Starrett Kinemetric Engineering Inc., a subsidiary of the L.S. Starrett Co., announces its new HB400-M2-CNC Bench Top Optical Comparator - a motorized version of the HB400 optical comparator controlled by a touch screen tablet PC running new MetLogix M2 CNC metrology software.

The Starrett HB400 is an industry-standard bench top horizontal projection comparator that provides a fully usable 16” diameter viewing screen, a vertically corrected projected image, 21” x 5” workstage, 12” x 6” of stage travel, and high 110 lb workload capacity. Linear glass scales provide 0.00002” (0.5 µm) of resolution. In addition, a Q-axis scale reads out angles to 1’ resolution as the projection screen is rotated. A bayonet lens socket accepts a choice of six projection lenses with magnifications from 10x to 100x.

The HB400-M2-CNC model augments the HB400 base model with motorized X-Y stage motion under the control of a 10” touch screen tablet PC that runs new M2 CNC software under Windows 7. It also adds optical edge detection and data upload/download capability via Wi-Fi. The combination of CNC control with optical edge detection converts the optical comparator into a fully automated, closed loop control inspection system that is suited for high-throughput measurements of production parts. Manual parts positioning is also supported by means of a joystick.

“Our Model HB400-M2-CNC takes our popular HB400 optical comparator to the next level by providing the software for fully automatic measurements and Windows 7 network connectivity,” states Mark Arenal, general manager of Starrett Kinemetric Engineering.

MetLogix M2 CNC metrology software capability is also available as a field retrofit for older HB400 CNC optical comparators.