It's All About the Little Details

After I decided to develop a three-axis touch probe, I wanted it to be as well planned and thought out as possible. I didn't want to put in electronics to indicate whether the contact is made or not. It would be another point that could go potentially wrong developing it from scratch.

Keep it simple, stupid (K.I.S.S.) - a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy in 1960

Instead, I focussed on the form of the touch probe. Did you know that even the smallest change in the form could significantly impact the function? It's true. It is yet another design principle -called form follows function- crafted within the late 19th and early 20th century in architecture and industrial design. Of course, it can also be projected onto product design.

In the aspect of probing, it must lay flat on the surface it is going to probe. When doing a full probe (all three axes), you place the probe onto the corner of the workpiece. On some occasions, the workpiece might have tear-outs on the edges, which could unintentionally lift and limit the touch probe's function. Therefore, the simple yet smart solution is to adapt the form of the touch probe. The picture above shows a small little recess on the touch probe's inner corner, where the tear-out chips could go. Now the touch probe stays flat on the surface even if the workpiece hasn't a clean-cut edge.

Of course, you could sand away the tear-out marks, but you can easily save this step with this little detail of "form follows function".