Re: CNC and math-based artwork

Jon,

Wow! That's some nice work on your site - didn't think 2D math art
could be that appealing but... :)

Regarding your 3d digitizing idea, the artist at the helasculpt
site below has a clever solution for a similar problem. With 6
spring loaded strings on a stationary frame and attached to the body
of a regular VSR drill he's able to derive the position of the drill
point in real-time from the "unwind" of the strings (read by encoders
on the spools). Presto, DRO for hand tools!

Naturally for a point with 3 DOF, you only need 3 strings - maybe
on a stylus with a contact microswitch to tell the machine to add the
point to the set.

Dave Kowalczyk
Ames IA

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com, Jon Elson <jmelson@a...> wrote:
>
>
> Dave Kowalczyk wrote:
>
> > Hey!
> >
> > Well, the wife dragged me off to the art museum today and now
that
> > I'm back, I'm excited about artwork that could be done on CNC's.
> > Some *very* interesting mathematical art done with a CNC milling
> > machine:
> >
> > http://www.helasculpt.com/
> >
> > Anybody on the list already doing this kind of stuff? My
brother
> > is graduating soon with a math degree - I figure I can make him a
> > parabolic coffee mug or something as a gift.
>
> Well, I've done just a little bit of this, see
> http://ascc.artsci.wustl.edu/~jmelson/artwork.html
>
> I had another idea, not a mathematical surface, but to make busts of
> my entire family. (And, if it actually worked out, maybe to sell a
package
> to do it, like the 'computer picture on a T-shirt' turnkey
businesses
> that were sold about 15 years ago. The tough part was getting
people's
> faces scanned into a 3-d point cloud. Laser beam scanners are
obviously
> out! Once you've got the 3-D data, then there is fairly low-cost
> software that can turn that into a toolpath for a 3-axis (XZA) or
> 4-axis (XYZA) mill.
>
> Jon