If you have installed a camera on your Altmill to keep watch on longer jobs, where did you put it that gives you a good overview of what is happening? I finally got a prototype mounted to the right of the machine (about 3 feet from the right front edge of the mill) and about 2 feet above the table level. I am not impressed with what I am getting. I can see if something is seriously wrong but no way can I see fine details. I am wondering where other people have mounted their cameras to allow for reasonable remote monitoring on lengthy jobs.
I am thinking that a better position might be to locate the camera roughly in the middle of the mill and maybe 3 feet in front of the mill and two feet above table level. Unfortunately that is right where I stand when I am at the mill so there is no place to actually mount the camera.
The camera is a Raspberry Pi camera so it isn’t exactly ‘high resolution’
I’m not at my shop and wont be for a while so I cannot provide a high ress screenshot, only a photo taken of my ipcam screen in my livin. It’s in b/w cause light are off in the shop so the cam is in ir mode.
The x-axis is parked just outside the screen.
This is my new setup. My old setup had the cam on the right side looking down diagonal accross the bed, a bit like yours but from higher up.
I “choose” this new setup because I had to make do with just a short cat6 cable and this was the only option I could get a complete overview. I like it though. It gives an overview of what is happening on the complete bed where nothing on the bed is far away or closer to the camera.
I don’t need an really high resolution cam for I am within hearing distance of my mill and will know if it’s trying to escape its cage. I only wanted a way to quickly glance how things are going and if I hear something out of the ord, I want to take a look without opening the door between me and this metal flinger.
If you need more detail to see if something isn’t right, it is probably ok.
I am in the same boat needing the camera for a quick view. In my case the mill is in the basement and although I can certainly use the constant up/down on the stairs, it does get old after a while. My hearing is bad enough or my shop is insulated enough that I really can’t tell what is going on from the sound. The thing I was concerned about is the gantry blocking the view of what is happening which is why I was going for a low angle. In your setup, does the gantry not cover up what is going on while it is running?
So far I have not tried to see what I can observe with the mill running. I should do that and then also try a camera position down from the ceiling to see if that makes more sense. The thing that concerns me with a down shot like that is that the ceiling is maybe 7 ’ 6" high and every once in a while I smack the ceiling with a work piece. That is fine with a drop ceiling that moves out of the way but hitting the camera will not be good. Maybe I can put the camera above the drop ceiling and have the sensor below it or just cut a hole in the drop ceiling for the camera to look through.
I do like how everything in your camera view is clearly visible.
Mine is mounted from the backside of the Z gantry(?) on a 3D printed arm. I have a new print at a different angle that I need to swap over to that will raise it a bit more and put it more in center with the spindle on the right side.
This is an old, cheap USB webcam I had lying around and I run the USB cable in the loom back to the gControl where I run Yawcam to stream it to my BlueIris server & HA.
I’ve tested many Pi Cams over the years and have never been very impressed but you could also connect a UCB webcam to one to improve the image.
Interesting - do you not have issues with vibration giving you a very shaky picture?
My initial thought was to install the camera on the monitor mount but I figured it would just shake too much for a reasonably steady picture.
yes, it moves quite a bit with the spindle but not necessarily shaky in my opinion, more so jerks when the spindle moves quickly.
My primary use is to create time-lapse videos but can also view the work as the spindle passes over an area freshly milled. (actually watching this I think I need to decrease the time in-between snapshots.
You may consider a ceiling mount to give you a good top-down or birds-eye view. This is what I am considering - getting an IP Cam that has pan/tilt (maybe zoom) that I can have look down over my AltMill, lathe, and saws and trigger it to aim/zoom onto whatever machine I am running at the time.
I guess it’s better than before but I am not too happy with it. I can fix the fuzzyness with a better quality sensor (or maybe adjust the focus if possible) but with the view obstructed with the spindle (plus gantry/dust collector hose) I can only see larger movements.
I think maybe I am asking too much from the whole setup since I really can’t see finer details anyway as everything is covered up with the dust shoe. The setup does give me confirmation that nothing major is going haywire.
