Laser scanning

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igncD7OMCLw relevant part happens 9mins:30 ~9mins:50

I saw this video and was intrigued, thought it would be a cool feature. I did some research and was able to determine who made the sensor and got in touch with them. Their sensor costs $4000 works with Mach4 and WinCNC through plugins. One of their customers wrote all the plugins for Mach4 and offered it to them, so that's why the router manufacturer in the video offers it as a feature of their machines.

That's far out of my price range but I though I'd inquire here and get some opinions about the possibility of doing something similar with UCCNC. The hardware end of it seems like just a laser displacement sensor and I found several suitable ones on Ebay. The interface/plugin/software that would make it work with UCCNC..., I have no idea. I would think that it would be similar to some existing probing routines (like Cahit's auto leveler plugin) just working a lot faster, collecting much more data. I've got a used laser from E-bay on the way now to experiment with. Pretty cool devices. They can be sub micron accurate and have very high sampling rates and might work as a probe if not a scanner. Any thoughts on what it would take to make something like this work with UCCNC?

[cncdrive]

I have no idea how the sensor part works, but if it gives somekind of height data as numeric values then I see no problem with reading the data in a UCCNC plugin and storing them to files.

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It looks like the output of a typical laser sensor is an analog voltage. Mine can be 0-5v, -5 - +5v, 1v - 5v, and 4-20ma. along with hi or lo logic values based on user defined settings. I'm not sure if the sensor itself can convert its output to a distance/height value or if thats calculated in a different piece of hardware. From what I've seen there are hundreds, if not thousands of laser displacement sensors and there certainly must be one that outputs data in a unit of measure. The sampling rate for the one I have is 1ms (milisecond).

[cncdrive]

Do you have a link to the device or a datasheet?
I got an email today from these guys offering some cooperation: http://www.optimet.com/conopoint-cnc.php
Is it coincidence that they emailed us the same time you wrote this forum post or maybe you have this sensor and you contacted them about a plugin for UCCNC?

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They're just trying to sell more of their sensor. I dont have their sensor. Not at $4000. When I contacted them about price, they asked me what software I was using. They must have did some looking because they asked me if CNC Drive was the one in Hungary. This is the email chain:

CNC Router/Scanning
6 messages
Hello Chris,

What CNC software/controller are you using?

Our sensor cost is $4000 and that would include 1 lens and necessary cables.

You may need additional hardware to get the system working with your hardware.

Let me know if you’re interested and we can talk about the details.

Regards,
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Michael

cid:image003.jpg@01D292A6.20DBD530
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To: Michael
Hi Mike.
Thanks for getting back with me but that's out of my price range.

Best regards,

Chris
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To: Chris V
Chris,

No problem.

What price range are looking for? Also what software/controller do you use?

Sometimes I have customers that trade in equipment or we have demo stock that we want to sell.

I don’t have anything at the moment but I can keep an eye open for you.

If you have something to scan both of the companies below use our lasers and offer scanning as a service.

http://www.ibild.com/index.htm

http://www.alignritetool.com/3dlaser.htm

Best Regards,

Mike

From: Chris V
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2017 4:16 PM
To: Michael
Subject: Re: CNC Router/Scanning

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Chris V Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 4:41 PM
To: Michael
Mike, I use UCCNC machine control software. I didn't trust Artsoft customer support enough to go with MACH 4. UCCNC works very well and has a growing and active user community.

I was hoping it was in the $1000 range. If you get a used one returned in that range I might be interested.

Thanks for the links.

Chris

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Michael Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 5:31 PM
To: Chris V
Chris,

I will keep a look out for something..

Mach 4 – One of our customers wrote all the plug-ins and they offered it to us at no charge so this is why we have the Mach4 plugin.

The other company that supports our sensors is WinCNC. They have a plug-in for their software as well.

UCCNC isn’t one that I am familiar with. To get our system working on UCCNC it wouldn’t be easy and would need integration by a programmer or manufacturer.

Is UCCNC made by CNCDrive in Hungary?

Regards,

Mike

From: Chris V
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2017 4:41 PM
To: Doherty, Michael
Subject: RE: CNC Router/Scanning

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Chris V Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 5:34 PM
To: Michael
Yes, it is.

A lot of their hardware is compatible with Mach 3 and 4 I believe.
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I have a Keyence IL600 sensor on the way. This is a link to the spec sheet.

CMOS Multi-Function Analog Laser Sensor IL series

https://www.keyence.com/products/measur ... /index.jsp