[Metrology] Mill Spindle Mounted Microscope (aka Cheap Optical Comparator)

[RJSakowski]

I'm jumping into this thread late but this looks like an awesome tool!
Excuse my ignorance but I missed something early on. How do you adjust the scope so the center of the field is the center of the spindle? I didn't see any adjustment on the holder?
I wonder if there is a camera out there with less vertical length that would not require so much spindle travel.
R

To center the crosshairs on the spindle axis, I image a fine detail. e.g., I lightly dragged a mini utility knife across a piece of aluminum to create a crosshair pattern about .001 wide. I mounted my microscope in a 1/2" R8 endmill holder. I locate the crosshair pattern with the microscope and rotate the spindle. If the crosshairs are on the spindle axis, they intersection point will not move in the x or y direction. If it does, I move the table to reduce that movement. I then move the software crosshairs to coincide with that point. When the alignment is completed, I am within a few ten thousandths of the true spindle axis. Check post #51 for some pictures.

It would be nice to have a shorter camera. It would also be nice to have a longer focal length to be able to have the camera some distance from the target. My setup extends about 7" from the spindle face. I could shorten that by about 1-1/2" if I used a collet instead of the end mill holder but I would give up the indexing repeatability. There are some shorter cameras out there. I had originally though about using a webcam and doing my own optics but the advantage of having something ready made was overwhelming.

Bob

 

[fretsman]

no problem, Jim, I just really appreciate your time and efforts!

 

[Baithog]

Thank you, Jim, I checked the DC_Microscope.exe folder and there is no working folder? Also did a search for that snap file as well with no luck.

EDIT: Added pictureView attachment 114272

Dave, my directory looks mostly like yours. My w-10 has the recent update. The only thing different is an uninstall log file and of course a saved snap from a previous session. Are you starting the executable from the X86 directory? The microscope program saves to the working directory, so if you execute it from somewhere else, the snap files may be there. I moved the executable to my document tree, so my recent snaps are there. The program builds its working files in the new directory on the first run. The only glitch I had was getting the picture to be full window on the first run. I had to activate the centering circles button to get the window filled.

Larry

 

[rwm]

Bob- Got it. I assumed you physically centered the camera. You are just centering the software crosshairs. Cool.

 

[fretsman]

Dave, my directory looks mostly like yours. My w-10 has the recent update. The only thing different is an uninstall log file and of course a saved snap from a previous session. Are you starting the executable from the X86 directory? The microscope program saves to the working directory, so if you execute it from somewhere else, the snap files may be there. I moved the executable to my document tree, so my recent snaps are there. The program builds its working files in the new directory on the first run. The only glitch I had was getting the picture to be full window on the first run. I had to activate the centering circles button to get the window filled.

Larry

Thank you, Larry, interesting thought. I used the startup icon listed under the ''all apps'' so I would have thought it would be from the same directory as the screenshot I posted, but just for the heck of it, I will start the program directly from that folder to see what happens. I appreciate your input.

 

[RJSakowski]

In Windows 7, if I open "My Computer" or the C drive and search for *.bmp and select the date or range of date in which the file was saved, it will show the file. Right clicking on the highlighted file and selecting "open file location" will open the folder that the file is saved in. You can then put a shortcut to the folder on your desktop or other convenient location.

 

[Baithog]

I think I may have duplicated the problem. I set the start menu program call to run as administrator when I had problems finding the camera. Running the program from the start menu as the administrator puts the snap file in the right place (X86 program\DC_microscope. When I ran the program as a regular user, no snap file showed up. A search finally found it in C:\Users\"Your User Name"\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\DC_microscope

I hope this helps.

 

[fretsman]

I think I may have duplicated the problem. I set the start menu program call to run as administrator when I had problems finding the camera. Running the program from the start menu as the administrator puts the snap file in the right place (X86 program\DC_microscope. When I ran the program as a regular user, no snap file showed up. A search finally found it in C:\Users\"Your User Name"\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\DC_microscope

I hope this helps.

BINGO!

Thank you Larry, that is exactly where they were!

I'll say this...windows 10 search isn't very good as I searched again after finding the file and it STILL couldn't find "snap6.png" searching "everything" any where on the whole computer? Sad really.

A shot of an engraving cutter shown.

 

[RJSakowski]

On Windows 7, the resident directory wouldn't allow me to create or modify a file. (the working computer is using XP so I hadn't noticed this problem) I tried changing permissions to allow users to make file changes but to no avail. When I copied the executable file to the desktop, it will save the captured files to the desktop.

I then moved the entire working directory to C:\Users\[my computer]\App Data\Local and now it saves the captured images and I can see them in my document library. I had to include the directory files in the document library first though.

Bob

 

[JimDawson]

I didn't get a chance to look at the file location issue yesterday, but I knew that someone would come up with the answer. That's what makes H-M so great! A community of people working towards a common goal . Thank you everyone!