Re: Scanning with Touch Probe

> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 22:35:50 EDT
> From: ptengin@...
> Subject: Re: Scanning with Touch Probe.
>
> Has anybody come up with a low cost touch probe? I remember the question

has

> been asked before but I wonder if anyone has made or found anything that
> would advance our state of the art? I have some free form jobs that defy
> coding with low cost Cad Cam packages. I recall MaxNC had one. Is/was it

any

> good? TIA
>

Peter, Shopbot sells a probe similar to the MaxNC style. One of the
problems with a probing system is that you need to move really fast, and you
have to be able to detect the contact switch, AND stop quick. So far I have
not seen anyone with a good roller tip that could be scanned in a single
plane, continuously recording the Z variations. This means that you are
stuck with the resolution ans speed of the mill that you adapt for
scanning. Shopbot claims .002 on some of their equipment, but I have not
actually tested one to see if it can scan that accurately, nor do I know
what kind of speed they can get.

Second point, if you use a tip that is the same radius as your cutter, you
can simply cut the scanned points to get a copy. However, if you want to
scale it, use a big cutter for roughing and a little one for finishing, or
change the model in any way, you need a more expensive cam system for these
adjustments. One of our goals with the upcoming release of Vector is to be
able to handle large point clouds, generate the Original surface, and then
develop tool paths from the surface.


Best Regards,

Fred Smith
IMService

imserv@...
Phone: 248-486-3600 or 800-386-1670
Fax:248-486-3698