DIY Laser levelling using webcam and laser level

[devmonkey]

No more blutack!

A few happy hours with the milling machine and I've finished a rigid sensor mount. I surfaced the base plate so it the two faces are planar, then drilled it for the hiwin block. Then milled a true cube of Delrin with 6 sides surfaced in planar pairs, machining a cavity in one face to house the camera. Finally a window was milled. The glass in the window is a microscope slide cover slip, extremely thin, not sure how long it will last.The cube was drilled in two directions so it can be rotated 90 degrees for using the laser as a straight edge rather than a plane.

The cube is loaded onto the base plate with a bolt and a spring so it can still be rotated about the Z axis when in use, this means I can transfer it from one rail to another and pivot it back to look at the laser. Hopefully since I surface milled the contact surfaces it will remain in plane when rotated.

For reference that is a 20mm hiwin block. I managed to get a smudge on the sensor, doesn't really impact performance.