Optimet laser scanner

[Patternboy]

Good day,
I did a scan with Optimet laser scanner on my Techno-Isel CNC router model RG 5950 with 11" gantry. I got different type of format that I can save as .dat .raw .stl .dxf, what would the best way to process these type of files so I can reproduce in wood the part that I scan with the CNC, I use MasterCam router Pro X2 for posting and Argon V7 from Ashlar for drawing.
Thank you

[Patternboy]

Good day, does anyone know anything about laser scanner for cnc router? Did I post at the right place? Thank you

Have a good day!

[sandiegocadcam]

what kind of geometry did you scan.....is it flat, 2d geo or 3d arc's, spliines, etc... does that scanner give you surfaces?

if the geo is 2d, then DXF into Mastercam. if you will be surface machining, use the STL option. personally, if i were surface machining, i would look for another file type such as IGES or STEP. with most scanners, that is an extra add-on to do that, but well worth the money.

if you have more questions about how to use the STL stuff, let me know. i am the San Diego Mastercam dealer.

[Patternboy]

Hi sandiegocadcam, thanks for your reply,
I just came today back from a 4 days training on MasterCam Router X2 level 1in Cambridge, Ontario.
I scanned a cast iron leg that come from a fancy bench just for a test, it about 30"H.x16"D.x 1"TH. Once the scan is done, I can save it as files extensions, .stl, .raw,.doc,.dat and .dxf, the stl file is 533Mb.
It's give me a 3d profile with poins(thousands of them)
They told me to use Xform stl... to open it up, but they didn't seem to know what to do with it after, they told me it was points and that I have to join them to make a surface with it, but how do I join them. They propose me a soft called Verisurf or Paraform. What do you think.
Thanks again.

[sandiegocadcam]

whom did you do this training with. for machining of a STL file, you will need to xform it to the correct machining position, but you can apply the correct surfacing/4th axis toolpath directly to the STL file. no need for a point cloud. if a point cloud is all you get from the scanner, then yes, you will need another software to "wrap" the surface for you. STL files are normally a bunch of lines that make thousands of trianlges. to this day, i have not seen one STL file that is points only.

[Patternboy]

Hi sandiegocadcam,
sorry if I didn't reply earlier, I was away, I know I can machine an stl file, I have to Xform it, my stl file are like you said a bunch of lines that form triangles. What I want to know is how with MasterCam can I create surfaces to be able to machine it after.
Thank you

[sandiegocadcam]

with mastercam, you will not be able to create surfaces from the stl file. you will need something along the lines of geomagic, etc... or spend the little extra money to get iges files from your scanner.

[Kevin Waldron]

I am new and also have a Techno Premium Class with Laser(200mm lens with approximately 2 3/8" depth of field). What I have done so far is bring a dxf file into Autocad where I purchased a 3rd party add-on by Syscon called Point Cloud. This program then allows me to drap a cloth or mesh over the points and then remove them. From this point I can then remove points which reduces the file almost to 2o% original. Then I can manipulate the data as a surface(the fall off degragation is terrible and I have to do a lot of clean up) then import into Artcam Pro (dxf file)where I now can tool path and cut.

I am hoping that you found an easier way?

Thanks,

Kevin

[Patternboy]

Hi Kevin,
I bought Cut3D, I can save my scan into .stl file format from the scanner software, Cut3D will open up the stl no problem, no matter size, you can rescale, reverse, rotate your project, and then make your toolpaths very easy to use. the final result is very good. For the price, $299.00, it's a good investement.

http://www.vectric.com/WebSite/Vectr.../c3d_index.htm

[Kevin Waldron]

Thanks,
I already own Cut3d and I hadn't thought about using that. I will look at that and see if that works better. The dxf gives much more accuracy than what I really probably need. Side note; I probably would not buy another Techno machine nothing really major wrong just a lot of little things that a company that has been doing this as long as they say should have worked all the bugs out. They really don't know what the left and right hand are doing. I have even talked with the president with same results.

Thanks again,

Kevin