The Multiple Arm mode was created to drive multiple arm CMMs. The Multiple Arm mode is available as an add-on package. Currently, this version only supports a multiple arm mode of two arms. The two arms must be connected to separate computers with a version of PC-DMIS and the correct LMS license or portlock on each computer. These arms share a common alignment.
Later versions of PC-DMIS enable you to drive up to four machine arms from one version of PC-DMIS, using any combination of one to four computers.
While the measurement process for multiple arms is comparable to single arm units, PC-DMIS must be able to distinguish the arm that is taking the measurement when using a multiple arm system. The topics in this chapter explain how to do this.
The main topics in this chapter describe how to setup a multiple arm CMM, create measurement routines using multiple arms, and share the measurement routine among the participating arms. These topics are:
PC-DMIS must be installed on all systems prior to running in Multiple Arm mode.
In addition, your LMS license or the portlock's World Axis value on each machine must be configured to properly run in Multiple Arm mode as follows:
The primary computer's LMS license or portlock setting should detail how many secondary arms that will be driven by the primary computer. So, a primary computer driving three secondary arms would need to specify a value of 3.
Each secondary computer's LMS license needs to be properly configured or the portlock should specify a value of 1.