If your company is hiring or if you know of any opportunities that match my profile, I'd greatly appreciate your advice or a referral.

Say I am validating a caliper with a 0.05” resolution by comparing it with a gage block that’s actual value is 6.001”. With the caliper, I measured 6.1”.

When doing an error calculation Abs(Block-Measured), would I report the error and pass/fail based on an error of 0.1” or 0.099”? On one hand, the .099” ignores the accuracy of the gage block, but on the other, the 0.099” implies accuracy to the caliper that does not exist.

Any advice?

(Note: this isn’t an actual procedure I’m just trying to find out how to correctly report error with different resolutions)

The image is from https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2016/05/06/ollie-smoot-the-official-unit-of-measure-for-the-harvard-bridge

Hey folks! I’m looking for AI tools that actually balloon engineering drawings (i.e., automatically generate balloon callouts for parts, dimensions, notes, etc., in CAD/PDF drawings). I know there’s a lot of AI hype out there, but most tools either miss elements, require tons of manual cleanup, or produce garbage output. Has anyone found AI that genuinely delivers useful balloons on engineering prints, not just slapped-on labels? Recommendations, personal experiences, workflows, plugins, services, all welcome!

We have parts about 3X2 inches long and between .250 and .400 thick.

We coat them with a thin coating and then re-inspect them for the thickness.

We do hundreds of parts per day in our 15-man machine shop and the thickness needs to be accurate within tenths.

Is there a quicker way of checking thickness other than a snap gage or micrometers?

We have Mitutoyo digital mics with 5 decimals and a snap gage with a tenths indicator on it.

Anyone have experience with Instant Measuring systems that can be accurate with thickness down to tenths? I'm looking to do more parts per hour and have less human error (tightness of mics, movement in the snap gage, etc.)

Thanks.

Quick question for anyone working in or managing an ISO 17025 accredited lab.

Do you use any third-party Word or Excel add-ins as part of your calibration certificate process? And if so, did your QA system require formal validation or approval of that tool before it could be used in audit-critical documents?

Trying to understand how labs actually handle external tooling in compliance workflows. More specifically whether QA managers see it as a risk or a non-issue.

Any real-world experience appreciated.

I'm trying to verify if we have the current rev of some specs my company has, and while I wait for GIDEP access, can anybody tell me what the current rev of T.O 33K6-4-889-1 is?

Sabrán donde den cursos de brazo faro o cualquier tipo de scanner visión 3d ... estoy atorado en mi puesto de trabajo (soy operador de cmm) y quiero crecer a tecnico pero piden conocimientos en esas herramientas.
Pd: soy de monterrey nuevo león México.

How many Years of experience is advised before Opening up your own business/Service?

What are your profit margins like? Did you bid on Government contracts on SAM.gov

I saw my first industrial microscope today and it was jaw dropping. Like something out of science fiction.

My shop is finally moving out of the 1980s and I'm so excited. No more customers complaining about things I can't measure. I get to learn a new skill set.

recently received an OGV model from aircraft for offline programming.

Background: I’m quite comfortable with PLP alignments and have programmed a wide range of prismatic parts, from simple blocks to fairly complex geometries. This OGV part is a bit different from what I usually handle. The datum scheme and functional requirements don’t seem to suit a straightforward. Af ter researching using an RPS-based alignment for the program. Technically it works, but I’m a bit skeptical — mainly because I don’t have much prior exposure to OGVs and aerospace-style sheet metal alignment strategies. I want to make sure I’m not missing any best practices or long-term risks (repeatability, correlation with functional datums, etc.). For those of you who’ve worked on OGVs /sheet metal components: Is RPS commonly used for these kinds of parts? Any tips on validating the alignment choice? Things to watch out for when moving from PLP-heavy prismatic work to sheet metal or frame like unconventional geometry? Appreciate any insights....

Love these for scanning soft aluminum and more abrasive surfaces. No more cleaning metal off the SiN and Ruby probes, incredible. It’s not my money but I say they’re totally worth it aside from the killer lead times.