NX CMM (Coordinate-Measuring Machine) Inspection Programming capabilities provide a state-of-the-art solution for offline programming. Using NX CMM, programmers can reduce programming time, free up expensive CMM machine resources, and ensure fast responses to design changes.
By combining industry knowledge and best practices with process automation, NX CMM Inspection Programming streamlines the entire CMM inspection program development and measurements analysis process. This process spans feature definition and path creation to program generation and validation, and ultimately to analysis of measured data.
What is NX CMM?
NX CMM is a separate environment inside of Siemens’ NX software, similar to how NX CAM is a separate environment. It is used to create inspection programs to be run on coordinate-measuring machines. You can also create programs from 3D CAD models.
With NX CMM, you can automate inspection programs and reduce inspection programming time by up to 80% with integrated NX tools.
Lastly, you can postprocess an inspection program directly from NX CMM.
Process for Creating Inspection Programs
Programming Parts with PMI
This inspection program involves:
- setting up an Inspection Template,
- creating inspection paths with PMI (product manufacturing information) authored on the model to reduce programming time,
- creating alignment features to locate the PCS (part coordinate system),
- altering inspection paths with collision avoidance,
- validating the inspection program with full machine simulation,
- and postprocessing the inspection program.
Programming Parts Without PMI
This inspection program involves:
- setting up an Inspection Template,
- creating inspection paths without PMI already authored,
- authoring PMI on the 3D model or creating inspection features and tolerances inside the NX CMM environment,
- creating alignment features to locate the PCS,
- altering inspection paths with collision avoidance,
- validating the inspection program with full machine simulation,
- and postprocessing the inspection program.
The difference between these two methods is in italics, above.
Watch: NX CMM Inspection Programming
You can see this environment and an example of inspection programming in our Lunchbyte video on YouTube, below: