## Step 7: Create an Alignment

You need to create an alignment prior to measuring your gear.

To create an alignment:

1. Select the Measure | Alignment Creation… menu option (the available menu options will vary depending on the type of gear that you are defining)...

... or the Align toolbar icon...

... to open the Align Gear dialog box.

2. Change the values in the dialog box according to your gear type. The available values will vary depending on the type of gear that you are defining.

- Cylinder gear: See "Aligning a Cylinder Gear".

- Bevel gear: See "Aligning a Bevel Gear".

3. To save your changes, click Apply. To close the dialog box without saving, click Close.

4. Click OK to begin the Alignment Wizard. PC-DMIS Gear prompts you to start the alignment:

PC-DMIS Gear Are you ready to align the gear?

5. If you are ready to use the Alignment Wizard to align the gear, click Yes. PC-DMIS launches in the background to create the part program for alignment and execute each measurement. The Alignment Wizard's Measure Features dialog box then appears.

Alignment Wizard example for plane feature

6. You will use the Measure Features dialog box to first measure the plane feature, and then the circle feature, for a cylinder or bevel gear. If you chose to measure additional features for a bevel gear, you will also use this dialog box to measure them. To use the dialog box:

- Follow the instructions provided to measure the feature.

- Select the active tip that will be used to measure the feature.

- If you are not satisfied with a step that you just completed, click Back to go to the previous step.

Note: During measurement, if the hit you have taken is not good enough for the feature, the Alignment Wizard will prompt you to measure it again. You can click Next and continue.

- If you are not satisfied with a hit, click Del Hit to remove the last hit.

- Once PC-DMIS Gear has measured the feature, the Back button will change to Delete. If you want to delete the feature that you just measured, click this button.

- When you have completed the initial measurement of the feature, the Measured Features dialog box will provide you with the opportunity to measure the feature again.

- When the measurement is done, the Next button will change to Done. If you are done measuring the feature, select this button.

Important: You cannot undo the measurement after you select the Done button.

7. Measure the plane feature. For help, see step 6.

8. When PC-DMIS Gear is done measuring the plane feature, click Next. The Measure Features dialog box will direct you to measure the circle feature:

Align Wizard example for circle feature

9. Measure the circle feature. For help, see step 6.

10. If you measured the plane and circle features for a cylinder gear, you are done with creating an alignment. Continue with "Step 8: Measure the Master Flank".

If you measured the plane and circle features for a bevel gear, the remaining steps vary depending on whether you selected the Measure face/root cone option in the Align Gear dialog box. (For more information, see "Aligning a Bevel Gear".)

- If you did not select the Measure face/root cone option, you are done with creating an alignment. Continue with "Step 8: Measure the Master Flank".

- If you selected the Measure face/root cone option, PC-DMIS Gear will also perform an accuracy alignment along with the basic gear alignment. Some blueprints require a more accurate alignment that is created using a face or root cone measurement. The Measure Features dialog box will direct you to measure the face/root cone feature:

Alignment Wizard showing an example of an accuracy alignment for a bevel gear

Follow these steps to complete the accuracy alignment:

1. Select the active tip that will be used to measure the two points.

2. Measure two points on the face or root of one tooth. You will always need to take two hits on the face/root cone of a bevel gear. Press Done after you measure each point.

3. If you are not satisfied with the result, click Del Hit to delete the points that were just taken.

4. Touch the Done icon on the jogbox to measure the face/root cone. The PC-DMIS part program for the face/root cone will be built automatically.

Important: The alignment cannot be undone after you touch the Done icon.

11. After you have measured all of the alignment features for the bevel gear, the Execution box will appear. To cancel the auto measure, click Cancel. To proceed with the measurement, click OK.

Execution Please move the probe to a safe position, the program will execute automatically!

12. When the automatic alignment process is done, a message box will appear and indicate that the alignment was built successfully.

Step 8: Measure the Master Flank...