WHEN THREE OF THESE DEVICES (PART #40320) ARE RIGIDLY ATTACHED TO DIAGONAL CORNERS OF A COORDINATE MEASURING MACHINE PALLET, IT WILL EXACTLY DEFINE THE PALLET'S THREE DIMENSIONAL ADDRESS OR POSITION ON THE MEASURING MACHINE TABLE.

THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THESE THREADED TOOLING BALLS DEFINES THE FIXED LOCATION POINTS THAT ARE USED TO EXACTLY POSITION THE TEST PART ON THE PALLET SYSTEM. THIS APPROACH TO LOCATING THE PALLET IS A TREMENDOUS TIME SAVER.

THESE DEVICES ACTUALLY ALLOW A PALLET TO BE RANDOMLY POSITIONED ANYWHERE ON THE C.M.M. TABLE, AND YET THE COMPUTER HAS A PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF THE TEST PART'S TRUE THREE DIMENSIONAL POSITION. THIS LOCATION IS RETRIEVED FROM THE DATA THAT WAS STORED DURING THE ORIGINAL MEASUREMENT OF THE TEST PART SOME TIME EARLIER.

THE THREE EXACTLY MATCHED HARDENED STAINLESS STEEL BALLS ARE THREE QUARTER INCH (1.9 CM) DIAMETER. THEY ARE PRECISION LAPPED SPHERICAL WITHIN LESS THAN FIVE MICROINCHES AND THE SURFACE IS POLISHED TO A FRACTION OF A MICROINCH.

THE SPHERE IS SECURELY ATTACHED TO THE HEAD OF A SHORT 1/4 INCH (6.3 CM) DIAMETER STAINLESS STEEL BOLT THAT HAS TWENTY THREADS PER INCH.

TO PREVENT A SLIGHT BUMP FROM SEPARATING THE BALL FROM THE BOLT, A 1/8 INCH (3.2 MM) DIAMETER PIN EXTENDS WELL UP INTO THE BALL AND DOWN INTO THE BOLT.

A STAINLESS STEEL WASHER AND A JAM NUT ARE SUPPLIED WITH EACH THREADED ADDRESS SPHERE TO RIGIDLY FIX THEIR POSITION ON THE PALLET.

IN ADDITION TO THEIR USE FOR LOCATING THE POSITION OF A PALLET ON THE C.M.M. TABLE, THESE DEVICES MAKE AN EXCELLENT MEASURING ARTIFACT AND TWO OR MORE OF THEM LEFT MOUNTED ON A PALLET CAN FORM AN INTERIM CHECKING DEVICE.

A LARGE ARRAY OF THESE BALLS CAN BE MOUNTED ON A SIMPLE PIECE OF METAL PLATE TO CONSTRUCT A VERY HIGH QUALITY BALL PLATE FOR COORDINATE MEASURING MACHINE EVALUATION.

WHEN BUILDING A LARGE ARTIFACT USING MANY BALLS, THE BALLS SHOULD BE ORDERED AS A SINGLE MASTER SET SO THAT ALL SPHERES WILL BE EXACTLY THE SAME DIAMETER.