Scanning probe
 

Can anyone tell where, how, or what company produces a scanning profile probe that will work with Mach3 and SolidWorks? I am very interested in relief carving as well as guitar profile.

Thanks folks.:confused:

It's not a probe but a nice laser scanner.

www.nextengine.com

Dan,

Search on CNC zone. There are many probe concepts and ideas. Based on laser and something you can stick in your mechmate (a probe). All methods have there pros and cons and it often drills down to speed vs accuracy.

There are some open source projects and free scanning tools also, google is your friend.

You biggest 'problem' is making from the mesh something you can modify and use again in your CAD tool.

Ries

http://mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=456 try this one

Thnaks Normand, looks fairly straight forward and simple with the exception of the wire size. Looked a bit wimpy. And I think the floating portion need to have something built in to keep it from turning. Some kind of slot maybe.

There is also this digitizing probe version to consider : Shaun Wainford SW probe Robert ;)

Thanks Robert! That looks pretty good. I can see a couple of improvements that may make it bullet proof. I'll try to get one built and post the results of the mods.

3D Scanner
 

I watched the video of the 3D scanner but it was $3000. Watch for the soon to be released scanner from the makers of Makerbot Replicator. They promise that their machine will be awesome and why not the Replicator is pretty nice.

Reply for Documentation
 

If you want a very cheap scanner that you can mount in your router or spindle check out the Tormach site. They sell one for couple hundred bucks but they also show how to make one from a PC video camera($20-$50) mounted on a rod. It uses a free piece of software (on site download) that will scan the area you want by taking hundreds of very small pictures. The software knits these all together. There is also a "for cost" version of that software that will allow you to do additional functions. This is not a bad solution because it also works in conjunction with Mach3. There is a video on the site that shows them using this solution to make a aluminum part. Good Luck...