Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Digitizing

Just a thought but there does seem to be an awfull lot of reinventing the
wheel going on in this thread. Some very necessary due to the high price
and complexity of the commercial items. I just wondered if anyone has ever
seen any second hand CMM's for sale. We seem to see machine tools up for
grabs almost continuously and people are doing great work reusing them,
what happens to all the CMM's when they are discarded? They are full of
bits and pieces that most of this group would find very useful even more so
if they were still working.

Regards
Bill Phillips

>Regarding digitizing objects, there happens to be a couple articles in
>Strictly IC on the very subject. I have managed to misplace the issue
>with the first part, but in the second, the author shows the Ford Model
>T engine block he digitized, the rig he did it with (rather enormous),
>and the end result, a scaled pattern. To avoid the problem of generating
>usable CAD data from a point cloud, it seems (from just scanning the 2nd
>article) that he made the probe in the exact scaled up profile as the
>cutter he planned to use to cut the pattern.
>
>The rig is far more cumbersome that most would want to build in their
>garage, but the articles ought to prove interesting to anyone seriously
>thinking of digitizing real world parts.
>
>Jon