The Roland Modela is a miniature mill: it can bring the tip of a tool to any point within the area of its table and along the vertical travel of the tool. Unlike a mill, the Modela doesn't just cut material away to form a new object. It can also scan in the shape of an existing object. It does this by replacing the endmill bit with a long needle. The needle goes to each x/y coordinate and descends until it hits something. It builds the resulting points into a file that can be further explored using standard CAD software.
This tutorial will go through the process of setting up and performing a scan using the Modela, and then using the data to cut a model on the same machine. The two parts can stand alone, as well.
