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There appears to be a lot of procrastination about 3D digitising software for Mach 3. Plenty of advice for probes but excepting the bed of nails software plugin is there an improved plug in available without breaking the bank please.
Something along the lines of the Crafty software?
No, not that I know of. There is an old plugin that Art wrote, but it was buggy, and I don;t think it's included with Mach3 anymore.
It's my understanding that there are bugs or other issues in Mach3 that prevent the development of a good plugin.
I use the Crafty Probe-It plugin, but then I'm mostly doing perimeter probing, with only a few heights, and it works very well.
I'll generally do a few simple Z probes to touch of the required surfaces, then do perimeter probing at however many heights I need to get the complete part.
If you want to do a full surface probe, I'm not aware of anything that is smarter than the bed of nails approach, although Probe-It does now have the ability to do a bed of nails approach within a perimeter, which should at least reduce time spent probing fresh air.
For the money, I don't think there are any better options, and I found the guy really helpful with some questions I had regarding warning messages, and how to adjust settings to minimise warnings.
m-c - are you speaking about the "Surface (line) X/Z probing page"? - If so when you refer to a perimeter do you mean an abstract or pre-probed perimeter as opposed to a simple predetermined rectangle? Completely missed this option if that is the case. If you can find a moment and would be kind enough to elaborate. I would be very interested to explore this.
Please be aware that I have not physically used the feature yet.
Gerry - Looks like a commercial opportunity for you there???
Now I've looked at the Surface X/Z probing information again, I realise it's just doing a perimeter type probe but in X/Z.
I thought it was doing a bed of nails type thing within a perimeter.
I'll admit, I don't even have the latest version installed, as I've got no need for that feature. As with anything Mach3 related, I opt for the, if it's not broke, don't fix it option.
I don't really work with Mach3 anymore, and I have a very limited amount of time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Leadhead
And I already have several other projects in the queue.