What to do with linear stages?

Simple controller set up to give X/Y (DRO style coordinates) and a microscope with cross hairs, you'd have a nice optical comparitor and inspection/measuring equipment. Just need to work out a way to get angles in the scope eyepiece.

Instead of the optical microscope, a low cost digital microscope will work nicely for an optical comparator. use one with my CNC mill and in highest resolution I can resolve .0001". @JimDawson wrote a nice little app that adds crosshairs/and or a bullseye to the image which can be viewed on a laptop.
 
Instead of the optical microscope, a low cost digital microscope will work nicely for an optical comparator. use one with my CNC mill and in highest resolution I can resolve .0001". @JimDawson wrote a nice little app that adds crosshairs/and or a bullseye to the image which can be viewed on a laptop.
Yeah, I have on of those cheap digital microscopes for a soldering station. Given the quality of the tables, I'd be looking for a good 4k camera if I went that route on this. It would put the classic optical comparators to shame.
 
A milling machine and this stages is about the opposite of what you want with a 3d printer.

If you want detail and speed from a printer you need low inertia. This stages and a milling machine are just to heavy and slow to do a decent detailed job with any speed. Sure they would work for coarse large nozzle work but who wants that.
 
Simple controller set up to give X/Y (DRO style coordinates) and a microscope with cross hairs, you'd have a nice optical comparitor and inspection/measuring equipment. Just need to work out a way to get angles in the scope eyepiece.
For common angles, a reticle is a good solution; in general, though, since there's already scales on the gadget,
you'd just as easily digitize two points (using crosshairs) on each of two nonparallel lines, and calculate unit vectors and
arccos-of-dot product to get an accurate angle.

It would be beneficial, like with a microscope, to mount holddowns in the threaded holes, so the inspected item
doesn't shift as you move around.
 
When I use my setup, I just record coordinates of points of interest. The crosshairs/bullseye is just used for accurate .positioning. The various sets of coordinates are then plotted in a cad program and features calculated from the drawing.

I don't have a problem with the target moving but I am on a mill table so it is less prone to movement from vibration or jostling.
 
with a high speed spindle you could have a very precise engraving system
 
During my search on these stages, I found these pictures. I guy made milling machine with three of them very similar to mine.
 

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During my search on these stages, I found these pictures. I guy made milling machine with three of them very similar to mine.
But that requires a rigid column as well as the third axis. If you use the tables to scan
X-Y, a Z axis noncontact measure instrument completes a 3D scanner, and you only
need to make a stiff support for the Z sensor. Like this laser sensor
 
Simple controller set up to give X/Y (DRO style coordinates) and a microscope with cross hairs, you'd have a nice optical comparitor and inspection/measuring equipment. Just need to work out a way to get angles in the scope eyepiece.
Look for Stocker-Yale and similar optical comparator head, and corresponding overlay for the screen.20211205_113026.jpg
 
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