Touch Probe for a Noob.

[Ed_R]

OK so the point cloud issue is once again... cloudy.
In order to not hae to deal with the point cloud issue, I should get the box AND the probe. Right?
Here's teh trick- The PC that runs the machine is a 486-50 with DOS 6.2 on it. Will teh software even RUN on it? Or am I forced to point-clouding and saving, then transferring to the momma machine for massaging?

[imserv]

DeskCNC in a Box will run the machine from a Win98 or later computer with a serial or USB port.

A 486-50 with DOS limits you to a couple of DOS controller programs (TurboCNC and maybe Zeus) that will collect individual points, but won't offer any processing power for the resulting point cloud. I doubt that a 486-50 can hold the entire point set in memory, let alone display the resulting 3D surface file. It is not uncommon to create 20 meg data files of scanned surfaces. That's could easily be larger than the hard drive capacity on this machine. You will probably be limited to the amount of data you can put on a floppy diskette (1.4 meg) for the transfer, unless you are good at networking an old DOS box to a LAN, or maybe if you have a ZIP drive.

Fred Smith - IMService
http://www.cadcamcadcam.com/hobby

[Ed_R]

I am plannign on starting with TurboCNC as my initial projects aren't complicated carves but rather just patern cutouts in 2-D space. The most complicated stuff is arcing.
For future runs I am eventually going to have to set up a nicer machine, but for now, I can transfer via USB key.

Might have to put off getting a probe for the moment but I am very interested in the technology and want to pursue it in future.