Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] help putting together a complete system

info.host@... wrote:

> > Jeff:
> >
> > Very good, and quite workable too. Since I have access to a cat scanner,
> I
> > do the same thing sorta, but mine requires radiation. (I pretty much glow
> in
> > the dark these days).
> >
> > And you can eat the bread afterwards.....hmmm the marvels of technology.
>
> Do cat scanners use exactly the same wavelength as a normal x-ray tube in a
> hospital? Because I've seen them take tens and tens of pictures to slice up
> someone's head, photographically of coarse, isn't that like having many,
> many x-rays in one go or is each shot a lower energy?

Standard X-ray tubes don't really generate selective wavelengths of X-rays,
they are wideband emitters. The ENERGY of the beam, however is very low, as the
spot size is small, and the detectors are very sensitive. Most CAT scanners generate
60 - 360 X-ray pulses a second, capturing them on a curved array of X-ray
detectors with several hundred to several thousand seperate pixels. The whole
bank of x-ray source and detector rotates around the patient, building up a very
large number of tracks through the 'slices'. These pixels indicate the total density
of matter through the line of sight from source to detector. Then, a complex algorithm
solves something much like a "magic square" puzzle, to figure out what density each
spot in the volume was to make up the pattern of X-rays that were recorded.

I think most CAT scanners use about 60 KV, which is in the range of standard film
X-ray equipment.

Jon