Webcam + CNC robot = high resolution scanner

Tormach wants to sell you an upgrade package for your Mach3-compatible CNC robot that includes a 1.3M USB microscope with 220X optical magnification, a mounting bracket, and all the necessary software to turn your CNC equipment into a scanner. The cool part is they’ve also produced a video showing how to hack together a slightly-less-powerful system using a $20 pen cam and some free software that will let you make 2000 dpi scans. The “killer app” for this equipment is automatic reverse-engineering of parts, but if you had a big enough CNC table, you could probably also use it to scan maps, posters, artwork, or other oversize stuff. Would be interesting to hear from somebody with a ShopBot or similar large-bed CNC router who was messing around with this. [via Hacked Gadgets]