I read your posts on issues with replacing the camera for you optiscout in the shop sabre. Glad you were able to finally get the camera replaced a la cart. Could you tell me more about the optiscout? Is it user friendly? All the demo videos I can find make it seem like a manual process that you have to line the camera up with each registration mark? And how about how the software is integrated? Is it easy to get your files from illustrator, to RIP for print and then onto the shop sabre to cut with optiscout?
Optiscout works in an odd hybrid onboard program on the PC running the shopsabre. You boot your machine, home it, then click a button that opens optiscout's software. Here you will import a dxf file (I use ecut to make proper dxf's, I believe it is available for illustrator as well.) In Corel, I make a layer called REGMARK, and add all the dots I want to use, I usually go overboard, but I believe it will register with as few as 3. On another layer, called sign/letters/panel/whatever you like, you'll place your cut path. In the optiscout software, you have to select your marks, select an option to indicate they are indeed on the regmark layer (this part is redundant, why did I bother naming the layer something in particular, but it only takes a second so I won't complain), and then select your sign layer, and assign a tool to it, along with feeds/speeds/depth/etc.( One issue I have is with this dialogue box having confusing options, it took several emails back and forth to understand what they meant by depth, offset, etc, as the translation isn't perfect and these are pretty established terms outside of optiscout. At any rate, you can set up a profile to use repeatedly once you've wrapped your head around it.) From there, you hit go, it will unload the tool if one is loaded, drop the camera, and aim for the first mark. I like to include a 3rd layer called 'sheet', like a 4x8 of dibond with a print on it would include a 4x8 to place at the origin, this way the camera almost always hits it without adjustment as long as the sheet was laid straight. It will then proceed to read as many marks as you've told it to, retract camera, grab a tool, and start cutting. (at this point hopefully you've thought ahead and gotten then cover on the lens...
The hole process isn't awful, it's just not streamlined. Every file has to have REGMARKS selected and then tools assigned to the cut parts, vs something like a plotter where you have independent force/speed/etc already set up, and your just lining up a mark and hitting go, or even better, options baked into a barcode that pulls art and settings and just works. I believe colex supports barcodes and runs like that, but I'm very much uncertain. So yeah, if you would run 10 boards in a day, no big deal, but at 100, I'd be pretty frustrated.
Still no clue on why the camera died, I need to tear it back apart and get more pictures, then play around with similar cameras to find a cheaper replacement in the event this one goes south too.
Another thing on the ShopSabre I have, it's an IS612, so it has ballscrews driving it. These things take a lot more maintenance than the rack and pinion set up, but it's more accurate and faster. If I could go back, I'd probably opt for a rack and pinion, as the servo's are a pain to grease, and the screws are a pain to clean, and I've already burned through 3 sets of bearings do to under greasing, at $85 a pop, but that's 'user error'. (these Hiwin bearings are on most cnc's these days, gotta keep them clean and lubed no matter what)
