Karl Townsend wrote:
On Wed, 27 Oct 2010 23:54:07 -0500, Richard J Kinch
wrote:


http://widgets.nbc.com/o/47f1317f105...a4377d3bfd6c81

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/


KEWL stuff.They mention the scanner as $3K. That's not where the cost
is. I built a generation earlier unit for my CNC machine. its just a
laser displacement sensor mounted in a tool. The laser measures
distance to the nearest .0004 inch. So, you move the CNC machine along
a line and record X,Y,Z data points. My little $200 unit (eBay
special) could collect the same data as that 3D scanner in maybe 15
minutes.

The data set is called a point cloud. Dealing with this data is the
issue. This data needs to be turned into a surface that can in turn be
imported into a CAM program to write CNC code. The software to do this
step is super expensive. My little project died on the vine at this
point.


I was wondering about this sort of for when I get my little CNC mill
going and came across this http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/ which I need
to investigate more given time. Any more information on that laser
displacement sensor?.

I've used the scanner for a low tech way to copy parts. Write the tool
paths in Gcode for just the X Y coords. Run the laser to get Z depth.
Then a text editor can quickly make a program. I've copied fairly
simple parts this way.

Karl