Re: Homebrew digitiser

Alan,

thanks for the reply - I don't have any CNC stuff, yet! I have a
manually operated mill & lathe. I have been reading the old postings
and I am still trying to work out what the Renishaw is. One of the
things I forgot to mention was that I was prepared to do the
measuring manually - cost & lack of experience reasons. I have been
examining (online) the MicroScribe (?) digitising arm. I have come
up with a manual system that could be refitted with steppers later
but I'm not sure if it is operationally viable and I am unsure of the
type of probe to use. One of the issues is trying to probe undercut
areas. The intial use of the the digitised information is to simply
generate a cross section in my CAD program (TurboCAD).

I'm looking at getting a manual arm going first, then some sort of
CNC 3D router/mill to work within the same envelope and then I would
like to automate the digitising arm.

Paul Abbott

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., Alan Marconett KM6VV <KM6VV@a...> wrote:
> Paul,
>
> You don't say if you have a CNC mill for that envelope! Ww were
talking
> about Renishaw digitizers a while back, good for a mill. If you
don't
> have a mill, then how about using the guts out of a plotter to move
a
> Renishaw type probe around in the envelope you describe.
>
> Don't know about any kits, but you would "drive" the plotter,
stopping
> an axis travel when you "sensed" a surface.
>
> Humm, not a bad idea! Dust off the old plotter stuff in the
garage...
>
> Hope this gets you thinking!
>
> Alan KM6VV
> P.S. I'm told HSM (Home Shop Machinist) did an article recently on
a
> digitizer.
>
>
> PAbbott@w... wrote:
> >
> > I am trying to design/build a digitiser - there aren't many
> > affordable options here in Australia. Has anyone got any info,
> > designs, tips or know of kits that they would share with me. I'm
> > working with an area of approx 500mm x 350mm x 150mm. I want to
feed
> > the thing into my PC, possibly via the serial port.
> >
> > thanks ...
> > Paul Abbott