My First 3D Scan & A Bad Segway (No Jim. Not that kind of Segway)

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Bob La Londe 1 year ago

I picked up a Creality Otter 3D scanner a while back. I just opened it yesterday and tried it out. The scan software didn't work on my everyday CAD/CAM design computer. Its an older i7 with an Intel 4600 video card that works just fine for 3d modeling with 64 bit ViaCAD, and has no issues keeping up with CamBam and ViaCAD simultaneously.

Fortunately, I had a newer computer I picked up early last year with some kind of hotrod video card. With all the things going on in my life I just didn't bother with it. My computer is working, and it will take a day or two to install and configure everything on a new computer. The new machine is a lot faster i9 with a smoking video card and more memory. This morning, I put it on a desktop, hooked it, and installed the Creality Scan software. I didn't even bother to calibrate the scanner. As soon as it started I went straight to a scan.

I don't know if it will be useful, but I'll have fun finding out. First test scan below. I didn't change any of the defaults.

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For those of you in speech restricted nations:

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Yes its is metalworking related. I hope to be able to scan customer's Frankenstein's creations and cut molds for them in some cases. The accuracy is a couple thousands at best, but that's good enough for a rubber worm. In most cases it will probably still be easier to just 3D model the positive.

Yeah, I am behind the curve here, but until recently even mediocre but reliable 3D scanning was out of my price range. My son has been doing

3D printing for a while, but I rarely find it worth while. Atleast compared to the machines my son uses I can machine most parts far faster than I could print them. He, however, might try to "borrow" my scanner to 3D print some stuff.

More metalworking content.

One of the vehicles I have "extra" is a Hyundai Kona I bought new for my mom when my dad was in the hospital recovering from having a brain tumor removed. They didn't have a 100% reliable set of wheels and there was a reason (at the time) I wanted my mom to have a car that was HERS. Mostly I wanted them to have a reliable grocery getter that my dad couldn't turn in to a handyman service vehicle. She gave up her license last year so, I have it back. I'd looked up the tow rating on line, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it had one, but when I looked int he owners manual it said, "not recommended for towing." I wrote it off for a while, but than I ran across several conversation on various car forums, and Reddit. Its seems ALL the Konas trims sold in Europe and in Australia have "some" tow rating. Only in the US do they say, "not recommended for towing." Of course Curt makes a hitch for it, so I bought one. I've been spending the afternoon installing it. It seems pretty simple, but you have to drag the bolts through the inside of the unibody frame member tube and poke them out from the inside. Yeah, its as goofy as it sounds. I've got three bolts poked out and nuts on them. Now to go do the other three. The lowest rating I found was 620KG on foreign models, so I figure a self imposed max of 1200-1500 lbs, shift manually, and don't run speed limit on the freeway if its loaded or climbing hills.

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Jim Wilkins 1 year ago

I picked up a Creality Otter 3D scanner a while back. I just opened it yesterday and tried it out. The scan software didn't work on my everyday CAD/CAM design computer. Its an older i7 with an Intel 4600 video card that works just fine for 3d modeling with 64 bit ViaCAD, and has no issues keeping up with CamBam and ViaCAD simultaneously.

----------------------------- "Fascinating", said Spock.

Many craft fair and flea market vendors here sell 3D printed monsters etc from Thingiverse. One told me the people who profit most aren't the sellers but those who license the designs. There's hardly ever a useful and practical item in their displays.

Almost everything I dream up can be made on a lathe or mill, of course I don't often dream of marine invertebrates, beyond an occasional Architeuthis. My doctor's idea of up-the-system individuality is socks with a Kraken on them, and I was at a beach the day the remains of one washed ashore, but too far away to see that the small group of people was looking down at something.

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I bought some bake-hardening polymer clay for free-form shapes or impressions but rarely use it, I need the strength of metal.

The current project is a draw plate or roller pair to make replacement yagi TV antenna elements from aluminum flashing. I can almost form the open-seam tubes around a transfer punch with a soft hammer and anvil after roughing the curve on the press brake. They are fragile enough to not damage the shingles when blown down.

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Bob La Londe 1 year ago

SCULPY! Lots of tackle makers use the stuff to make masters. Others hand carve, and yet others Frankenstien pieces and piece together with a hot knife. My only "practical" use for 3D printing I came up with was to print master molds to make silicone molds to cast resin work pieces. Catalyzed resin is way tougher than most (99.999%) 3D print resins and plastics filament prints.

And to think we all made fun of Radio Shack back in the day...

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Jim Wilkins 1 year ago

SCULPY! Lots of tackle makers use the stuff to make masters. Others hand carve, and yet others Frankenstien pieces and piece together with a hot knife. My only "practical" use for 3D printing I came up with was to print master molds to make silicone molds to cast resin work pieces. Catalyzed resin is way tougher than most (99.999%) 3D print resins and plastics filament prints.

And to think we all made fun of Radio Shack back in the day... Bob La Londe

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RS was useful but they deserved the insults, I could test electronic components and found much of their stuff a little out of spec, though surprisingly a "50V" rectifier bridge withstood 600V. They had some of the ICs for my homebrew 8080 computer including the modulator and demodulator chips for an FSK cassette modem. The TV antenna that's gradually becoming home-made was an Antennacraft HBU-33 from them. Its insulators are all wax-filled wood now, the original rivets have been replaced with aluminum screws or smooth-shanked studs if they carry signal. After cleaning the connections Ox-Gard paste keeps their resistance below 20 milliOhms for several years.

I used epoxy to rebuild damaged circuit boards by freehand sculpting and restoring flat surfaces and edge connector keying slots with Scotch tape as the mold. Much can be built from office supplies when they are all that's on hand. Some structural sheet metal repairs on my car began as plastic (heat-moldable) report covers. Perhaps the hardest epoxy sculpting job was restoring and modifying a broken-in-shipping 3D printed toy prototype for the WowWee mobile robot family. I tend to be assigned to the stranger projects, perhaps because they are thought less likely to succeed.

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My First 3D Scan & A Bad Segway (No Jim. Not that kind of Segway)

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