[ataxy]

an idea for the led lightning could be to mount the led behind a sanded piece of lexan or plexyglass to create a flood effect instead of a spot effect

[Smitty911]

an idea for the led lightning could be to mount the led behind a sanded piece of lexan or plexyglass to create a flood effect instead of a spot effect

If you are using "white" LED just the LED themselves, you could also just unpolish the end of them and have a defuser right on the led. Take a little 400 Grit paper and rub it around the top.

Just a thought.

Smitty

[ataxy]

If you are using "white" LED just the LED themselves, you could also just unpolish the end of them and have a defuser right on the led. Take a little 400 Grit paper and rub it around the top.

Just a thought.

Smitty

definitly this could also be an option wich saves on material to

[Micro Rotors]

Smitty911,

Glad I don't shop at Walmart. Is that the sort of message that we really want to send to people. Buy something, take it apart and if it doesn't work, return it for some other unsuspecting person to get.

I do agree with you there most of the time,

Wal-marts return policy on web cams is they DO NOT return them back to the shelf. They are automatically sent back to the manufacture as a defect even though it has never been open and they get credit for them. Wal-Mart is the only store that can make demands most of which are pretty silly and the company's bend to their will and try like hell to meet every demand they are told to do. I wouldn't do it if they were returned to the shelf.

Wouldn't it be easier and less time consuming to just modify what YOU made to fit, what YOU bought?

Re-read the post to see exactly what I was trying to do. It has nothing to do with what you are trying to say here.

I don't want to come off all preachy, but I do have lots of stuff around that house that didn't work the way I wanted it to.

Dont we all? Again, re-read the thread!

Bill

[Smitty911]

Smitty911,



I do agree with you there most of the time,

Wal-marts return policy on web cams is they DO NOT return them back to the shelf. They are automatically sent back to the manufacture as a defect even though it has never been open and they get credit for them. Wal-Mart is the only store that can make demands most of which are pretty silly and the company's bend to their will and try like hell to meet every demand they are told to do. I wouldn't do it if they were returned to the shelf.



Re-read the post to see exactly what I was trying to do. It has nothing to do with what you are trying to say here.



Dont we all? Again, re-read the thread!

Bill

Bill,

I re-read the entire post and in post #34 you said "I ruined one lens and had to get another camera to get the lens from it to try one more time before putting this one to bed. "

It sounded like you were looking to take the lens from another camera to replace the one you ruined in your "NV" project.

Either way, someone is paying to have that "unopened", "opened" camera sent back to the manufacture, because of the return policy.

Each to their own.

I'll have to get around to this at some point, right now i'm busy learning Dolphin CAD/CAM,

Smitty has left the soap box.

[Micro Rotors]

Either way, someone is paying to have that "unopened", "opened" camera sent back to the manufacture, because of the return policy.

Yup,

The community killing, bad and abusive labor rights, drive the mom and pop stores under, Predatory Corporation ... Wal-Mart!

I work for a company that caters to Wal-Mart and makes products for just about every department in the place. Considering I run the prototype shop and they want ME to do all their product development and research on OUR dime, It was nice to finally sticking it to them!

[digits]

Can anyone in the UK recommend a cheap camera with working Win XP drivers? Inspired by this thread, I picked up a £15 Advent 1.3Mpixel job at PC World on sunday - I spend about 3 hours installing and reinstalling drivers with no joy

I am going to try and get a refund today - it doesn't work as it says it should (well at all), and I've put everything down to the last twisty cable tie back in the box!

[Smitty911]

Yup,

The community killing, bad and abusive labor rights, drive the mom and pop stores under, Predatory Corporation ... Wal-Mart!

I work for a company that caters to Wal-Mart and makes products for just about every department in the place. Considering I run the prototype shop and they want ME to do all their product development and research on OUR dime, It was nice to finally sticking it to them!

That's the reason I don't spend a dime in WalMart. Now if everyone else would spend the money on US products we could change a few things. Opps, we don't manufacture hardly anything here anymore.

My Uncle owns a Sears Outlet store in SC. The four towns that he supports keep wanting to bring a Walmart to one of the towns. He said the day that gets approved, he'll close down his outlet and go collect aluminum cans.

Smitty

[aminear]

Just a tip for those of you making your camera.

If you make it so you can adjust the centering of the camera it becomes a very useful tool. If you can't center the camera to the spindle then it is no good for alignment work.

To center it you mark a target spot, zoom in nice and close.

center your x & y axis until the target spot is directly under the cross hairs.

now rotate the spindle by hand 180 deg.

note the target will probably move off the cross hairs unless you are very very lucky.

adjust your centering screws until you move the target just 1/2 way back to the crosshairs.

now rotate the spindle back to the original spot and start all over again, repeating until the target doesn't move as you rotate the spindle, then you are done.

Thanks for the nice comments on my article in Digital Machinist

Arnie "aka - Zarzul"

If you don't have the tools to make one of these drop me a line.

[Micro Rotors]

Arnie,

Thanks, it was truly a great article! I bought the magazine (first time and wont be the last) because of your article.

I was just thumbing through it at a Barns and Nobles book store thinking wow, nice magazine, while my daughter was looking for an art book and said; I got to make this!

I hope you do more articles on DIY tooling.

Thanks Again!

[aminear]

Micro Rotors,

Thanks for the kind compliments, it helps inspire me to do another.

I am working on one right now, it is going to be on a touch probe/tool height setter. I hope it goes as well as the last one.

Arnie

[Micro Rotors]

Arnie,

Will this be constructing a "Touch Probe"?

If so, I cant wait, I have been looking for plans and information on doing just that, but they are few and far between.

Any clues as to when you will have it done to send in?

Bill

[aminear]

Bill,

Yes, it is a construction article, it is a dual purpose probe. If you take the arbor off and place it upside down with the flat pad inplace of the probe tip it becomes a tool height setting pad also.

I will probably submit it this week, if all goes well. I have a few more pictures and editing to do.

Arnie

[Vogavt]

Concerning getting these at the same height repeatedly.

Why not combine an electronic edge finder along side with this and then watch for it to touch the surface? I believe that's what I'll try. This way it seems it could take off a little more time in setup by doing away with constant recalibration due to height differences.

[aminear]

Vogavt,

Thats a good idea.

I don't think you will see much difference in height settings though. That is if you can accurately center your camera. With it accurately centered it will be concentric with the spindle axis at 1 foot or at 1"

If you can't center the camera and you have to use offsets, you are correct, the only time you will be accurate is when you are at the same height.

Arnie

[Vogavt]

I haven't used one yet, but seen one used at the Mach3 convention this past weekend.

I was basing the idea on the measuring function. I'm pretty certain that the calibration be fouled up if the height was not consistent.


I'm thinking out loud but here we go:


1.) Print an accurately dimensioned circle (with cross hairs) and place on table.

2.) Set the circle in the camera's viewing window to dimensionally match the printed circle.

3.) Place the electronic edge finder at the surface and lock it down at that position in the combined holder.

4.) Remove the circle and use the edge finder from that point forward.

[NEATman]

Hello everyone-
I've been thinking about a way to make the camera pivot repeatably so that it could be used vertically (to measure X&Y) and pivot to also pick up the Z dimension of the material. A friend found this -

http://cgi.ebay.com/0004-3D-camera-C...742.m153.l1262

The laser beam at a 45° angle means that the projected line is only aligned with the vertical line on the screen when the Z height is exactly (~±.001) the same. So, with the camera in the same vertical orientation, you can make X, Y and Z measurements. The secret to this design is finding a the laser head that projects a laser line that is only .001" wide or less. I think it would take a good quality cylindrical lens and a decent quality laser LED to get to this point. It also appears that he has replaced the lens on the camera with one that may have higher magnification, as his working distance is far greater than with the original lens.

I'm still thinking of also inverting this arrangement when not in use on the spindle and mounting it to the bed to measure tool diamater and tool length. It would of course need some kind of cover to keep it clean and not burried/flooded with chips & coolant.

NEATman

[Greolt]

Concerning getting these at the same height repeatedly.

Why not combine an electronic edge finder along side with this and then watch for it to touch the surface? I believe that's what I'll try.
This way it seems it could take off a little more time in setup by doing away with constant recalibration due to height differences.

.

.

For the accuracy I'm looking for (0.001") this is what I do.

The lens cap is about 4mm high. I use this as a slip gauge to set the camera height for use.

I get nice consistent accuracy with the camera. No recalibration aggravation.

Best $15 I've spent on my mill.

Greg

[Vogavt]

Okay, that's probably doable and easy enough.

Not to beat a "dead horse", but why not put an offset micro switch nearby that would light up the IR LEDs when the height was "just right" from the activation of the switch. Seems it would speed things even more.

Maybe I'm splitting hairs from the accuracy thing. Don't know.