Re: Touch probes

> 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
>

[Although I sell most of MaxNC's products, I don't recommend their probe
unit. I got one myself, and I found it to be inaccurate in its placement of
points, and awkward in the way it stored them. The probe itself is too fat
at the tip to capture much detail, and must be pushed a bit before it
registers a point. The final result is a long meandering line composed of
tiny segments stuck together end-to-end. While it is possible to massage
this (using other software) into a series of parallel curves that can be
lofted to form a surface, I didn't think the results were worth the hassle.

I use a Microscribe touch-probe myself, and while I like it, it isn't
exactly "low-cost" at ~$3000+. The Roland "Picza" system is another
alternative; their scanner costs about $1000, and it has a needle-like
probe which works on a piezo-electric system, so it can be more accurate
than one which needs to physically move the probe tip to register a point.
Their software seemed well-integrated with their milling machine (they also
offer a combo scanning/milling unit for about $3500) and does offer export
capabilities. I was impressed enough with their demonstration to decide to
try and sell their scanning and scanning/milling products, probably for
about 10% off list prices. After the scanner/mill arrives and I've had a
chance to play with it, I'll write up my reactions and post them to this
group.]

Andrew Werby
http://www.computersculpture.com

Andrew Werby - United Artworks
Sculpture, Jewelry, and Other Art Stuff
http://unitedartworks.com