here’s my home made probe wanted something to play with but with out the cost.
It’s made out of MDF water pipe pan head screws springs wire connecters.
Works ok for what it is.

Hi I was just wondering if you could explain how this works the probe I meen this is really interesting

thank you

Here’s some more pics let me know if you need more or what you want to know about it.

Are You using it only verticaly? I mean when probing, do you only go to the probed part from top and measure the vertical coordinate when one of the contacts is opend, or are You running the probe along the part?
How does it behave on skew surfaces? What is the raster used for probing the wrench???

I know.. tonns of questions, but this is a realy interesting project. Congratulations, looks realy impressing to me.

those are great pictures what software are you using with this setup

I use mach3 to run the probe and my machine. The digitizing wizard in mach3 works good
when probing the writing on the wrench it comes down in the z axes and records the position
that’s all I’ve done with it so fare it will activate going in the XYZ position.
Was just sharing what I made with every one who mite want to play with a probe but don’t have the money for it or the time to make a fancy one.

Brilliant. There I was thinking about using PC board and bearings.
Will use your design just replacing mdf with plastic.
Thanks
Paul

Also home made Touch Probe.

http://www.indoor.flyer.co.uk/probe.htm

It looks like you made 10 passes to get that crude image - but its not bad considering it came off the side of that monkey wrench .... And that's pretty fine lettering .. probably most uses of your probe will be on larger scale and will give you better ...

I don't know what the purpose of this thing is other than to make an image .. it seems like rather crude type of 'scanner' like a paper scanner (2D) but it's a 3D scanner - so mach3 gives you that image and then you can recreate it ... So it's for scanning in something ot get a rough plot which you can then mill and produce something almost as good as the original .. ?

chronon1, these type probes can be used to pick up the edges of a part, fnd the center of a hole or scan a part in 3d giving a point cloud that can then be manipulated into a full 3d image so a gcode program can then be made from that. Reverse engineering is the largest use for these type probes.

Mike

Sounds pretty cool - beets starting from scratch each time .. ill bet china nad japan have a whole lot of these probes, in fact i'll bet anytime something new comes out, the SOP in a Chinese plant is to get the good ole probe out and begin pumping widgets !
(Hope not too many Chinese are reading this , if so , don't take too much offense, I lost my IT job recently to Bangalore India--- )

When you say point cloud and manipulating it .. is that something Mach does or you have to go in manually and have fun line by line ?

chronon some of the best point cloud software is made in china i wonder why :P hehe Saw the new solidworks2007 going to have point cloud support
http://files.solidworks.com/News/scanTo3D/scanTo3D.html

I use mach3 to run the probe and my machine. The digitizing wizard in mach3 works good
when probing the writing on the wrench it comes down in the z axes and records the position
that’s all I’ve done with it so fare it will activate going in the XYZ position.
Was just sharing what I made with every one who mite want to play with a probe but don’t have the money for it or the time to make a fancy one.

And I can't tell you how much we appreciate guys like you who share your adventures I would have never thought this was possible to make a probe yourself

thank you

Rob

That was a pretty cool demo for SW07 .. I watched about 2/3 of it as I dont have the fastest connection - too bad SW is so over the hill $wise.

Hay Chronon1 I made the probe to make some tale light covers for my truck just one of my projects that might get done or maybe not.

I'm not sure if I missed thae answer or not, but have the same question:

Does the probe need horizontal switching as well as verticle?

hay Phil I like your site

Does the probe need horizontal switching as well as verticle?
not sheer what you mean but it will activate going in the x and y direction when it hits something
and when its going down in the z direction.

I can make it’s. it's the explaining that gets me all you know what.

john

John,

Nice job on the probe, the machine I run at work has a Renishaw probe on it. It is pretty much what you have made here.

I was curious to know how much a Renishaw probe would cost (I found this on Ebay)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Renishaw-Probe-MP4-A-2016-0017_W0QQitemZ180007483860QQcmdZViewItem

So, you know If it cost around $1,000.00 on Ebay. It would cost more If bought new from a Renishaw dealer.

I think this would be a nice addition to any DIY 3-Axis router table.

Good Job!


Jerry

.

John,

I've got a question for you, since you said, you are running this probe with the Mach Control.

Does the Mach Control have a parameter in it to compensate the thickness of the stylus (In the "X" & "Y" direction)?

Example: If the probe is used to find the edge of a workpiece, will "Mach" take the thickness of the stylus and divide that by 2, so that I get the actual edge of the workpiece (and not an offset edge) ?

Thanks,

Jerry

.

Jerry

im no pro at this it’s just a hobby I like making things I looked at the manual for mach it looks like you can do it but I cant tell you how.
You’d be better off asking in the mach forum.

Sorry john

Jerry I can answer you mach3 compensation question tomorrow......I hope!

Mike

I can answer you mach3 compensation question tomorrow......I hope!

Thanks, Mike






Jerry

.

Forgive me if you've already mentioned this somewhere and I missed it, but I'm wondering where the wires go that leave the probe? How do they interface with the computer?

Thanks,
Jason

Forgive me if you've already mentioned this somewhere and I missed it, but I'm wondering where the wires go that leave the probe? How do they interface with the computer?

Thanks,
Jason
You need to run them to one of the inputs on your controller then set your software to tell it this input is a probe.
Paul

Very cool...

I'm using EMC2, and i see it has touch probe functionality as well... Hmmmmm, too many projects, not enough time.

I use mach3 to run the probe and my machine. The digitizing wizard in mach3 works good
when probing the writing on the wrench it comes down in the z axes and records the position
that’s all I’ve done with it so fare it will activate going in the XYZ position.
Was just sharing what I made with every one who mite want to play with a probe but don’t have the money for it or the time to make a fancy one.


Can you explain configuration on Mach 3 Digitizing wizard?

1. Width (x) of digitizing area = X size of the part to digitize.
2. Height (y) of digitizing area = Y size of the part to digitize.
3. Z axis travel height = ???
4. Z axis Probe Depth = ???
5. X Stepover = ???
6. Y Stepover = ???
7. Feedrate = ???

Thanks

Mikegasman,
Where does this probe connect to the computer/controller? How does the Mach3 program work with the probe?
Thanx for your time,
Tom

Can you explain configuration on Mach 3 Digitizing wizard?

1. Width (x) of digitizing area = X size of the part to digitize.max distance the x axis will cover
2. Height (y) of digitizing area = Y size of the part to digitize.See above
3. Z axis travel height = ???The start position of the z axis
4. Z axis Probe Depth = ???the bottom of the z sroke
5. X Stepover = ???Distance between each probe on the x axis
6. Y Stepover = ???See above
7. Feedrate = ???Feedrate the probe will contact the part.

Thanks

I would highly recommend you try the 3d probe plugin rather than the wizard. Much faster. It is a little different in the setup but not by much.

Mike

Mikegasman,
Where does this probe connect to the computer/controller? How does the Mach3 program work with the probe?
Thanx for your time,
Tom

Tom the probe leads connect to a switch input. I use the -z as my default and have it set up in the Mach config to use as my probe input.....I think! It's getting too late and I need to go to bed, but I think that is correct.

Mike

Mike,
So one wire goes to the 'Z' input on the controller & the other wire goes to ... where?
Also, when I configure the scanning wizard in Mach 3, is the input signal call ed z home, --z or ++z? I just don't want to connect up everything & then burn out something on my controller.
Thanx again,
Tom

Mike,
So one wire goes to the 'Z' input on the controller & the other wire goes to ... where?
Also, when I configure the scanning wizard in Mach 3, is the input signal call ed z home, --z or ++z? I just don't want to connect up everything & then burn out something on my controller.
Thanx again,
Tom

Tom before you go any further, take a breath! Now tell me about your machine, and whether or not you have a breakout board. If so, how many axis etc.

To answer your above questions..........no! Don't do anything else till we get you comfortable.

Mike

Mike,
First, I want to thank you for your time & second, I really appreciate helping with the details of this project.
I have a StepMasterNC Bipolar Micro-Stepping 3-Axis Controller Board that connects between my computer & my router. I understand that the Mach3 software wizard will run the program for the scan, however I don't understand the route the signal takes to get the information from the probe back to Mach3.
Thanx again,
Tom

Tom if you will look on your controller board you should see terminals for limit switches. There should be places for two switches per axis, one positive and one negative. In the case of the z axis, I used my negative limit switch to build a tool set switch which kinda acted like a probe, only in reverse, but still used the probe function. My actual probe for digitizing is wired directly to the limit switch cable running back to my breakout board, (Campbell by Sound Logic) that is connected to my z axis negative or lower limit switch terminals.

Two wires is it. I hope this helps.

Mike

edited: Did you build this board from a kit? Photos?

Mike,
Thanx for the info; I am giving you the link to 'http://www.stepmasternc.com/datasheet3axissop-1.pdf' for the board I am using (I think/ it is in a case & I haven't opened it yet). If you look at the board layout, it shows several edge connectors on the right hand side. I believe I would connect one of the wires of the probe to ground & the other one to the 'z' axis. I am sending an email to the company to ask them the same question.
Thanx again; if you can think of anything else that would help me (everyone), please let me know.
Tom

Tom according to the pdf, the probe hooks to the 5+vdc Log (logic) terminal and the ground. Are these servos? I see encoder connections.

Mike

Mike,
Beats the hay out of me. I have emailed the maker/ hopefully they can enlight us.
Tom