This paper presents the achievement of a China NSFC project. A technique to calibrate laser tracker
using CMM has been developed. A laser tracker with working range of 35m can be calibrated
accurately and quickly using a CMM with working range of 1m. Studies have shown that angular errors
are the key contributor to measuring errors of laser tracker. A device to measure angular errors of laser
tracker on CMM has been invented. Using this technique to calibrate the laser tracker on the CMM, the
maximum measuring error of the laser tracker in measuring distance of 1.56m has been decreased
sharply from 91µm to 28µm