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now that is cool, and useful ............ what will they think of next ??

thanks for pointing this web site out. :)

chuck
 
I tried something like this a while ago. The real trick is to get the camera centered to the axis of the mounting shaft. Without near perfect centering its not very useful. It needs to be both on center and aligned with the axis, or else you will get different readings as the Z height changes.

There was an article in DIGITAL MACHINIST a few years ago about this. In that article the guy left the camera in its ball housing and arranged 3 set screws to adjust it.

Mach3 has a plug-in to support a camera like this.

I eventually gave it all up as neat idea that was to much trouble to get it really right.
 
I agree with Ron that it would be a pain to properly use it for alignment in a mill but I use a cheapy USB microscope on my little CNC lathe to align & set the tool at zero. Here's a pic where it was used to center a .046" grooving tool on a .024" groove. That's a 1/4" shaft your seeing! These old eyes couldn't have done it accurately otherwise. The tool is slightly out of focus due to the narrow depth of field.

USBMScope.jpg


I discarded the original base and made a simple swing-away mount bracket for it.

USBMScope2.jpg
 
ShopShoe said:
It just happens that this one is on sale at MCM Electronics:

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/83-12906

--ShopShoe
Click to expand...
You can find them at this link for much less with free shipping. Don't expect to get it quick with free shipping. They start filling a shipping container as they sell and package products for shipping to the USA. They don't load that container on the ship until it's packed full. This can take a couple of weeks or even a month. When it arrives in Los Angeles USPS accepts delivery and process all the packages mailing them to mail boxes all over the country. If you are not worried about the time it takes to get the stuff they sell you can get very good deals.

http://www.dealextreme.com/c/microscopes-magnifiers-808?page=1&pagesize=52&pagesort=relevance

This is the link to the home page http://www.dealextreme.com/
Expect to spend several hours looking at all the stuff available.
 
If you remove the outer lens, leaving the inner lens, from a cheap webcam you will find it focuses very near the lens and shows surfaces in incredible detail. I havent tried a USB microscope, but this has to be nearly as good. I know, pics needed.

Lee
 
I made one several years ago after seeing it in Digital Machinist magazine. I made the mount to fit in my indicator base as well as a drill chuck and 3/8" and 1/2" collets. I never was successful at getting it truly centered but I did find other uses for it. I now use it for recording machining operations when I want a really close look at the action. I've put some of these on my Youtube channel. It definitely provides a unique view of the process. See what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jonsmachineshop

Jon
 
I was just thinking someone could build a simple video DRO system using 2 cameras, 2 steel rules and magnets to hold them to the table or carriage/cross slide. Zeroing would be accomplished by simply moving the rules.
 
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