Upgrades and retrofits

Revitalise your CMM to reignite your quality control capabilities and boost your productivity

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An upgrade or retrofit is a smart way to extend the service life of your coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and boost its performance and your manufacturing productivity.

The dynamic nature of manufacturing means there is an increasing demand for manufacturers to meet a wider variety of measurement and reporting needs. This means having the most efficient toolset of inspection solutions installed and operational at all times is essential.

But the constant evolution in tasks and challenges often outpaces the capabilities of even the best-performing CMMs.

In the era of smart manufacturing, upgrading or retrofitting your CMM allows you to take advantage of the advancements in electronics, PC systems, measurement software, controllers, and sensors. There are extensive possibilities to upgrade your existing CMMs in a cost-effective way that extends their useful service life and revitalises and enhances their performance for greater productivity.

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your software, add new sensor technology, or implement a more comprehensive upgrade, our engineers can help you identify the best upgrade or retrofit options to optimise your inspections and ensure your equipment keeps pace with the latest standards.

Retrofit or upgrade – what’s the difference?

A retrofit involves replacing the original CNC with a new controller
An upgrade enhances existing components of the machine while keeping the original CNC

How you can benefit from a retrofit or upgrade

There are many benefits from retrofitting or upgrading an installed CMM, from enhanced accuracy and increased efficiency to cost savings and reduced downtime. Read our Top 10 reasons to retrofit blog to find out more.

What might an upgrade or retrofit involve?

Upgrades and retrofits aren’t available as predefined service packages. This is because the condition of each CMM subsystem must be carefully evaluated before we can propose the best options for that specific machine to meet your measurement needs.

Your benefits
Reduce maintenance costs and machine downtime that can occur when system components reach their end of life

Drive productivity: add functionalities and enhance system capabilities to shorten inspection programming and cycles via increased automation

Significantly improve ease of use and management of the whole system using the latest generation of measurement software

Make your machine future-ready: you’ll be able to take advantage of the next generation of technology, push productivity ever further and keep pace with the rate of digital transformation

Increase sustainability: CMMs can be mistakenly replaced before they have actually reached end-of-life; a retrofit or upgrade is likely the more environmental and economical option

Our services
Our services range from simple and straightforward upgrades, in which we provide new PC and PC peripherals and software (with training included), to a complete retrofit, including:

PC and PC peripherals

Replacement of the CNC system (controller) with the latest technology

Modern tactile and non-contact sensors

The latest software (including training)

Augmentation systems

Sensors

Faster, more versatile measurement and enhanced productivity

Tactile measurement is at the heart of the CMM inspection process, with modern touch probes offering many benefits over older technology.Non-contact sensors add flexibility to a metrology setup and are typically used to optimise measurement or to inspect objects that contact-based probes cannot.

This system can measure small features and sensitive or easily deformed components and deliver improved throughput for applications where image capture is faster than probing.

This system offers the accuracy characteristics of fixed heads but can be fitted to automatic indexable heads allowing for measurement in both point-to-point and continuous scanning modes.

This highly-accurate touch trigger probe for styli builds of up to 100 millimetres offers better performance than a standard TTP and is more robust than the TP200.

When you need to boost your measurement speed, laser scanning can be the fastest way to improve throughput and reduce delays.

The HP-L-10.10 is Hexagon’s fastest and most accurate laser scanner for CMMs. With a probing form error of just 8 microns, accuracy is close to the results operators can achieve with tactile probing.

White light measurement for multiple surface finishes

The HP-OW is a highly accurate optical sensor that uses chromatic white-light spectroscopy to measure almost all materials, including the most challenging surfaces like glass, ceramic or carbon fibre.