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The replication probe signal for DANPLOT.EXE (tm) is input through the Joy-Stick port. Since the Joy-Stick controls for the X and Y axis use the analog inputs on the Joy-Stick port 1 and the Joy-Stick control for the Z axis uses the Y axis input pin on Joy- Stick port 2, the only analog input free for use by the scanning probe is the X axis on port 2, i.e. Joy-Stick port 2 pin 11.

Note that if your Joy-Stick port, a.k.a. Game port, is on a PCI bus sound card the Joy-Stick port may not work if you boot your computer with DOS 6.22 or a "DOS 95" floppy disk, unless you put an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the boot floppy disk that includes the right path to the driver file for the driver for the sound board that enables the game port on the sound card. Some ISA bus sound cards may also require a software driver to enable the "game" port. Older ISA bus Joy-Stick port cards, and some older "multi-I/O" cards that have a "game" port do not usually require a software driver. PCI "game" port cards may require a software driver to be run in order to enable the "game" ports. The "game" port on some sound cards only supports Joy-Stick port #1, a.k.a. port "A", and so will not work with features that use the Joy- Stick port #2, eliminating the use of the analog scanning probe on Joy-Stick port #2. You should use a Joy-Stick board that supports two Joy-Stick ports.

Originally the game port board only had one 15 pin connector that could be used with a splitter cable in order to connect four game paddles with one button and one variable resistor, or two Joy-Sticks that had two buttons and two variable resistors each. Later some Joy-Sticks where made that had two buttons and three variable resistors. To avoid having to use a splitter cable to operate two Joy-Sticks that use two variable resistors each, some game cards where made that have two 15 pin connectors, one for each Joy- Stick. If you have a board with two connectors pin 11, i.e. the X axis for Joy-Stick #2, may not be connected on one of the two 15 pin connectors, or the X axis for Joy-Stick #2 might be connected to pin 3 on the connector for the second Joy-Stick, or something like that.

Since the replication scanning probe input currently only uses Joy-Stick port #2, a.k.a. the "B" port, you will need a Joy- Stick port that supports two Joy-Sticks in order to use this feature. The original IBM (tm) ISA Joy-Stick port card supported two Joy-Sticks, but some "clone" cards made later only support one.

The pins on the Joy-Stick 2 port used by replication seem to be:

                               Pin No.
                                   08 - +5 VOLTS OUT TO RESISTANCE
   +5 VOLTS OUT TO RESISTANCE - 15
                                   07
                                14
                                   06
                                13
                                   05 - COMMON GROUND
                COMMON GROUND - 12
                                   04 - COMMON GROUND
  ANALOG SIGNAL 0 to 100K OHM - 11
                                   03
                                10
                                   02
   +5 VOLTS OUT TO RESISTANCE - 09
                                   01 - +5 VOLTS OUT TO RESISTANCE

An optical resistor known as a "CdS" cell can be connected between tied pins 1, 8, 9, and 15 to pin 11. Changes to the light that change the resistance between about 1K ohm and 90K ohm will be converted by the software to brightness data, so the light on the scanned object needs to be bright enough to fall into that range. The common ground pins are only used for shielding the wires and make no direct connection to the signal input. If you use a NPN photo transistor the emitter would connect to pin 11, and you might need to connect a current limiting resistance between the NPN photo transistor's collector and the +5 volt pins of the Joy-Stick port depending on the maximum current the transistor can handle.

Other types of probe, than light sensitive ones, can be used such as: a heat sensor, a magnetic sensor, a ultraviolet fluorescence detector, a conductivity gauge, a proximity sensor, a hardness or softness sensor, a radiation sensor, a ultrasonic sensor, a laser range-finder, a RF detector, a gas sensor, a x-ray spectrometer, metal detector, and such to make a 3D map or model of such data, or to make a BMP graphics file of the presence of such detection represented as brightness data. Such other types of sensor would need to be coupled to the Joy-Stick port carefully to prevent damage from the way the signal input of the Joy-Stick port operates, but an NPN opto-isolator wired with the collector on the +5 Joy-Stick port supply pins, perhaps through a current limiting resistor, and the emitter wired to the Joy- Stick signal input pin 11 might take care of what is needed. Your signal data would be feed to the LED in the opto-isolator through a DC amplifier. If a DC amplifier for the signal would not be practical, you might be able to use an AC amplifier if the signal is made to modulate a high frequency "carrier" tone, but the carrier would need to be high enough in frequency so as not to make beat artifacts with the sampling frequency. The changes in the brightness of the light from the LED in the opto-isolator would then change the resistance of the NPN photo Darlington transistor in the opto-isolator, acting with the series current limiting resistor as the variable resistor from the positive five volt pins on the Joy-Stick port to the analog input pin 11 (or pin 3 sometimes?) on the Joy-Stick port. The series current limiting resistor for the opto-isolator's NPN photo Darlington transistor would probably be between 2.2K ohm to 22K ohm at 1/4 watt. The LED may also need a series current limiting resistor, but the value would depend on the voltage of the signal, if the peak signal amplitude was five volts then values from 330 ohm down to 180 ohm at 1/2 watt might work, with the smaller value giving the stronger signal to the computer, but values smaller than 330 ohm may pass too much current through some opto-isolators and burn them out so try 330 ohms first and only decrease the value if you need to, and check the opto-isolator's manufacture's specifications to see what the maximum current limits are for the part you are using. The more positive lead from the signal amplifier would go to the LED's current limiting resistor which would connect to the LED's anode, the LED's cathode would connect to the signal amplifier common lead, so that the LED's anode would be getting a signal ranging from zero volts up to five volts through the series current limiting resistor, relative to the LED's cathode common connection.

When doing scanning using DANPLOT.EXE (tm) it is important to minimize disturbances, particularly low frequency ones, while the scanning proceeds otherwise your *.RAW data file will be contaminated with various sorts of noise. You should boot the computer from a DOS 6.22 or "DOS 95" floppy disk before scanning since running DANPLOT.EXE (tm) in a Windows (tm) window, or full screen while Windows (tm) is loaded for multi- tasking mode will probably produce many "glitches" in the data that look like impulse noise. That is because the Joy-Stick port reads analog data by measuring the time it takes a capacitor to change its charge, any interruption to the time measuring changes the analog to digital conversion value, and the *.RAW file's data.

The probe oversample frequency helps reduce "noise" that the Joy-Stick port picks up from: 60Hz hum fluctuations of the light source, ripples in the computers power supply that come out on the +5 volt pins of the parallel port, RFI or other signal pickup from the wires that go to the sensor, interruptions going on even in DOS mode, and such. By taking many measurements and averaging them the "glitches" and noise from any one sample make a smaller part of the average data for a given point. The default value is usually enough samples per point, but you can adjust the oversampling from 1 up to about 65535. Oversampling values above 255 will probably not help much unless your probe is very noisy. If you are designing a scanner you should use a regulated DC powered light source, or one powered by high frequency power, since if the frequency of the light fluctuations is close to the sensor sample frequency you may get "herringbone" or other patterns superimposed over the scanned image.

Some Joy-Stick boards may have on board digital processing to compensate for the computer's CPU speed differences. Such compensation may interfere with obtaining good resolution of the analog values. Older Joy-Stick boards that do not have such compensation may be able to be adjusted for faster computers by changing the timing capacitors to a smaller value, probably in silver mica type.

When scanning you should try to get the reading on the scanning display for the probe value to between 100 and 200 for the "white" areas scanned, and between 2000 and 4000 for the "black" areas scanned. If you cannot get this much contrast you should adjust the brightness of the light used, or improve your probe or signal input circuit. If you adjust the probe or light while scanning, remember to abort the scan and do it over again since any changes you make will show up in the *.RAW scanning data file made while scanning.

While you are scanning you should not walk around the machine so as to change the amount of light reflected onto the scanned object, or turn on or off lights, or open doors or windows and change the light falling on the scanned subject or you will probably disturb the *.RAW file, and probably make the data unusable.

As the automated machine scans, the dwell time for measuring each point depends on the signal value, less time for low probe values, and more time for high probe values. As the probe goes over your subject you should be able to see the probe values vary from about 100 to 4000 on the screen display, and hear the motors slow down as the probe passes over parts that give the "black" high values. Therefore the total scanning time changes depending on the subject being scanned.

If you hear the motors making odd intermittent noises during the rapid movements when the probe is not being checked, you may have a program running in background on your computer, perhaps a virus or some program you do not know is on your system, or it may just be some TSR or power saving feature. Do not use any programs running in background while you are scanning using DANPLOT.EXE (tm). You should disable any power saving features, sleep modes, or anything else that can use or interrupt the CPU while my CAM programs are being used. Some harddisks lock up the computer when going in or out of their "power saving" sleep or park mode, you may not be able to use computers that have such a harddisk for some applications while using my programs.

In the replication sub-menu in DANPLOT.EXE (tm) are some processing commands that are used to normalize the *.RAW raw data file created when DANPLOT.EXE (tm) scans using your machine. You need to convert, i.e. make a normalized copy of, the *.RAW file to a normalized *.NOR file because the signal input to the Joy-Stick port may have been weak or not centered within the normal range because of a lack of light, a low gain detector, effects of the computer's speed on some Joy-Stick port boards, and other variables. Normalizing expands and adjusts the input data to fill the range of values for the probe data, and adjusts the values to be between minimum and maximum values. After you have made a normalized file you can make additional enhancements to the brightness and contrast, view a sample of the scanned data, or convert the normalized data. Commands to convert the normalized data are in the DANPLOT.EXE (tm) replicate sub-menu, and in the DANCAD3D.COM (tm) and DANCAD87.COM (tm) Files Utilities sub-menu.

There are different modes for converting the *.RAW raw data file into a normalized *.NOR file. The mode 0 makes a linear expansion to have the raw data fit the full range, this generally shows more detail in the dark areas. The mode 1 uses the square root and a scaling factor to do a kind of "gamma correction" to make the brightness values non-linear which can help some kinds of scanning, this expands the light areas somewhat. The mode 2 uses the natural logarithm and a scaling factor to do a kind of "gamma correction" to make the brightness values non-linear which can help some kinds of scanning, this expands the light areas and compresses the dark areas. The mode 3, "cooked "A"," uses the natural logarithm and a scaling factor and changes to the brightness and contrast to do a kind of "gamma correction" and clipping to make the brightness values non-linear which can help some kinds of scanning, particularly scanning photographs or line art using a photo- transistor. You can make a copy of the first normalized file with additional contrast or brightness changes, but if you "push" details off the top or bottom of the brightness curve you cannot bring those details back, so always keep your raw data and first normalized files in a safe place so you can come back to them if you need to make copies with more adjustments. Try mode 3 to make a *.NOR normalized file from your scanned *.RAW raw data file first if you are going to convert the normalized data into a BMP file later.

If you make a BMP file from the scanned data you might use some other graphics program to adjust the image tones before you load the adjusted BMP file into DANCAD3D.COM (tm) or DANCAD87.COM (tm) to make a tool path or drawing element.

The FILES CONVERT macro command has been updated to support a special palette for conversion of *.NOR files into *.BMP 8 bpp files 256 palette mode with up to many shades of gray, this special new macro command is:

FILES CONVERT NOR filename.nor BMP8NM256 filename.bmp

Because this conversion uses a special gray tone palette, you must use palette conversion if you want to convert a *.BMP file made from a *.NOR file made from a *.RAW file into a *.PIX file using the screen display M256 palette, i.e. as in video display mode S640M256, S800M256, S1280M256, and S1600M256. Be sure to see the prompt in the *.BMP to *.PIX conversion regarding palette conversion or not, and select palette conversion. Some data loss may occur when palette conversion is applied. Programs that read *.BMP files should not have more of a problem reading the BMP8NM256 palette than they would any other palette from a *.BMP file.

In DANPLOT.EXE (tm)'s replicate sub-menu you can also make a copy of the normalized file with negative brightness values, or make a very high contrast "black or white" copy.

When scanning with a photo transistor you may need to use a greenish or IR cut-off filter to cut out the infrared light since the extra red and infrared sensitivity of the photo transistor may give "false" or unexpected brightness values from some subjects due to the different reflectivity of dyes in the infrared and visible light wavelengths. An alternative to using a filter is to use a red, yellow, green, or blue LED as the light source since those LED's will not give off much infrared light.

The *.NOR normalized raw data or *.ASC ASCII file produced by DANPLOT.EXE (tm) should be examined, processed, and or edited in my CAD programs before the data is used as a tool path with DANCAM.EXE (tm) since DANCAM.EXE (tm) needs to have the proper up, down, and connecting motions added to the tool path file by using the Plotterize, Link, and other drawing editing commands in the CAD programs. There are some types of *.ASC tool path file that can be used with DANPLOT.EXE (tm) after being examined in the CAD programs without editing because DANPLOT.EXE (tm) automatically adds the tool up and down motions, but some editing may be helpful on those files as well to make adjustments and corrections.

You can convert the *.NOR normalized scanned data from your automated machine into a standard *.BMP file by using the Files Utilities BMP NOR command in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) or DANCAD87.COM (tm). Because BMP files are scanned left to right and BOTTOM to TOP you need to enter the starting location for the scanning y axis point in DANPLOT.EXE (tm) as the point at the BOTTOM of your subject, and the ending y axis scanning point as the TOP of your subject. To improve compatibility with programs that read BMP files it is best to use a number for the x pixels that is an even multiple of the number eight, e.g. 64, 120, 2400, and so on, and have the number of y lines times x pixels per line evenly divisible by 32, i.e. no remainder. For example x 640 by y 480 gives 307200 which divided by 32 is 9600 with no fraction, and 640 divided by 8 gives 80 with no fraction.

The BMP file made from the *.NOR file can be converted into an *.ASC or *.PIX file by using the same commands that convert BMP files made in other ways. The various conversion modes can be used for making tool paths or triangle surface data. See the commands in the CAD program's Files Utilities sub-menu.

The two simple viewers for the *.NOR data in DANPLOT.EXE (tm) start at the top of the screen, and so will show files scanned for conversion to BMP file data upside-down, but correct left to right. These simple viewers only show the first corner scanned of the scanned area, and are just for quick checking of the probe adjustment. You can make a trial scan by increasing the scan increments for the x and y axis to get just x 16 by y 16 points in order to get a quick check of the probe data over the whole scanned field. For making *.ASC files I would normally scan top to bottom, but is does not matter what direction you scan in since you can use the Flip and Rotate commands in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) or DANCAD87.COM (tm) to change the *.ASC file after it is loaded into the drawing workspace. The tonal range of the simple viewers is very limited, the scale of tones that you can get in conversion to a BMP file can be much greater, depending on your probe type and any contrast and brightness adjustments you make in preparing the *.NOR file.

The Plotterize, Weave, Fill, Link, Partition, Betweens, Assemble, Fit curve, and similar commands can probably be used with various *.ASC files converted from the normalized *.NOR files made from the raw *.RAW scanned data, so see all of the editing commands also for other ideas of various ways the scanned data can be edited into elements or tool path files.

The z axis top point setting value can be used to focus the probe, by having it move down a set amount from the z home point.

Be sure that you look at, and check for errors in, any tool path file you make using the replication modes in DANPLOT.EXE (tm), or DANCAM.EXE (tm), by using the drawing editor in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) or DANCAD87.COM (tm) before you try to use that tool path in my CAM programs, or by using another method, to make a part or something!

See also the replication configuration in DANPLOT.EXE (tm).

The replication scanning mode in DANCAM.EXE (tm) uses an on or off, i.e. TTL high or low, state from the "auxiliary input or C axis home switch" (my pin definitions) pin on the parallel port to control the Z axis motor to move a probe up and down in order to scan out 3D shapes. If metallic objects are being scanned it is possible to have a metallic probe open and close a circuit to relay the contact data. If a non metallic object is being scanned the probe needs to act as a switch by up and down or sideways motion of very small amounts.

Since the replication mode in DANCAM.EXE (tm) uses the parallel port, problems associated with the Joy-Stick port are not involved, but if you use DANPLOT.EXE (tm) and have the "C" axis home switch wired up, you will need to add a way to switch between the probe for DANCAM.EXE (tm) and the "C" axis home switch for DANPLOT.EXE (tm) since the same pin on the parallel port is used for both features, although not at the same time.

The shape of the probe tip should have the same shape as the cutter will have when the "duplicate" is cut later in order to avoid having to do extra cutter radius compensation.

To make the connections to the "auxiliary input" (my pin definitions) you connect the probe "N.O. switch" (normally open contact, or hi-z) so that it is from common ground to pin 15 on the computer's 25 pin connector, or from common ground to pin 32 on the centronics 36 pin printer cable. The auxiliary input pin on the parallel port should also be connected through a 2.2K ohm "pull-up" resistor to a +5 volt supply (be sure the common ground on the +5 volt supply also connects to the parallel port common ground pins).

If the auxiliary relay output pins for relays C and D are being used as the pull up power source in place of an external five volt supply for the auxiliary input the value of the pull up resistor should be increased to 10K ohm at 1/4 watt.

The "auxiliary input" pin on the parallel port is held at +5 volts through the 2.2K ohm 1/4 watt pull-up resistor when the probe is not in contact with the scanned object, and goes low-z, i.e. closes to a short circuit, to common ground, i.e. 0 volts, when the probe touches the scanned object.

As was mentioned above, if one of the auxiliary relay outputs on the parallel port is used for the auxiliary input pull- up source, the pull-up resistor value should be increased to 10K ohm at 0.25 watt.

The scanning probe should generally be an isolated circuit connected to the parallel port through a high speed opto- isolator or the equivalent. Isolating the probe circuit from the parallel port may be needed to prevent grounding or ground fault problems with contact with parts of your machine. To connect an opto-isolator the collector of the NPN photo Darlington transistor goes to the signal input pin on the parallel port and the emitter goes to the signal common ground, the signal input pin is held positive through the usual pull up resistor. The LED in the opto-isolator should be protected by a series current limiting resistor, generally about 330 ohms to 180 ohm when the probe signal is 0 to 5 volts, but check the manufacture's specifications for the opto-isolator to see what the maximum current rating for the LED is. The cathode of the opto-isolator goes to common ground and the five volt signal goes to the LED anode through the LED's current limiting resistor. If you cannot get a signal on the input pin of the parallel port try increasing the pull up resistor to 22K ohm. If increasing the resistance of the pull up resistor does not help you may need to put two 7414 inverters in series to intensify the signal from the opto-isolator before it gets to the input pin of the parallel port.

The ASCII file produced during the scanning should be examined, processed, or edited in my CAD programs before the ASCII file is used as a tool path. There are two scanning modes in DANCAM.EXE (tm) v2.72. DANCAM.EXE (tm) v2.72 scanning mode #1 makes a tool path file with the lift and rapid move lines included so that the tool will hopefully skip over the work-piece before starting to cut each contour path. DANCAM.EXE (tm) v2.72 scanning mode #2 makes a tool path file with just the contour lines saved so that they have an equal number of line segments, this is important since the partition command in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) and DANCAD87.EXE (tm) needs all of the "chains" that make up the contour lines to have the same number of line segments so that it can break up the contour lines and be used by the Betweens, Assemble, Fit curve, Weave, and such. After the Betweens command has been used the Plotterize command might be used to make extensions for the rapid movements clear above the work-piece. After the Weave command the NC Fill tri path, a.k.a. FILL_TRIANGLES, command might be used to make a surface machining tool path from the triangle element produced.

Do not try to use an *.ASC file saved using DANCAM.EXE (tm) v2.72 replication scanning mode #2 as a tool path file without first using the Plotterize or other editing commands in my CAD programs, or you will probably not get the results you want, and you may damage your machine, break tools, injure yourself or others, and have many other problems! See the Window and Split commands in the CAD programs to clip portions of the scanned or edited data.

The Plotterize, Fill, Link, Partition, Betweens, Assemble, Fit curve, and similar commands can probably be used with various *.ASC files converted from the normalized contour chain *.ASC files made using DANCAM.EXE (tm) scan mode #2, so see them also for other ideas of various ways the scanned data can be edited into drawing line elements, triangle elements, or tool path files.

Be sure that you look at, and check for errors in, any tool path file you make using the replication modes in DANCAM.EXE (tm), or DANPLOT.EXE (tm), by using the drawing editor in DANCAD3D.COM (tm) or DANCAD87.COM (tm) before you try to use that tool path in my CAM programs, or by using another method, to make a part or something!

See also the replication configuration in DANCAM.EXE (tm).