Re: Usefullness of maxnc digitizing probe

Message: 17
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 12:40:08 -0500
From: "Benjamin Groover" <bgroover@...>
Subject: Usefullness of maxnc digitizing probe

I was hoping to hear from users of the macnc digitizing probe. How
usefull is it?

thanks,
ben

[It depends what you want to do. If all you want is to duplicate something
(roughly), then it works, sort-of. But if you want to capture a surface for
subsequent manipulation in a CAD program, it's not going to make you happy.
I wasn't, anyway- I sold mine off to Peter (quoted below), who took it
apart to see what made it tick, I think. Aside from the problem of a
somewhat fat probe that takes a fair amount of resistance to trigger, (so
everything you scan ends up with a pattern of marks) the software only
captures a meandering line of tiny segments strung end-to-end. Although it
is possible (in Rhino) to isolate the parts of these you want and use them
to construct a series of parallel curves, and then to loft a surface from
them, it's very tedious and the results didn't make me want to do this any
more. I was a lot happier with the Roland MDX-15 scanner/mill I got
subsequently, which can output files as DXF meshes that work well in Rhino.
I agree, it's not much of a mill. Even so, it does better as a mill than
the MaxNC does as a scanner...]

Andrew Werby
http://www.computersculpture.com


Strictly Internal Combustion magazine has an interesting article on a large
scanner/digitizer. They use the Max probe. Also, I got one to inspect, not
much but it can be made to work.

Peter
THRD, Inc.



Andrew Werby - United Artworks
Sculpture, Jewelry, and Other Art Stuff
http://unitedartworks.com