TorontoBuilder
Sapientia et Doctrina Stabilitas
I haven't seen a thread that has all the cheap solutions to expensive tools and machines so I decided to start this one. Feel free to add to it or not.
The first post comes courtesy of @Everett and his youtube channel which I found courtesy of @Proxule
Use a cheap overhead projector as an optical comparator or as Everett calls it "Using a "Budget Optical Comparator"
I've been using a cell phone camera in macro mode photographed against a printed dxf file of the part or a 1mm grind I got from printaruler, and while it works well enough I like the projector alternative because it can project a very large sharp image. PeterT and whydontyou posted their macro camera lens adapter results and you can see they're pretty impressive as is.
However, with either work around there is the potential for parallax error when trying to measure parts that do not sit flat against printed scale. So while comparing angles on flat cutting tools should work fine, measuring dimensions of cylinders that do not sit flat against the scale paper or film will not be precise.
The first post comes courtesy of @Everett and his youtube channel which I found courtesy of @Proxule
Use a cheap overhead projector as an optical comparator or as Everett calls it "Using a "Budget Optical Comparator"
I've been using a cell phone camera in macro mode photographed against a printed dxf file of the part or a 1mm grind I got from printaruler, and while it works well enough I like the projector alternative because it can project a very large sharp image. PeterT and whydontyou posted their macro camera lens adapter results and you can see they're pretty impressive as is.
However, with either work around there is the potential for parallax error when trying to measure parts that do not sit flat against printed scale. So while comparing angles on flat cutting tools should work fine, measuring dimensions of cylinders that do not sit flat against the scale paper or film will not be precise.