Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: Chaoticone on February 23, 2007, 09:50:19 PM
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I am making shafts and mounting them to a USB Web camera, it works great for positioning. The shaft is
anodized aluminum 6061.
Search the post for optical, edge finder, video window and you can get more info on the use of this.
I have several of these available and am asking $50 which includes shipping to the lower 48. This incudes the shaft,
camera and the software that comes with the camera, and shipping.
I am going to make more after these are sold so PM me for your orders, it takes a week or so for the cameras to arrive.
Thanks Arnie
The above quote was copied from this thread in the bargin basement.
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=2519.0
Hey Arnie,
Got the camera today. It looks like it is going to be great. Thanks for the bargin. I have attached a screen shot I took with it.
Brett
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Brett,
Looks real good, Thanks for the plug.
Did you get it centered ok?
One thing I did to mine is to cut a little bit of the focusing hood off, it makes it a little harder to get a hold of it and turn it but it allows you to get just alittle closer without
blocking out all the light. If I remember right the closer you get the more you screw the focus out of the camera.
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What kind of resolution are you getting with these cameras? 0.010's, 0.001's, 0.0001's?????
Hood
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Hey fellows, I haven't got to play with it much yet. I hope to this week.
Hood, I'll do some test this week and let you know about the res.
Brett
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Look forward to it Brett :)
Hood
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You guys are a bad influence! I avoided buying one... but now.... dang it!
Dan.
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No need to fight the force. ;D
Brett
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Hood,
The resolution is in the .001's, take a look at my post in the topic"anyone know where to get an optical edge finder?" it is reply #44,
I have a actual screen shot picture there of a mm scale, the resolution can be seen very well, I think you can even call the resolution in the .0000's.
With proper lighting you may be able to get the camera a little closer than in that picture.
Arnie
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Arnie
Thanks for the reply, will go look at the post. Just curious where you are from, I was going to ask my sizes in mm but thought you were from the USA so asked in inches.
Hood
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Hey Hood,
This is the best way I could come up with to show you the res. I took a paper towel (didn't want to paint the vise) and draped it in the vise and clamped a .010" feeler guage in the vise. In the bigger view, it should make sense. In the closer view the feeler guage is the thick black line below the crosshairs.
Brett
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Hood,
I am from the USA, Wyoming. It is one of the lowest populated states.
I can make these in a metric dimension if you need. I may have to scrounge for metric setscrews.
Arnie
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Thanks Brett, pretty impressive by the looks of it, not got a thou blade ;)
Hood
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Arnie, sorry, what I was meaning was I asked the res in imperial but then you mentioned a mm scale so I just thought maybe you were from Europe.
Hood
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Here is one with a .002 feeler guage with a little rust rust on it.
Brett
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:D
Thanks
Just remembered I had a cam in a box of computer junk I got from a friend, hooked it up and put it over some digi calipers with the jaws open 0.05mm and although its hard to hold it steady I can see the res is pretty good.
Hood
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You mean you can be that still at your age? I'm impressed. ;D I think you will like it Hood.
Brett
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LOL
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Heres a pic of the calipers set to 0.01mm (0.0005"approx), never realised the finish on these Mitutoyos was so rough ;)
Hood
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LOL, Looks good Hood, I have found a new way to get splinters out of my hands.
Brett
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Brett are you going to turn on the spindle and cut the chips out? hmmm Ron's CopyCat wizard would help you with the program for that ;)
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Zurzul
I will like to purchase one of those cameras, I have a pay pal account I just need some instructions on how to do it, I just joint these forum so I'm learning my way around
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I see on ebay there is a camera as described in the posts (logitech Type) it is advertised as a glass lens and 6 M Pixel it is more expensive around $30.00. My question is would I gain much by using this type.
Jim
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Jim,
It sounds good, I haven't acutally seen this camera, if you post a picture or link I can go look at it.
The main thing I would be concerned about is the ability to focus up close. If you take a look at the pictures in this post and the bargain basement of the resolutions you get when focusing up real close, 1/8 to 1/4" that is the key. The actual pixel count doesn't make as much difference as the focus distance, you can have a great hi res picture, but if you can's get a close up look at the part it is not much use for that real close tolerance positioning.
The other consideration that is equally important is the suitability or difficulty to attach a shaft to it with the ability to adjust it for center.
Arnie
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I have foud 2 cameras on ebay that I think fit the bill what do you think.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-3-5-MP-USB-Network-PC-Webcam-Web-Cam-Camera_W0QQitemZ120173227452QQihZ002QQcategoryZ4616QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Brand-New-6-1-MP-PC-Laptop-Vista-Web-Cam-Webcam-MSN-W1_W0QQitemZ160170150348QQihZ006QQcategoryZ4616QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I think the first one is easier to mount and will probibly meet all other requirements.
Jim
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Jim,
The first one with the clip on the back, I know this one, I have one sitting on the desk here in front of me. I too thought it would work good, but have since abandoned trying to convert it.
It has a ball swivel on the back of the camera that is fairly stiff but it can be easily moved. That part clips into a large clip/stand the clip opens up to clamp on something in the 1/2 to 3/4" range. I was able to pop the front chrome piece off the face but thats as far as I went to disassemble it, it looks like the rest of it will pop apart but not sure if it will damage the case doing that. The swivel ball would have been good if there was a way to firmly secure it or fine adjust it, in the end it just looked a little too cheap in the long run. It will focus very close, and would be good if you built a full enclosure for it.
The second one might be ok, I don't know enough about it to comment though.
Arnie
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Jim,
I did a little test, the first one will focus down to 3 mm from the target. This is with the front cap removed and adjusting the focus ring outward.
Arnie
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3mm thats good, I thought if it could be mounted inside a tube with the ball swivel fixed to the back of the tube and 3 or 4 adjustment screws on the side it would be spot on. If it is producing good images then passibly it will work. can you take an image shot and post it?
Jim
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so have any of you seen that TV commercial where the car parks itself? Looks like the internal video screen that has a positioning control where you can resize the spot you are trying to fit into.
Does this vid set up do the same thing? So for instance, if you have your raw material on your table can you position using a camera of some sort? even do an overlay of the part you are trying to make and see it on the computer monitor?
Not sure if this is what the video camera is doing or not?
Thanks
Dan