Web cam centre finder

[modeldozer]

Hi all madmodders,

I have built this web cam centre finder about two years ago to aid in setting up on my CNC router.  I particularly use it when setting up PCB for drilling.  I use it with a program aptly called Centrecam.

For this I used the innards from a Logitech Webcam C120 but can be adapted to any cam with the sensor in the centre of its PCB.  I would suggest a better quality cam as the drivers from some of the cheaper ones don’t always work with Mach3.



Care must be taken when turning the rear housing to have the inner lip where the board sits square to the threaded hole in the back.  The arbor is turned to final diameter (to suit whatever collet of your choice) fitted and locktighted in the housing to ensure alignment.  All shoud be clear from the pics and drawing.  Only the dimetions for the PCB "seat" are critical.














Once all assembled the crosshairs in Centrecam are calibrated to indicate true centre by rotating the cam in the spindle around a point (any marked out cross lines).

To use it with Mach3 both the Centrecam and Mach windows must be open on the desktop and the Mach one must be the active one to move your CNC.

Abraham

PS. Have attached the drawing in PDF format, but if anyone wants it in a particular CAD format just let me know (am using TurbocadV14Pro and can export most common formats)

[Brass_Machine]

I like this! I have been wanting to build on since I saw it in Digital Machinist! Well done. I am going to do this.

Eric

[modeldozer]

Hi Eric,

Glad you like it. Like I have mentioned, I find it most usefull aligning and setting up for PCB drilling, and also with the circular "hair" in Centrecam very usful when setting up on any hole/bore.  With the cam around 50mm above the surface one can get to 0.001mm of the target (depending on the accuracy of your leadscrews/drive system).

Abraham

[HS93]

Thank you for that I orderd a camera of ebay nice and cheap and I have the ally so it wont be long befor I get turning.

Peter

[raynerd]

Dito !!

Many thanks for the info.

[DaveH]

Abraham,

What a great idea

DaveH

[modeldozer]

Hi all,

Glad you fellows like it.

One thing to remeber is to calibrate (in Cenrecam it´s called inicialize), recently I have replaced the computer that runs Mach3 and forgot to redo it. firt job was out by quit a few mm´s.  Normally I rotate the cam for the firts coner/hole on a job to make sure, but as things go was in a hurry (6hour part to run) and it was out. Luckaly their was enough "spare/waste" material on the outsides so not to big a blunder .

Abraham