Importing a 2D image

[rwskinner]

Is there a good way I can cheat and scan a part and import it into my CAM program so I have at least some vectors to start out with?

I want to make some Aluminum A Frames for my son's RC but it will take lots of work to design them from scratch in my CAD program.

Richard

[gd.marsh]

Richard,

There's a little utility program I downloaded from the net called 'OutlineART'
I haven't had the opportunity to use it a lot, but it seems to work fine.

TTF to DXF converter,OutlineART transforms TTF text and symbols to DXF polyline
$29.95

[cornbinder23]

Come on Richard 10 min and some calipers
What RC? I might already have the .dxf

JTCUSTOMS

[hoss2006]

Not going straight from a scan to CAM like you asked but Scan2CAD looks to do the job
of converting a scan into vectors that can make a dxf.
Haven't tried it yet but been meaning to.
Scan2CAD - Convert Raster To Vector - PDF To Vector & More
I've used Wintopo with ok results.
Tormach has their CNC Scanner.
http://www.tormach.com/product_cnc_scanner.html
Hoss

[gd.marsh]

Sorry My Bad ..

Gave you the wrong link .. the one I previously indicated is for tracing text ..
As I said I haven't used these a lot so mistakenly pointed you to the wrong program ..
This is the one I was thinking of .. 'TraceART'
There's many links if you do a google search ..

Gary

[geoffd]

You could try a 3D image, which would give you an stl file, then use OpenScad's 3D to 2D operations to create the DXF.

I've had some fair results creating 3D images with this: 123DCatch currently it is free.

[pete from TN]

Dunno if this helps or not but I have been faced with that problem before. I had to build a part from a picture I saw on the net. I finally found that I could take the picture and import it into my Cad software and once I have it loaded up I simply scale it to a KNOWN distance on the part. For instance if two holes are some specific distance I then just scale the whole thing to that distance and then I can simply draw over the picture on another layer of the drawing. Works pretty good and is simple. You still wind up drawing the whole part of course but at least you are not having to measure every damn feature. I know when I used to be a Professional high end cabinet builder the guys who did the granite counter tops used a system like this to measure and template the drawings. They had some special little plastic signs that they would lay all over the tops of the actual cabinets and that would show where the corners and whatnot were. Then they would take a bunch of high res digital pictures of the installation from different angles and take it back to the shop where they had software that could differentiate the distances based on the sizes of the plastic chips in the pictures. It was amazingly accurate and the guys we used always hit the marks with the installed counter tops. I have done the digital camera thing on a part or two and used it to draw from but it only works when you have a quality up close picture taken from the right perspective. Like right over top or right facing the side you want to machine from. It does work tho and for small parts you would be surprised at how accurate it can be.

I will need to look at that scan to cad software... looks interesting. Someday someone will build a CHEAP 3d scanner for guys like use to be able to use. I know that someone on machsupport was working on one using a laser pointer and a digital webcam but it looked pretty basic at the time I last looked at it. Still amazing but needs more work. Peace

Pete

[rwskinner]

Your better a CAD than me
We need to do them for a Tmaxx, however he has a XTM Mammoth, and a couple of Kocero? Buggies.

Richard

Come on Richard 10 min and some calipers
What RC? I might already have the .dxf

JTCUSTOMS

[rwskinner]

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm going to play around with a flatbed scanner and see how close that comes with some of the software you all pointed me to. I saw on the net where Eartaker did some RC parts for a Savage and used Ras2Vec and also seemed to have luck.

I also thought about using one of the touch probes like:
CNC4PC

I have looked at it for awhile and wasn't sure how well it would work. Most the others are priced in the thousands $$$.

I plan on doing some 3D stuff in the future so a probe may be handy for mapping other items as well?

Richard

[Fastest1]

That is Zarzul's probe. It works great and is adjustable. Well worth the money. I am sure it isnt the accuracy or quality of a Reinshaw but it works very good for a 20th of the price.

[jid2]

There is no silver bullet for this even with high dollar tools. We run into this problem at work. Sure you can scan and then convert to outlines etc, but there will always be alot of noise in the lines. Same with 3D, we get high resolution scans of products, and all you can use them for is a reference while creating the model from scratch in the CAD program.

A simple A-Arm or RC part should be easy to model. Spend some time getting good at your CAD package and it will payout in the longrun for sure.

[Pete Stenabaugh]

Listen to these guys, they have been there before..... The problem with a scan is that the scan is only a raster image made up of dots. You then have to convert the dots to vectors, and although there are several programs out there that will do most of the job..... in the end you always HAVE to clean up the drawing in a cad program. So dont bother wasting your time to piddle around with it, just draw the thing to start with and be done with it. An A frame drawing cant take more than a hour start to finish and you will easily end up wasting 3 or 4 times that with a scan.

Now if you want to talk about 3D scanning that gets a bit more technical and the easiest way to do that is to look at the 'David' software. This is best for the least when it comes to 3D scanning to create a point cloud file that you can now import into a cad program to create an .stl file for machining. This isnt perfect either, but it is pretty good.

Pete