Don't Buy a FARO CMM Machine Until You've Read This Checklist

Who This Checklist Is For

If you're about to sign off on any precision measurement equipment—a portable CMM arm, a laser tracker, industrial scales, or even a decent clamp meter—this one's for you. I've been the quality manager handling metrology equipment purchases at my shop for nine years. I've personally made (and documented) fourteen significant buying mistakes, totaling roughly $40,000 in wasted budget. Now I maintain our team's pre-purchase checklist, and this is the version I wish I'd had on day one.

Step 1: Define the accuracy you actually need, not the brochure spec

My first mistake, back in 2017, was buying based on the manufacturer's headline accuracy number. The brochure said the portable CMM arm could hold a certain volumetric tolerance. And it could—in a temperature-controlled lab. On our production floor, with the overhead door opening and closing all shift, parts grew and shrank, and repeatability disappeared. We paid for capability we couldn't use in our own environment.

Before you even request quotes, write down three things:

• The tightest tolerance you'll actually inspect, at your maximum part size.
• The temperature range where the equipment will live, not where the vendor wishes it would live.
• Whether you need contact probing, laser scanning, or both.

If you're looking at a FARO system, ask to walk through the acceptance test procedure and how it maps to ISO 10360-2. That's the standard for coordinate measuring machine verification. If a vendor won't take the time to explain it, treat that as a red flag.

Step 2: Price the whole system, not the machine

The second lesson was about hidden line items. Everyone asks the same question first: "What's the FARO CMM machine price?" Fair question, but it's the wrong starting point. The machine itself is only half the story.

Most buyers focus on per-unit pricing and completely miss software licenses, operator training, probing accessories, shipping, and the first-year calibration contract. When I compared the bare-bones quote and the complete package side by side—same vendor, different line items—I finally understood why the details matter so much. The "cheap" quote ended up costing 38% more once we added everything we actually needed.

As of January 2025, a new FARO portable CMM arm with scanning capability generally runs somewhere in the $35,000 to $100,000 range depending on reach, probe configuration, and software bundle, based on dealer quotes. Verify current pricing at faro.com before you budget. Add roughly 15-25% for the stuff the quote "forgot": carrying case, spare batteries, training days, and the calibration contract that starts ticking the day the equipment arrives.

If a vendor won't show you line-item pricing for software, training, and calibration, you haven't seen the real price.

Step 3: Confirm the calibration and support chain before you order

Precision equipment without a calibration plan is just an expensive decoration. Everyone in this industry told me to confirm the calibration chain before placing an order. I didn't listen. In September 2022, our new system passed its factory acceptance test and then sat idle for three weeks waiting on a calibration accessory that wasn't in stock anywhere in the country. Three weeks of idle capital, and a production team standing around.

Ask these three questions before you commit:

1. Who actually calibrates the system, and what's the real turnaround time, not the brochure turnaround?
2. Is every calibration traceable to NIST (nist.gov) or an equivalent national metrology institute?
3. Which accessories do you need to keep as working spares, and what's the lead time from the FARO store or your distributor?

The same logic applies to the rest of the shop. If you use industrial scales in receiving or shipping, you need certified test weights and a written verification procedure. NIST Handbook 44 defines the tolerances for commercial weighing devices; get familiar with it if your scales are used for trade. A scale that silently drifts by half a percent doesn't fail loudly. It just quietly ships customer problems out the door.

Step 4: Know how to test a Rice Lake load cell before it goes in

I'm not 100% sure why load cells are so often skipped in incoming inspection, but they're one of the most common failure points in any weighing system. If you're installing a Rice Lake load cell—or the equivalent from another manufacturer—you can catch a damaged unit in about fifteen minutes with a multimeter.

Here's the basic version of the test:

1. Measure the resistance across the excitation wires. A standard 350Ω bridge cell reads roughly 350Ω ± 3.5Ω. A reading way outside that range means a damaged bridge.
2. Measure the resistance across the signal wires. Same ballpark.
3. Check insulation resistance from the cable conductors to the load cell body or shield. You want megohms, not kilohms. Water ingress is the #1 killer of load cells, and this check catches it.
4. With no load applied, the zero balance should stay stable within about ±1% of rated output. If it drifts or jumps, don't install it.

And once it's installed, verify with known weights before putting the scale into service. That step sounds obvious, but I've seen too many "quick installs" turn into a recall somewhere down the chain.

A load cell drifting on a floor scale doesn't give you one loud, obvious failure. It gives you a quiet inventory discrepancy months later, and then a customer shipping dispute. That's a brand-image problem disguised as an accounting problem.

Step 5: Don't forget the everyday tools in the same quality net

This one gets some strange looks, but stick with me. Your $60,000 CMM and your $300 clamp meter are part of the same quality story. If your technician troubleshoots a motor drive with an averaging meter on a distorted waveform, he'll chase a ghost problem for two days. A true RMS meter gives you data you can trust the first time.

If you're buying electrical test tools, make sure the clamp meter has true RMS capability. A 325 true RMS clamp meter is a solid workhorse for that type of task—it handles non-sinusoidal signals without lying to you. It's not about the brand. It's about the spec matching the job.

Also, check the FARO store before you pay retail for probe assemblies, batteries, or replacement accessories. I've found better lead times and certified pre-owned options there than through the standard distributor channel. When your production schedule is tight, a six-week lead time difference decides everything.

Step 6: Validate on your own parts before final sign-off

Here's the step I refuse to skip now: test the system on your parts, on your floor, with your operator. The spec sheet can say "it can." The demo can say "it can." Then your actual part, with its weird thin wall or awkward geometry, says "no, it can't."

In Q1 2024, after the third customer rejection in one month, I created our pre-acceptance checklist. Since then, we've caught 47 potential issues before they turned into schedule slips or rework orders. The pattern is usually the same: the equipment was fine; our part was an edge case nobody had tested.

Vendors don't hide problems on purpose. They just don't know your part's worst-case feature the way you do. Show them. Run it.

The Mistakes I'd Still Warn You About

If you take nothing else away, take this: measurement equipment is not a cost center. It's your last line of defense for your brand. When a customer receives a part that doesn't match the certificate of compliance, they don't blame the measuring tool. They blame your company. The data you ship with the part is the first physical impression of your quality system.

• Don't buy more accuracy than you can maintain. An uncalibrated $80,000 machine gives you false confidence, which is worse than a simple calibrated gage.
• Don't assume "certified" means "permanent." Everything drifts. Calibration intervals exist for a reason, and skipping one to save money is borrowing from your reputation.
• Don't push the purchase into next year for budget optics. Bad measurement data compounds quietly. I'd rather explain half a system expense at this year's review than explain a mass recall later.

I'm not saying buy the premium option every time. I'm saying buy the option that's measured, traceable, and actually capable of protecting your reputation. That's where the ROI lives. The $50 difference on a test tool, or the $5,000 difference on a CMM package, is nothing compared to what one bad shipment does to a customer relationship.