Probe head with indexing mechanism

A probe head for orienting a probe relative to a moveable arm of a coordinate positioning machine, comprising:

• a support structure by which the probe head is connectable to the moveable arm of the machine;
• a rotor rotatable relative to the support about an axis for carrying a probe;
• an indexing device comprising first and second sets of mutually engageable indexing elements on the rotor and support structure respectively, engageable in a plurality of angular orientations about said axis, to provide a corresponding plurality of angularly indexed positions at which the rotor has a stable and repeatable position on the support;
• a coupling and decoupling device for engaging and disengaging the first and second sets of indexing elements;
• a driving device for rotating the rotor relative to the support structure when the first and second sets of indexing elements are disengaged, thereby to rotate the rotor from one angularly indexed position of the plurality of angularly indexed positions to another, the driving device including first and second sets of mutually engageable engagement elements provided on the rotor and support structure, and wherein means are provided for disengaging the engagement elements during coupling of the first and second sets of indexing elements.

A probe head for orienting a probe relative to a movable arm of a coordinate positioning machine, comprising:

• a support by which the probe head is connectable to the arm of the machine;
• a rotor, rotatable relative to the support about an axis, for carrying a probe;
• an indexing device comprising first and second sets of mutually engageable indexing elements provided on the rotor and the support respectively, engageable in a plurality of angular orientations about the axis to provide a corresponding plurality of angularly indexed positions at which the rotor has a stable and repeatable position on the support;
• coupling and decoupling device for engaging and disengaging the first and second sets of indexing elements;
• a driving device for rotating the rotor relative to the support when the first and second sets of indexing elements are disengaged, thereby to rotate the rotor from one indexed position to another;
• and
• a retaining device for releasably retaining the rotor on the support to
• enable one rotor to be exchanged for another.

A probe head for orienting a probe relative to a moveable arm of a coordinate positioning machine, comprising:

• a support by means of which the probe head is connectable to the moveable arm of the machine;
• a rotor for carrying a probe, the rotor is rotatable relative to the support about an axis;
• an indexing device comprising first and second sets of mutually engageable indexing elements on the rotor and the support respectively, engageable at a plurality of angular orientations about the axis to provide a corresponding plurality of angularly indexed positions at which the rotor has a stable and repeatable position on the support;
• a coupling and decoupling device for engaging and disengaging the first and second sets of indexing elements comprising a magnetic element provided on one of the rotor and the support and a ferromagnetic element on the other of the rotor and the support, for axially urging the first and second sets of indexing elements into engagement, and an axially moveable member provided on the support for axially displacing the rotor relative to the support thereby to effect the disengagement;
• and
• a driving device for rotating the rotor relative to the support substantially about the axis when the first and second sets of indexing elements are disengaged, thereby to rotate the rotor from one indexed
• position to another.

A probe head for orienting a probe relative to a moveable arm of a coordinate positioning machine, comprising:

• a support by means of which the probe head is connectable to the moveable arm of the machine;
• a rotor for carrying a probe, the rotor rotatable relative to the support about an axis;
• an indexing device comprising first and second sets of mutually engageable indexing elements on the rotor and the support respectively, engageable at a plurality of angular orientations about said axis to provide a corresponding plurality of angularly indexed positions at which the rotor has a stable and repeatable position on the support;
• a biasing device for axially biasing the rotor into engagement with the support;
• an axially moveable drive dog on the support which is engageable with the rotor, and a motor for actuating the drive dog, the drive dog being actuable by the motor to increase and decrease the axial separation of the rotor and support and, thereby, in cooperation with the biasing device, correspondingly disengage and engage the indexing elements;
• the drive dog being additionally rotatable substantially about the axis, and having a first set of driving elements on an end thereof engageable with a second set of driving elements on the rotor, to enable rotation of the rotor by the drive dog relative to the support when the indexing
• elements are disengaged.