The Latest Addition to the Shop
Copyright 2009 by James P. Riser
In order to be able to rapid prototype several new
items on the drawing board, I recently picked up a Roland Modela
MDX-20 3D plotter/scanner.
Here it is as delivered
by UPS.
It was very well packed to avoid any possible shipping
damage. 
I originally hooked it up to an old PC running WindowsME.
This old computer is way too slow to handle the data.
It is now hooked up to a Windows laptop running Vista
- a big improvement! Files now load and process quickly.
I've got the scanning process mastered now and will
move on to the milling process in the next week or so.
Below are a couple pictures showing the probe as scanning
is being done:
Scanning a coin
to determine detail of the possible scans.
The scanner will scan down to .002" which will
capture much of the detail that I want to preserve.
The company owned by the previous owner made these
custom milling/clamping tables. This makes clamping objects to
be scanned or milled similar to clamping on a large milling machine.
Notice the many holes in the table for the clamps.
Here is a view
of the overall setup for scanning.
Shown below are a couple grayscale images of the coin
scan:
Not too shabby!
And an enlargement of the detail. 
More to come as I experiment with the cutting/milling
function.
OK, here is the first test project...
This is the original
object to be scanned ... a Hydesvice Skull Pin
The pin is mounted
on clay for scanning 
The resulting scan...
A tool path for the roughing cuts was next created
Rough cutting the
plexiglass 
This is the result
of the rough cuts.
A tool path for the finishing cut was made. 
Below are various resolution images of the final cutting.
This is a close-up of the test prototype milling. 
I will be able to improve the cut line size in the
final product with a more appropriate size of milling cutter;
but this is not too bad for a software/hardware learning attempt.
Since I did not have a small enough ball milling cutter, much
of the detail shown in the scans above was lost. I need to order
an assortment of smaller cutters.
At least everything works and I am learning the software.
Click here to see
page 2 and the creation of the Vampire Casting Master Model