Calypso Vs. PC-DMIS Anyone have experience with both?

Hey All-

We are considering the purchase of 2x Zeiss Duramax units or 2x Hexagon Tigo units. The hexagon's are coming in more expensive but have a larger working envelope. However, it seems that I need to focus most on the software because both brands are more than capable of achieving our accuracy requirements (much more than capable). We've chosen two of the shop floor style machines because throughput is most important to us, we are measuring incoming parts from our vendors prior to the parts hitting the assembly lines.

Hexagon's PC-DMIS looks terribly clunky from my point of view, and Zeiss's Calypso looks to be opposite of that. Does anyone have experience with both and could comment? We are only measuring injection molded parts, so our requirements are simple: cylindricity, total indicated runout, position, length, concentricity, flatness, diameter, that's really going to cover most of what we do and with tolerances around +/- 0.010 down to 0.0005in minimum.

PC-DEMON or Colapso, LOL

It's been a while since I've even seen a computer with Calypso (working solely with PC-DMIS for the past 6, 7 years), but from what I remember, Calypso is maybe a little more intuitive and faster to learn but PC-DMIS is way more powerful when it comes to GD&T and customization of programs.

That said, they both suck because they are not very stable software and there are a bunch of glitches in both. Good luck.

xplodee said:

Hey All-

We are considering the purchase of 2x Zeiss Duramax units or 2x Hexagon Tigo units. The hexagon's are coming in more expensive but have a larger working envelope. However, it seems that I need to focus most on the software because both brands are more than capable of achieving our accuracy requirements (much more than capable). We've chosen two of the shop floor style machines because throughput is most important to us, we are measuring incoming parts from our vendors prior to the parts hitting the assembly lines.

Hexagon's PC-DMIS looks terribly clunky from my point of view, and Zeiss's Calypso looks to be opposite of that. Does anyone have experience with both and could comment? We are only measuring injection molded parts, so our requirements are simple: cylindricity, total indicated runout, position, length, concentricity, flatness, diameter, that's really going to cover most of what we do and with tolerances around +/- 0.010 down to 0.0005in minimum.

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i have been programming CMM's since 1977 "Yes I'm That Old" - and have used and grown through all versions of Pc-Dmis except the last Two Updates - - - i have been programming with Calypso For 7 years now and i Refuse to go back to Pc-Dmis - - - Calypso is far and away More User/Programmer Friendly "After You Get It Down" - - you can Drag & Drop Feature Measurement Or Printed Chartists and all code moves No Cutting And Pasting of Code - - it's all Icon Driven you drag the Icon for feature 83 up to the #6 position and that's it - it now is the 6th item no code to move - - I have programmed the DuraMax, Accura, & now am programming On & Off-Line Contura - - the one thing i Really Want To Stress Is - - Get The Biggest Machine You Can - - Size Is Your Limiting Factor - you run out of working area really quickly . . . - - P.S. i have been programming Aero Space & Aviation Parts for most of my career - - and for the tolerances you looking to check the DuraMax will be fine - - we were holding rings at a tolerance of 0.002mm and thats way tighter than the 0.0005in your needing . . . :-) - - You Must Remember The DuraMax is a Scanning Machine - so don't forget to setup a practice of checking for ware and flat spots on the Probe Stylus Balls - - and if your scanning around rings like we were doing you can Fine Tune the tip using a Ring-Gage for a bore-mic . . .

Have you considered Mitutoyo Mistar 555? It comes with mcosmos software. Maybe cheaper than Zeiss & Hexagon. If you're leaning to Hexagon their software has a steep learning curve. Scanning is cumbersome & complex. Not to mention try remembering to save every 5 minutes or so. PC DMIS likes to crash often. CMM Manager combined with Helmel or LK is another alternative worth looking into.