Brunson Blog: A Blog for Metrology Enthusiasts

How is your laser tracker performing?

Written by David Buck | Oct 17, 2019 2:17:57 PM

Laser trackers are amazing, complex machines. Lots of moving parts. You baby them, of course—they are your most precise measurement device. But you still worry. It’s in your job description.

Now, you’ve got some critical measurements coming up. And it’s been 5 months since your tracker arrived back from the manufacturer’s certification.

Can you be confident in that next reading? Is your tracker performing within Maximum Permissible Errors? How about another 5 months from now?

Truth is, you really can’t know without sending your tracker back to the manufacturer for certification, and even then, how will you know that the truck ride back didn’t shake things up?

But you’re an engineer. You can work this out. So what’s your next move?

Eliminate the unknown. Call in the bird.

Like a KinAiry in a Coal Mine

With encouragement from the Air Force, The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed a fast and reliable laser tracker interim field test and then came to Brunson for help. Their process needed a real-world reference artifact to execute the volumetric performance check—the NIST IR-8016 procedure—on any laser tracker OR laser radar, in any environment.  And KinAiry was hatched as a result.

Watch Brunson's Mark Sekulich discuss KinAiry on Quality Digest Live

With a 2.3-meter reference bar, KinAiry has a small footprint and its software records traceable, volumetric error measurements in under 30 minutes.

So now, within 30 minutes, you can evaluate tracker health, answer your customer’s questions with certainty, and welcome your quality auditor into your office with a confident smile.

Confidence in your measurements never felt so good.

For more information on NIST IR8016, read the National Institute of Standards and Technology white paper A Proposed Interim Check for Field Testing a Laser Tracker’s 3-D Length Measurement Capability