Mechanical Digitizing?

[DLMACHINE]

When digitizing with a probe mounted on a vertical mill do most mills move through a grid and then come down at each point for a z height measurement or do they actually work around the object measuring the from the side of the object?

[intek cnc]

All that I have seen mesure in the z dirrection. Moving in a grid like pattern

[Al_The_Man]

Renishaw and Heidenhain and others make a X,Y,Z, probe's, usually on a CNC mill macros are written using the G31 function (skip input) and will capture whatever you want, typical macros are for center of hole/boss, outside of boss, edge of part, tool length etc.
3 axis probe's are not usually cheap,Up to $10k's but I picked up one on ebay for just over $100, I am just in the process of implementing it on a mill I have.
Al

[Bloy2004]

Al...
Could you post a picture of that probe that cost only a $100?
Wow! what deal!

[Al_The_Man]

It's a Heidenhain and it apears to be new or never used.
Al

[Bloy2004]

OOooo! nice find Al! I've been interested in digitizing but never came across something on E-bay like you have....

[intek cnc]

Maxnc makes a probe that work ok for most things. +-.002 or so, not a cmm but ok for most things.

[phrog]

Has anyone used the digitizing probe available for DeskCNC software?
I could not even find a picture of it, but I figured for $225.00 what the heck, so I ordered one, I have not recieved it yet, but will post some pics and my two cents worth when I get it.

[imserv]

There is a picture with the product announcement.

DeskCNC TP-100 Probe released

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

[whiteriver]

I bought one last week for use with mach2. I set it up wrong and broke the stylus. Then the second time I used it the stylus came unscrewed. Gotta make sure its tight. I learned to do small things. A 0.03 stepover x and 0.06 y at 45ipm on a 18.25x18.25 square will take about 180 hours to digitize. So I just did a 1/4 of it with a .125" stepover and it only took 5 hours. Now i'm trying to figure out how to get the point cloud into a solid model. Wish I would have run it a 0.06" stepover. could have been done in 11 hours.

Donny

[phrog]

Whiteriver,
A couple of questions if you don't mind. You will have to excuse me, I ordered mine with DeskCNC, it was not too expensive, so I figured I would check it out. I understand that it is just a 5 way probe switch, but what are you doing to import your image, do you run the machine in a grid formation and the probe reads only on the z-down, or does it read on the x-y plane as well?
What type of file is generated by your point cloud after digitizing? Can this file be opend in Rhino3D and "tweeked" before re-machining?

[phrog]

I guess if I would have read the whole thread I could have answered my own question.
So can you use this probe in the x-y planes for edge detection with DeskCNC?