wrote in message
ups.com...

The calibration tool I put together for my shop uses a laser that's
specifically made for measurements. The cost is $70. I use a Xilinx
Spartan 3 FPGA
(http://www.xilinx.com/products/silic...pgas/index.htm)
to control the laser, check sensors, run the UI and calcluate the trig.
I think I paid $6 for it. I did use a Motorola 68000 CPU core,
implemented in verilog and programmed into the FPGA.
(http://opencores.org) This was due to cost/speed/familiarity. I also
used a compact flash slot and System Ace interface chip to program the
FPGA on powerup. The entire solution is around $90. I'm not the first
person to do this by any means but wanted to try rolling my own.



Great! How much is the retail, out the door price for those of us that want
one of your TS-Laser-Aligners??

I could scrounge up some parts and electronics and cobble something together
on the cheap too, but cost and retail are two very different things. Raw
cost on a TS-Alingner can not be much over a 12 pack, plus the indicator,
but add the engineering, the labor to machine, and some reasonable profit
and you end up with $150-$200.
Greg