A positioning apparatus including a moveable member moveable along a bearing guideway in a first dimension, the moveable member including at a first end thereof at least first and second bearing members which are preloaded against corresponding first and second sides of a concave corner of the bearing guideway.

A form measuring apparatus includes a base; an arm capable of swinging relative to the base; a coupler coupling the base and the arm, and having a deformation region that is capable of elastic deformation between the base and the arm; and a distortion detector installed in the deformation region. In the form measuring apparatus, a stylus is mounted to the arm and can slide along a surface of a work piece.

A support system of a slender article in a geometry-detecting machine includes a plurality of vertical constraint points with which the slender article is in contact, wherein the vertical constraint points are coupled in pairs by interconnection arms in turn including a constraint joint provided with a universal joint mechanism which leaves, to the arms, two rotational degrees of freedom along two orthogonal axes passing in the proximity of the longitudinal axis of the article, the constraint joints possibly being themselves similarly coupled in pairs until converging, in a multiple-layer sequence, towards a single constraint point.

A retaining system for a rotation angle sensor assembly is disclosed. The retaining system includes a first retaining element for coupling to a first of two machine parts and comprising a rotation angle sensor of the rotation angle sensor assembly. The retaining system also includes a second retaining element for coupling to a second of the two machine parts and comprising at least one position encoder element of the rotation angle sensor assembly corresponding to the rotation angle sensor. The rotation angle sensor is configured to detect a rotation of the position encoder element relative to the rotation angle sensor. The first retaining element is configured to guide the rotation angle sensor via a guide positioned between the first retaining element and the second retaining element so as to be rotatable relative to the position encoder element on the second retaining element.

A method for measuring a surface shape of a honeycomb core includes the following steps: coating a reflective film on the surface of the honeycomb core to be measured, using a vacuum adsorption method to adhere the reflective film closely to the surface of the honeycomb core to be measured, and recessing the reflective film at a honeycomb cell downwards; and performing scanning measurement on the reflective film on the surface of the honeycomb core to be measured to obtain the heights of a honeycomb wall of the honeycomb core at different spatial positions. A device carries out the measurement of the surface shape of a honeycomb core.

Apparatuses, systems and methods associated with a trigger management device for managing triggering of sensors within measurement equipment are disclosed herein. In embodiments, a trigger management device may include trigger circuitry coupled to a sensor, the trigger circuitry to determine an amount of delay from trigger transmission to data capture for the sensor, and transmit a trigger to the sensor, the trigger to cause the sensor to capture sensor data. The trigger management device may further include encoder circuitry coupled to one or more encoders, the one or more encoders to indicate positions of one or more actuators or motors, the encoder circuitry to capture encoder data from the one or more encoders at a time that is the amount of delay after transmission of the trigger, wherein the encoder data indicates current positions of the one or more actuators or motors. Other embodiments may include circuitry to manage and/or transmit encoder and other data to multiple devices.

The motion system for a CMM includes a measuring axis with an air bearing, a control unit for determining a position of the measuring probe in a reference frame and outputting the position as a measuring result. The first air bearing includes a guideway, slide having a slide surface and a gas outlet within the slide surface. The gas outlet is for providing a gas cushion in a gap between the slide surface and the guideway. A cover is arranged around the slide so a gap is provided between the cover and the guideway and a hollow space is provided between the cover and the slide. A wiper is arranged on the cover. A nozzle unit is supplied by a second gas supply line and for providing a high-pressure gas flow directed onto the guideway.

A touch probe for sensing the position of a surface, having a housing and a moving assembly supported within the housing and including a flexible reflective element, a spacer element, and a semitransparent element, wherein a reflective surface of the flexible reflective element and a surface of the semitransparent element are separated by the spacer element, and a stylus connected to the flexible reflective element. Movement of the stylus responsive to a force causes the flexible reflective element to flex and change distances between points on the reflective surface and on the surface of the semitransparent element. Coherent light incident upon the semitransparent element and directed towards the reflective surface creates interference fringes dependent upon separation distances between the reflective surface and the surface of the semitransparent element. A detector senses changes in the interference fringes patterns in response to flexing of the flexible element.

A linear drive mechanism which moves a detector having sensitivity in a first axial direction, relatively to a workpiece in a second axial direction orthogonal to the first axial direction, the linear drive mechanism includes: a drive shaft extending in the second axial direction; a mover which is supported in a non-contact fashion by the drive shaft and configured to move along the drive shaft integrally with the detector or the workpiece; a guide provided at a position deviated relative to the drive shaft in a third axial direction orthogonal to both the first axial direction and the second axial direction, the guide parallel to the drive shaft; and a resistance force generator which is provided on one of the mover and the guide, and is in contact with the other of the mover and the guide, the resistance force generator generates a resistance force which resists against movement of the mover.

Jigs and fixtures for aligning, guiding, and/or holding a workpiece on woodworking machinery during a woodworking operation are described, as well as methods of making, modifying, and using jigs and fixtures.