laser digitizing

[twombo]

Who out there (in here?) has looked at using laser devices for digitizing items and creating cutting routines?

Most are very pricey. Many production machines charge 8 to 10 thousand dollars for the option. Acculux makes a "Laser Ranger" in the $1200 range.

What am I missing? Mach 1 and Mach 2 both support digitizer inputs and even have a wizard to program the scan. I think CNC Pro does too. It looks to good to be true, is it? If a production machine option is 10 thousand dollars and the home grown is 1200 dollars, what gives? Is this the onetime good deal?

I want to implement this capability.... anybody out here (in here?) got any experience with this little jewel.

http://www.aculux.com/

Like I said "if it looks too good to be true" just what is it???

twombo

[CNCadmin]

here is some info- http://www.laserdesign.com/

[paulried]

Also look at

www.scantech.net

We have one of these at work and they work great. I will have to give a look over the aculux web page. I know that one of the things that the Scantech system offers is a package outside of the scanning system that creates tool paths for STL clouds. It is a very powerful system. Scantech runs in the $15,000 range

[wms]

Here's an other link. Looks spendy, but who knows.

http://www.axila.com

[georgebarr]

I like the LaseRange found at www.aculux.com. Does anyone have this and what do they think with it. Since they do not include any software, what software can work with this, mach1, mach2, emc? I have future plans to buy this one.

[twombo]

Art Fenerty of MACH1, MACH2 fame is looking into supporting these serial type devices sometime in the future. Still in the planning stage. Support for serial attached devices coincidentally faciitates auto tool changing capabilities. That is the reason this getting his attention at this time. Kills two stones with one bird for us in the trenches.

I am corresponding with another fella about DOS based scanning routines using the Acculux. He is getting good results With dos routines but the comm flow is a little slow with current Windows based controllers, Looks promising though!

This appears to be the device I need for my workflow come together. I ordered one the other day and will share my results as I make progress.

Most commercial laser measurement systems set up for CNC machinery seem to be runing in the the 10,000 to 13,000 dollar range. This promises to be breakthrough technology for us bottom feeders, huh!

I am looking at possibly using a DOS based Numerical Controller package like Shopboat or MAXNC to get digitizing going (kinda slow based on limited step rates of these appications but they currently support a digitizing probe and may be useable with a little effort) and transitioning to a Windows based controller for path generation and cutting.

That's what I know, mostly preliminary, so, take it witha grain of salt. I'll stay in touch!

[cadcoke3]

I had some links of folks who have made their own 3d digitizers. (some may be out of date though) I am puzzled why such things are not dirt cheep now. A $5 laser pointer with something to spread the light, and a $15 USB port video camera would be all the hardware necessary. With the new generation of multi-megabyte cameras, such a device would even be pretty accurate. However, the software to do anything with the results of the scan seems to be the biggest challenge.

A scanner based on a laser pointer;
http://thaumaturgy.net/~etgold/scanner/


An extremely interesting approach using nothing more than a desk lamp, stick, and a video camera;
http://www.stanford.edu/~weyn/223b/


Same concept, different person;
http://sans.chem.umbc.edu/~nicholas/...alresults.html

[cely]

Metris metris makes several laser measurement probes for CMMs (trading off speed, resolution, accuracy).

They were originally designed to replace the mechanical probes in Renishaw CMMs Resnishaw, however, they are generic.

They are fast enough to do automated inspection as well as traditional reverse engineering and metrology.

Metris has a free software package to mesh cloudpoints.

[vacpress]

This thread should really be kept alive! I am very interested in this topic. The 2 links lsited were very interesting. I thinka hybrid of the 2 sets of results would be decent.. And also.. wouldnt making a simple linear encoder digitizer be fairly simple?

As soon as i finish my latest test-bed device I plan to work on a probe of some sort.. Any ideas?

Robert

[cely]

To see lots of measurement companies at one place, attend the
http://www.sme.org/westec show next week.

[Bloy2004]

There surely is a market for a laser digitizer system for the hobbyist's pocketbook. Anyone able to put together a DIY kit(with software) and present it at a low price will be assured of success.

[GWheeler]

Leica has a laser rangefinder, not terribly accurate, 1.5 or 3mm accuracy, new model has bluetooth access apparently. I got interested in this as it appies to measuring architecture, but it may have applications for cnc.

http://www.disto.com/products/comparison.htm

I sent an email to the guy that was doing laser articles on Nuts and Volts, but he wasn't interested in doing an article on laser rangefinders.