These are the simplest form of stylus, incorporating highly spherical industrial ruby balls and a choice of stem material.

Ruby is an extremely hard material and hence stylus wear is minimized. It is also of low density, keeping tip mass to a minimum, which avoids unwanted probe triggers caused by machine motion or vibration.

Mounted on stems made from a range of materials – stainless steel, tungsten carbide, ceramic and a specialized carbon fiber material, “Renishaw GF” – these simple ruby ball styli are suitable for most inspection applications.

Each stylus has an effective working length (EWL) which is the penetration that can be achieved by the ball before the stem fouls against the feature.

Cylinder styli

These are used for probing holes in thin sheet material. In addition, various threaded features can be probed and the centers of tapped holes located. Ball-ended cylinder styli allow full datuming and probing in X, Y and Z directions, thus allowing surface inspection to be performed.

Pointer styli are designed for the inspection of thread forms, specific points and scribed lines (to lower accuracy). The use of a radius end pointer stylus allows more accurate datuming and probing of features as detailed above and can also be used to inspect the location of very small holes.

Ceramic hollow ball styli are ideal for probing deep features and bores in X, Y and Z directions, with the need to datum only one ball. There are two versions in the range, 18 mm and 30 mm diameter, specially designed for the TP2 / TP20 / TP200 and TP6 probes respectively. Probing with such a large diameter ball can average out the effects of very rough surfaces.

Stylus extensions

These provide additional probing penetration by extending the stylus away from the probe. However, using stylus extensions can reduce probe accuracy due to loss of rigidity. This is not the case with electronic probes, whose extremely low trigger forces render them less sensitive to this type of inaccuracy

Stylus thread adaptors

These allow M2, M3, M4 and M5 threaded styli to be interchanged on the majority of touch trigger probes. They are particularly useful for adapting the extensive range of specialized application M2 styli for use on larger probes.

Stylus tools

Specifically designed for mounting styli correctly onto probes and for the construction of specialized stylus combinations, Renishaw’s stylus tools protect your investment.

S7 stylus tool

The S7 stylus tool is used for tightening styli and accessories when connecting to one another or directly into the probe. It is specifically designed to yield if excessive tightening force is applied, avoiding damage to the threads of stylus and probe.

Stylus crank

Always use genuine Renishaw styli or your probe performance will be compromised! applications.

The size of the ball and the EWL of the stylus chosen are dictated by the size of the feature to be inspected. However, keeping the stylus ball as large as possible and the stem as short as possible will ensure maximum ball/stem clearance, whilst providing a greater yet still rigid EWL. Using larger ruby balls also reduces the effect of the surface finish of the component being inspected.

Probing with very long stylus/extension combinations is not recommended with standard kinematic touch trigger probes as the rigidity is reduced and accuracy lost due to stylus bending. This is not the case with other types of probe such as those with strain gage technology, as their very low trigger forces permit the use of long stylus/extension combinations without a significant loss of accuracy.

Star styli

These stylus clusters provide you with multiple-tip probing of complex features and bores. Four or five ruby ball systems are mounted rigidly on a stainless steel center. Three standard sizes are offered – alternatively, you can create custom-made star styli using a 5-way stylus center and any of the genuine Renishaw stylus range.

Star styli can be used to inspect a variety of different features. Their use can reduce inspection cycle times by allowing multi tip probing, minimizing the need to move the probe to extreme points of internal features such as the sides or grooves in a bore. Using star styli also allows effective probing in the –Z (upwards) direction when using a 5-way probe, provided that the stylus tips extend beyond the diameter of the probe body. Each tip on a star stylus requires datuming (sometimes referred to as ‘qualifying’ or ‘calibrating’) in the same manner as a single-ball stylus. The ‘span’ of star styli is taken from ball center to ball center.

Disk styli

These styli are used to probe undercuts and grooves within bores which may be inaccessible to star styli. They are ‘sections’ of highly spherical balls and are available in various diameters and thicknesses. Full rotational adjustment and the ability to add a center stylus are features of the Renishaw range of disk styli that make them particularly flexible and easy to use.

Tool setting styli

Typically, these are fitted with a square tip and can have threaded or plain shaft attachments. The tip faces are ground to ensure high squareness and parallelism. The TS27R tool setting probe for machining centers can also be fitted with a tungsten carbide disk stylus.

Crash protection devices

Renishaw’s stylus crash protection devices are designed to break in the event of impact and protect the probe from damage.

Stylus centers

These provide maximum probing flexibility with a single probe. Taking up to five styli of the same mounting thread, this accessory allows you to build stylus configurations to your own specification.

Stylus knuckles

These give full adjustment about two axes, allowing the stylus to be orientated to probe angled features. This adjustment is especially useful when the probe cannot be correctly orientated by the probe head, or when access for the head is limited.