WEBCAMS IN THE WORKSHOP

摘要

Model engineering today in the UK is by and large a pastime indulged in by retired individuals over the age of 65. By this age some of these people will, unfortunately, have begun to suffer from failing eyesight. One of the authors (Dick Stephen) is one of these, and he is finding that loss of visual acuity is making some operations in the workshop increasingly difficult. When the two of us were talking on the phone a few weeks ago, Tony suggested that a webcam would make the ideal basis for a centering microscope for use in a mill or a lathe. For those of you that have not come across these devices, they are small, inexpensive, often relatively low resolution, digital cameras that plug into a computer, and can be used to record still or video images, for example to allow a continuous video display on a website, take still photographs, or allow two or more people to "video conference" on-line. It seemed to us that if we could somehow interpose a graticule on the image that one of these cameras produced on a PC screen, then we would have the basis of an excellent centering device.