[MechanoMan]

We have a Universal Laser Systems XL12000 (2006 model) with the option to take an optical camera, but that option was never installed. We could purchase it now, but it'd be comically expensive and it's not worth that much to us.

Having been inside the XL12000, it's stupid simple- there's a consumer-grade USB video capture dongle leading to a composite video input. The firmware already supports it, and you can calibrate for the offset between that detection and the beam itself.

Looks like there's a hole maybe 3/8" dia to the left of the lens on the carriage.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I get the impression this needs to be the same focal length as the lens, +/- whatever the exact mounting of the camera is. So this is a macro lens.

Any ideas? Composite cameras are hard to find nowadays. Today USB microscope cameras are a dime a dozen, but could it work? The XL12000 uses a miniITX motherboard running Windows XP inside it. We could install Windows XP drivers for any USB camera that has XP drivers available, but I doubt the ULS Windows software could be configured to look for another non-OEM video input device.

... but hmm Field of View would matter too.

Anybody know what this camera actually does? I forgot to ask Tech Support. I was under the impression that it was for optical registration on preprinted fiducial markers, but maybe not.


Anybody have experience with this stuff?

[MechanoMan]

Found out this camera's functionality is considerably less useful than anticipated... it's for "alignment". Basically the red dot pointer? It does that. That is, is displays a crosshair on the screen for you to see and align what you see with where you want the origin to be, same as using the red dot pointer. In the XL12000 it can't detect and lock onto fiducial markers or anything useful like that.