Messages

41

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: MachCloud point viewer program

« on: August 25, 2008, 06:42:08 PM »

Thanks Art,
I am sorry for being pest but can you or someone else show me the settings to use for MachCloud for the ball pivoting option on my submitted file?
The file looks clean and the data is on a 0.25mm grid from a touch probe so it will not get much better or simpler than that.  TIA
Bertho

42

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: MachCloud point viewer program

« on: August 25, 2008, 11:33:45 AM »

Thanks Art,
I found a very nice ball algorithm description at: :  http://researchweb.watson.ibm.com/vistechnology/pdf/bpa_tvcg.pdf

In MachCloud what is minimum distance referring to?  What is the angle referring to?

I touch probe scanned a quarter in 1mm steps and the default MachCloud settings work.  I then scanned it with 0.25mm steps size and the cloud looks good but I cannot manage to get a ball conversion.  I have tried a lot of different combinations without luck.  What am I doing wrong?  Please see attached filr.  TIA
Bertho

43

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: MachCloud point viewer program

« on: August 25, 2008, 08:12:39 AM »

Thanks Brett,
I have not found any video relating to MachCloud.  Am I overlooking it?  TIA
Bertho

44

Video P*r*o*b*i*n*g / Re: MachCloud point viewer program

« on: August 25, 2008, 12:35:23 AM »

I scanned a coin at 1mm steps as a crude test and it worked OK with the ball conversion and the default values.  I scanned the same coin at 0.25mm step size and I am having problems converting the file.  The cloud loads OK.

That brings me to the real question:  Where can I find a help file with info on how to set the parameters for the ball conversion and other options in MachCloud?   TIA
Bertho

45

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitizing

« on: August 24, 2008, 01:01:35 PM »

Now that I have point clouds from scanning I need to first make them easy visible to see any obvious defects and then be able to import them into a CAD program to scale, tweak and adjust the scanned data, and finally machine the updated data.  With Mach-3, LazyCAM, MeshCAM, and Leading Edge I think I am OK on the output side but what suggestions do you have for the cloud conversion?   I have seen:

Global Mapper:  http://www.globalmapper.com/index_data.html  which looks very good for the visualization and it is also tempting since I have been doing a lot of design work with GPS and:

VRMesh:  http://www.vrmesh.com/default.asp which does the 3-D import and repair.
Both look like excellent programs but expensive to just play with.  Any suggested low-cost alternatives?
TIA
Bertho

46

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitizing

« on: August 23, 2008, 10:55:34 PM »

I remember seeing the Renishaw presentation  a year ago or so and I had forgotten about it.  It is very well made!
Three items caught my attention:
They monitor the increase of resistance and at a defined point they turn off the current before the contacts actually open.
They are talking about 10g force.  Very low!
They guarantee 10 million life cycles.

I think the normal industrial use for the probes is to verify that machined parts meet the specification.  In other words, selectively measure a hole size and its location in reference to other holes and features.  No scanning at all.
Bertho

47

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitizing

« on: August 23, 2008, 07:32:41 PM »

Thanks Mark,
What are the commercial probes doing that is different?  "Normal" usage might not include vertical surface probing to generate a cloud.  If they are only used for measuring features or references the number of actuation will be very low.
Bertho

48

General Mach Discussion / Re: Digitizing

« on: August 23, 2008, 05:33:24 PM »

After a year's delay from our last discussion here, I finally decided it was time to build a touch probe.  For a long description see here: http://www.vinland.com/Touch-Probe.html
That also brings up a couple of related questions:
What is typical spring pressure and contact resistance?  Mine is 280grams and I am surprised that the the total contact resistance varies between a few ohm up to several hundred ohms.  The higher the spring pressure, the lower the resistance.  I have carefully cleaned everything.

What is the typical contact point on the balls? The further down, the higher the contact pressure but it might also make the probe sticky.  Any research papers or information on that?
TIA
Bertho

49

LazyCam (Beta) / Re: Layer-Chains out of sync

« on: January 03, 2008, 11:16:19 PM »

Thanks Chip,
I tried to drag the misplaced chain to the correct layer but it would not let me do that.
It really looks like a bug, the out of sync layer and chains sometimes move around when I start over and try again.

I found one workaround:  If I select all the items that are going to be offset and then do then in one shot, it apparently works but not when I offset one at a time.

The inside/ outside offset always work correctly on the small cutouts but on the bigger cutout it more or less randomly decides inside  or outside offset.
Bertho

50

General Mach Discussion / Re: Mach 3.00 problems

« on: January 02, 2008, 08:53:58 PM »

Thanks Brett for a fast response.
The motors and acceleration is fine and at a safe value and it works fine in 2.58 before and after testing with the 3.00 version so I am assuming it is relating to 3.00.  Regardless, I played with it to make sure it was not accidentally changed.

The feed override stops working on line N500 maybe plus/- one line.  It still displays a 200% setting but the actual feed drops down to 100%.  Strange!
The same code works fine in 2.58

By the way, is it proper to post code directly in a message or should it be uploaded somewhere?
Bertho


N10 (File Name = Bracket_-01 on Wednesday, January 02, 2008)
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