CNC machines, over years of use, can gradually wear down and lead to bad parts being manufactured. The ballbar test, when appropriately set up, carefully monitors the location of sensors on the ballbar within a created XY plane. Once it has been set up, executing a circular interpolation allows the device to accurately record how smooth or rough the actual circle being ‘cut’ is. Comparing this to an imaginary ‘perfect’ circle, one can visually notice quite a few potential defects on the machine. Read More