The NIST fiber probe is a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) probing system intended for diameter and form measurement of micro features and small holes. The Moore M48 CMM at NIST can measure holes down to 500 μm diameter with the Movamatic probe; the NIST fiber probe extends the range to less than 100 μm diameter. Over the last several years, we have performed numerous precision dimensional and form measurements using this probe mounted on the M48 CMM. We have measured size (diameter and thickness) and form (circularity, sphericity, straightness, flatness, conicity) on artifacts such as fiber optic ferrules, fuel injector nozzle holes, knife-edge and cylindrical apertures, ruby spheres, gage blocks, micro gears, and other micro-features on meso-scale components. We briefly describe the probing system and then present a few of the different applications we have studied, highlighting the challenges they represent and the measurement advances our probing system has offered. More importantly, these applications serve to highlight a new calibration service NIST can now offer industry — the dimensional measurement of micro-features at ultra-low forces.
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Lights, Camera, Calibrate! Improving Space Cameras with a Better Model for Ultra-Bright Lamps | NIST
Studio photographers may be familiar with the 1,000-watt quartz halogen lamps known as “FELs.” Scientists use them too—specially calibrated ones, at least—to test the performance of light sensors that monitor Earth’s weather, plant life and […]
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Head to Head: Photonic Pressure Sensors vs. Mercury-Based Standard
When a team of researchers at NIST’s Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML) first tested a new kind of pressure sensor two years ago, initial results showed it was faster and had higher resolution than the traditional, […]
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Taking The Heat: New High for NIST’s ‘Light Force’ Laser Power Meter | NIST
May 1, 2018 – Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have been developing a novel way of measuring laser power. Their device, called the Radiation Pressure Power Meter (RPPM), makes its […]