I started a new job last week, I’ve been running a Haas VF7 while building a jig. Fortunately the machine is tooled with a touch probe and a tool setter. These are awesome tools. The probe will automatically set work coordinates, and verify part dimensions, and make adjustments as required. The tool setter will measure length and diameter offsets automatically. It is even possible to measure single point tooling such as a boring tool or a thread mill, as the machine will turn the tool anti-clockwise while measuring such a tool. Some decent parametric programming drive these functions, and the tools aren’t cheap, but the cost of set-up would pay for itself in no time, if you do a lot of low volume jobs. Here is the option on Haas’ site.
A short cameraphone video of the probe setting the X,Y and Z coordinates of a block that I was about to machine:
