3d printing
Turbo Mini Forums

Now i've seen 3d sprinting stuff before, but this cheap 3d scanner is pretty cool, but i was well suprised at the assemblies the printed!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggvzcGdZsTc

My friend has access to one of these.

They use it to scan/print living animals to dissect and monitor the progression of things like tumors.

Clever stuff!

In the 13's at last!.. Just

you can make your own quite cheaply http://www.kith-kin.co.uk/shop/reprap/

Team www.sheepspeed.com Racing

Pretty cool, we had one of those at uni. It was alot bigger than that though as it was one of the first 3d scanners.

Build Thread Click Here

you are an evil man Jim,

I have just spent over 5 hrs looking into building a 3d printer.....

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

Do you have any plans buying 3D printers? If yes, you can either choose unassembled or assembled prototyping machine. Mine is an unassembled 3D printer kit; it’s cheaper and more practical for hobbyists like me. Also, take note of the compatibility of the materials, especially the filament type and diameter. I have Makerbot Replicator 2; so far it enables me to print endlessly 3D2print’s 1.75mm plastic PLA filaments.

My experience of the scanners, is that they create a surface file which often needs a LOT of post processing. If you are scanning a procelin figureine - sure - wasn't flat to begin with.
Try scanning something with flowing tangential curves and perfect flat surfaces, like a car headlight, bumper, or anythiing made from a mold that had hundreds of hours of hand-polishing applied, and the real limitations of these will be very apparant.

That said - these auto scanners are the way forwards. I have used a FARO arm many times and it is a total PITA. It has its place - but if the thing you are measuring could be put in a chamber or sat in front of a desktop scanner, it makes things so much easier.

As regards the 3D printers - I'm using them pretty much weekly myself, but I'll wait another two or three years before buying one for my own uses I reckon. Just like FEA however - sh1t in = sh1t out. i.e. a crappy model will make a crappy printed part. Take a scan of a smooth part, and print it without spending a long time "cleaning it up" and the printed part will look like gash. Often it's easier to import the scanned part, trace curves over the features, and then create a "clean" surface from those curves.