What to consider when installing a camera above a waterjet machine:
- Camera type.
- System bandwidth.
- Camera placement.
Camera type
When choosing the camera, an industry-standard GigE camera should be used. Our camera system also supports our own legacy cameras (with some limitations), but this should only be used if such a camera is already owned. Contact your local camera reseller to get suggestions on good cameras to use. Please note that it’s enough to have a rolling shutter on the camera because we work with still images. Rolling shutter cameras are normally cheaper than global shutter cameras.
System bandwidth
Industry GigE cameras need a quite high network bandwidth to work well. How fast your network should be depends on camera resolution and framerate. The best is obviously to connect the camera directly to the Ethernet port of the computer taking the pictures; however, this is not always possible. If passing through a router/switch or similar, take note not to use too slow devices. Your local camera reseller can help with deciding a good system setup for the camera you choose.
You should also have in mind that any firewall can block the connection between your computer and camera. This is possible to resolve by letting the camera communicate through the firewall. Please contact your IT person for this.
Camera placement
The spatial positioning of the camera can be anywhere, which allows your camera to take a picture of the partial machine table that you want to calibrate. If thick materials will be used, the material top surface will also need to be visible in the image. (Note that different logic will apply when using SlabTracer photo station.) The more perpendicular the camera is to the machine table, the better the accuracy of the calibrated image. Taking pictures with a camera view direction less than 45 degrees from the table is not recommended.
Selecting the correct lens for the camera will assist greatly in the placement of the camera. So the key points are:
- Place the camera as perpendicular as possible to the machine table.
- Place the camera as close as possible to the table, but make sure the calibration area and the top surface of the thickest material is visible.
Connecting the GigE camera and prepare it for IGEMS CAD/CAM
We recommend that the camera is connected to the network as described earlier. Then use the camera manufacturer’s software to open the camera to confirm everything works as expected, and possibly do some basic setup for the camera. Although many cameras will work out of the box, installing the manufacturer’s software on the client will make sure all needed drivers and files exist and are of a recent version. When you have confirmed that the camera works as expected, you can proceed to take pictures inside IGEMS CAD/CAM software. Don’t forget to shut down the manufacturer’s image grabbing software before taking pictures in IGEMS CAD/CAM, they will not work at the same time for some brands of cameras.
Need help finding the correct camera?
IGEMS is partnering with VA imaging to deliver two GigE camera packages for the Vision module. Both packages comes with a camera, lens, housing and cables. Benoit Laurent at VA imaging will assist with further customization and free lens calculation depending on your machine size. He will also be your contact for orders and general camera questions.
Purchasing through VA imaging will give you an extra 10% discount.
Standard resolution package - €670
- Sony 12pm GigE camera
- 8mm C-mount lens
- IP67 Housing
- 5m Cable
High resolution package - €1178
- Sony 20pm GigE camera
- 12mm C-mount lens
- IP67 Housing
- 5m Cable
Contact details
Email: benoit@va-imaging.com
Website: https://va-imaging.com
Next step, calibrate your camera.