[seanreit]

I custom manufacture a remote control turbine jet. There are a few parts that I make from wood that I have been scribing a template, cutting out the wood, to make the part.

I currently have access to a laser cutter for a lot of parts, and I own a Tormach CNC machine.

There are such complex shapes to some of these "formers" that I have never been able to draw it quite right.

Does anyone here have the capability to touch probe or scan to cad a piece of 1/8" light plywood approx dimensions 10 inches wide by 5 inches high?

Thanks in advance, I can be emailed at [email protected]

[LN-JET]

Hey Sean,
Can't you just put the former on a flatbed scanner, import the image to a Cad program, and then trace over it?

Lars

[seanreit]

Tried that multiple times, for whatever reason, it never scans 1:1. Tried two different scanners, every color imaginable.

I was hoping someone in here had done this before and figure out a way to do it accurately. If not, anyone with a touch probe, I'd be willing to pay for the service if they can get it done right. I'm tired of sanding these particular pieces by hand, when so many of what I do is CNC'd or laser accurate.

[GeneK]

I've always gotten one to one on my scans. I then use BobArt to vectorize and get good results. Instead of hand sanding, modify the artwork until the program will cut it right.

GeneK

[seanreit]

Hey Gene, I use Bobcad as well, and I was not able to make it work. Would you be willing to take on the task? This is an area of talent, that I do not have.... I'm willing to pay someone for their expertise.

[iflymyhelishigh]

wait, you can scan parts into a CAD program? That would solve all the trouble of me having to always milling every flipping part of my heli, which is like 450.

[mc-motorsports]

Hey Sean,
Can't you just put the former on a flatbed scanner, import the image to a Cad program, and then trace over it?

Lars

Tried that multiple times, for whatever reason, it never scans 1:1. Tried two different scanners, every color imaginable.

I was hoping someone in here had done this before and figure out a way to do it accurately. If not, anyone with a touch probe, I'd be willing to pay for the service if they can get it done right. I'm tired of sanding these particular pieces by hand, when so many of what I do is CNC'd or laser accurate.

I do the same thing with a flat bed scanner, and my scanner scans within 2%. What I do is take a pair of calipers, scribe 2 lines on a piece of paper and scan that with the part (pencil trace the scribe impressions if needed). Then scale your drawing accordingly. I use 6" calipers and scribe points 6" apart and can get any part from my scanner to CAD to machined within .005" of the sketch or part that I scanned.

Good luck.

[MrWild]

usually the problem is setting up the scan. If your CAD or Vectorizing program opens at 300 PPI, then that is what you scan at. Often times when I've had problems like you mention it is that the picture/item was scanned at a differing PPI/DPI (pixle per inch/dot per inch) than whamy program was opening the file at.

I've scanned a Harley front brake lever, then opened in PhotoShop, then AutoCAD and reverse engineered the pivot locations. I had a problem like yours and it all boiled down to scanning resolution.