Scanning existing parts for plasma cutting

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plasmabay
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Scanning existing parts for plasma cutting

Post by plasmabay »

Hi all, was talking with a potential customer this weekend about scanning existing parts, he said he works with a guy that uses a scanner to capture images of existing parts? Didn't sound like just taking a pic with a phone. He said it places an 'x' over the part as part of the process for more accurate alignment.
Is this an app or a specialized device? Anyone using anything like this?

Thanks!
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tinspark
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Re: scanning existing parts

Post by tinspark »

I have taken a picture of a part a few times then wrote down a dimension for two given points on the actual part. then did an auto trace in inkscape (free program). Then imported to designedge and opened as a dxf cleaned it up in this program. then drew a line to the dimension that I took when I measured the original part. Then blew out the traced part to fit the dimension line that matched the measurement and location of the dimension.I figured that as lon as the points matched the rest would blow out relitively accurate. Also, The trick was to get a good image and as square and centered as possible from the part to the camera lense. But may not work on longer parts due to perspective. It works as long as it doesn't need to be super accurate, but worked pretty well for the times that I used this method. +,- 1/16" in the instances that I tried it.
I, in a sense used my phone and inkscape as a scanner, But I have never found an actual scanner program that does this as you are asking about in your RFI. Drawing in a CAD program is very accurate unless the part has some odd shapes, which may take forever to measure out. Especially if a customer has to wait with you while you figure out how to measure it accurately. which is why I had opted for the above method in the few instances that I have needed it.I either lucked out both times or there is something to it..
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adbuch
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Re: scanning existing parts

Post by adbuch »

Perhaps he was referring to something like the Arclight Dynamics auto tracer.





I have one of these set up on one of my cnc router tables and it does work great.

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plasmabay
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Re: scanning existing parts

Post by plasmabay »

@tinspark @adbuch thanks for the replies! will look into those
adbuch
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Re: scanning existing parts

Post by adbuch »

You are quite welcome! Let us know what you find out.
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Re: Scanning existing parts for plasma cutting

Post by weldguy »

I use an off the shelf Epson desktop scanner/printer often to scan parts then import the scan into my design software and create the outline for it. Works very well. If the part is too big for the scanner I will scan it multiple times in different positions and then piece all the scans together in the design software. This is where marking it with an X or something will be beneficial so you can line the marks up and be sure you have all the pieces orientated properly together before drawing your outline.
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