Let me first say that, wow, your junk bin is *WAY* batter than mine if those are the kinds of things you find rummaging around in it. Pretty jealous... Secondly, thanks for being willing to take one for the team to try out the CNC services. Good to know it's a viable option for any small metal parts i might need in the future.
Two things: First, your micrometer is upside down. The three clearance holes are for mounting to an optics table (or other 1" spaced hardware). Second, your Venier graduations also need to be visible if precision measurements will be needed.
You can convert it to an electronic project: Use print binary encoding pattern (say 100 equally space pattern ) around a screw with 1mm pitch teeth, which you can machine yourself. Then read it using photo transistors. Also you can put a stepper motor to advance the screw. and a USB to communicate with a tablet or computer. Alternatively, you can modify an old printer to do all these things, they can are capable of doing 300 dot per inch without modification, with some modification you may be able to reach 1um.
Neat how the mechanical machine shop tool parts can be used for optical and all the way down to the optics translations and controls in the microwave region. The electromagnetics and optical properties transitions and specs for the designs of those controls amazed me when first observing and to this day still is way neat! That is so cool. Kind of random and off topic somewhat and sounds like an add, though I recently tried ChatGTP to see what the answer was for that webcam spectrometer using the laptop Apple CD DVD sled for the collimator slit width control and the HD actuator to sweep at a rate back and forth so a finer resolution diffraction grating focused on the webcam would create a persistence of vision. Here's the answer it gave for the HD actuator and I'm thinking the slit control is about obvious even though I've never read about anyone proposing or making yet using the common parts. Sweeping the diffraction grating faster than the frame rate of the webcam can be an effective way to cover a wider frequency range, but it may also introduce some limitations on the spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of the resulting spectrum. When the diffraction grating is swept at a rate faster than the frame rate of the webcam, multiple spectral images are captured for each frame of the webcam, and these images overlap to create a composite spectrum. The spectral resolution of this composite spectrum is determined by the spacing of the diffraction grating lines and the rate of the grating sweep, with higher sweep rates generally resulting in lower spectral resolution. To get the best image with this approach, the sweep rate of the diffraction grating should be carefully matched to the frame rate of the webcam to achieve the best balance between spectral resolution and sensitivity. A sweep rate that is too fast can result in a decrease in spectral resolution, while a sweep rate that is too slow can result in lower sensitivity and reduced signal-to-noise ratio. The optimal sweep rate for this approach will depend on the specific parameters of the webcam and the diffraction grating being used, and may require some experimentation to find the best settings. However, in general, a sweep rate that is several times faster than the frame rate of the webcam may be a good starting point for optimizing the image quality while covering a wider frequency range.
Great video! There are only a few reviews on their CNC services here. Well, anything except PCB offering is not well covered by tech bloggers. Isn't aluminum a little bit too soft for this? I mean, the ball on the micrometer will make a dent when pressure applied. I may be wrong. I mean PCBWay also offers finishes options. Anodizing may make the surface a little bit harder.
Very COoL project. I would love to try that. I however would be quite worried (not knowing the capabilities of the equipment) that I might dream myself into a corner. Like with your two parts, the processes involved in creating that wonderful curve and combination mount - what do they say? Things that look easy can be difficult and things that look hard, simple. Is that 1, 2 or 3 separate machine processes? It's humbling. I would hopefully want to make it easier for them and lest costly for me. Really glad to know about the additional services. It's almost overwhelming, in a good way though. You did a Gr8T job on "them there hinges". Cheers I.Guy
good luck with all that bud! U could have made those on a DLP machine! aka out of plastic, or epoxy CF.....carbon fiber would have looked pretty cool ! they need a parts place in Vietnam!
3d printing it out of stainless steel would have been cheaper i think. just not on pcbway they but are expensive on metal printing .. it pays off looking around for alternatives. i once printed a replacement part for a old jigsaw that had no parts available anymore (a connecting rod that broke) which cost me around 12 bucks including shipping from stainless steel. not the best material for the job but the only metal they had available, pcbway wanted around 50+ expensive shipping for the same thing
That seems like a bargain for one-off parts. The part looks annoying to hold, seems like it would need two ops. Would also love to have some Starrett micrometers in my junk box 🙂
Why buy something off the shelf when you can make it for more than the stock part? It’s a lesson in learning. Actually I’ve done similar, when my part as more expensive, but the quality of mine was higher than the stock item. One must have personal satisfaction in things… otherwise you’re just a consumer.
