RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Optical mouse for DRO anyone? - not for WIRE!

At 12:58 AM 4/25/2007, you wrote:

>1) Newer mice are USB, so hard to interface (you need an expensive PC). If
>you must, then track down a serial port optical mouse, it's the eaiest to
>hook up. You may be able to figure out PS2, the poster thinks it's simple
>because he found the specs. I can point him to the USB specs...

Um, is
http://www.dfsdirectsales.com/dell/desktop/ctl641/cp19257/si2461995/cl1
for $199.00 really that expensive?

>2) Anything optical soon gets covered in crap. Open up a printer, and be
>amazed at the amount of paper dust in there. A lot of printers do use
>photo-interupters (like ball mice do), but they tend to leave them out of
>the paper path, like as cover open sensors. Even then, they get covered in
>crap. The trick is, however, they are set up as nomally closed, so getting
>full of dust isn't a problem. When the cover is opened, the shutter moving
>takes a lot of the dust with it. Not foolproof.

Self cleaning is a Good Thing. Optical mice (as opposed to surface
contact mice) can be run through a thin, self cleaning window (like a
cover slide) making the "automatic" brush which runs between each
piece pretty simple to set up -- measure, cut and brush, loop.

>3) ...and how do you pull a cord with no tension? Ok, it can be done, but
>that a lot of moving parts you don't need. Or a 100' building. Put the
>roll in the rafters, unwind, and cut the the cord hits the floor. Forget
>gravity makes stuff stretch and you'll be ok.

Well, you can't. But a vacuum puller and a low tension feed will help a lot.

>If it was my system, I'd use weight. No funny tensioning setup, cheap, less
>moving parts, reliable and accurate enough for government work.

Depends on the client needs. I agree that this is a good idea,
weight and a brush between pieces (to clear the scale and make the
tare compensation safer.)

>Of course, the poster hasn't gotten around to mentioning how the cut off
>cord will be packaged, at this point they just end up on the floor. You
>see, if it's to be wound onto a small roll (or into a ball or something,
>then you can measure by volume. Wind the cord onto the new roll, and have a
>microswitch trigger when it reaches a certain diameter.

Sort of like a bobbin winder on an old Singer sewing machine.

>As I said before, by being obsessing with part of a solution (optical
>mouse), and not giving full specs, the poster will miss a lot of solutions.

True, but sometimes looking at an object and trying to figure out how
to use it is fun.


David G. LeVine
Nashua, NH 03060