A new centering method of the measuring probe for spiral scanning-based surface profile measurement systems

Spiral scanning is a high-efficiency scanning mode for surface profile measurement systems. The most important priority to realize the spiral scanning mode is to accurately align the measuring probe with the rotational centre of the spindle. This paper proposes a novel centre alignment method of the measuring probe, which is considered to be suitable for any type of spiral scanning surface measurement systems. The proposed method, which only needs a tilted flat mirror as the artefact, makes the time-consuming centre alignment process of the measuring probe become much easier and faster. The operational steps of the proposed method are presented. Experiments have also been carried out based on a self-developed optical profiler with spiral scanning operation to verity the feasibility of the proposed method. The experimental results show that the proposed method is capable of conducting a fast alignment (only takes 3 min) while maintaining a high alignment accuracy. Evaluation of the alignment accuracy shows that the centering error is less than 10 mu m on the mechanical guide rail stage and about 1.7 mu m on the air-bearing stage.