Testing the mechanical characteristics and contacting behaviour of novel manufactured and assembled sphere-tipped styli for micro-CMM probes

Abstract

The effectiveness and versatility of the probes used on micro-coordinate measuring machines is currently limited by the dimensions, geometry and quality of the spherical stylus tips available. A shaft fabrication and gluing process is demonstrated to assemble a sphere-tipped stylus for tactile micro-coordinate measuring machine probes. The contact behaviour of the manufactured micro-styli is investigated both in a static and a vibrating mode. The ultimate strength of the glue joint is also investigated. It is concluded that the assembly of styli using the presented method is viable, however, that stylus shafts below 40 μm diameter may require new manufacturing methods.