I'm looking to get a halfway decent general purpose scanner, and the market is all over the place. I don't need anything with industrial engineering precision, but I would like to be able to scan broken parts around the house to print replacements with at least decent precision.
I expect most of my use cases would be in the 1cm³-1dm³ range, but it would also be fun to be able to scan bigger subjects. Mostly people, so I can make personalized tabletop minis, but I also like the prospect of miniaturizing other things.
Blue laser looks super cool, but also very pricey.
What are the best options in the $500-1000 range? I'm kinda outta my depth here.
10 Comments
tyler@programming.dev · 15 pts · 264d
PolyCam is free. You can also use photogrammetry and free software to model it yourself. It’s not complicated but takes a beefy computer.
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 264d
I've dabbled, but based on my results I feel like dedicated hardware would provide enough benefit to justify. My computer is reasonably beefy, but I'd rather pair that with a beefy front end.
IMALlama@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 264d
I'm not going to try to dissuade you from getting a 3D scanner, but for functional prints a pair of calipers, some radius gauges, and a profile gauge will you really far. Once you get some reps in with CAD it also won't take you long to model your designs. CAD is a great skill to learn and as you do this again and again you'll start modifying your designs to make them easier to print.
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 264d
Yeah that's what I've done so far, but anything that's not made of a few simple shapes gets annoying real fast. Compound curves, tons of details, and organic shapes are more time commitment than I'm willing to spend modeling from scratch.
tofubl@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 263d
I wonder if it will be less annoying with a point cloud. You'll still need to model it, only with a digital reference, correct?
HelloRoot@lemy.lol · 7 pts · 264d
I guess iphone (one with lidar, so one of the pro models, but it can be as old as 12) with a 3d scanning app might be the best general purpose in this price range...
Whats also interesting are diy rotating bed scanners like https://fabscan.org/ which come at 200-400$
There are a ton of apps and rotating table diy scanners so you can look around.
Afaik hand guided 3d scanners are way more expensive and start at like 3000$.
EDIT:
some quick googling showed relatively positive sentiment about the rebopoint products. There is one that is exactly 1k https://www.revopoint3d.com/products/3d-laser-scanner-metrox but you're in for a software license subscribtion after a year of included use...
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 264d
Yeah that's why I asked this here instead of just googling reddit. Subscription models are very much not my vibe, I like buying a thing and consequentially owning that thing.
Although I kinda have the ick with Apple, I've never used their products and I can't really imagine starting now.
Nenutzerbame@feddit.org · 5 pts · 264d
Check out Revopoint, they have scanners in this price range
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 264d
That was the main brand I was looking at, still it's difficult to decide between the options.
jsheradin@fedia.io · 5 pts · 264d
I picked up a used Revopoint Metro X with accessories for ~$600 a little while ago. There's quite a learning curve to getting a good scan quickly but a couple afternoons of practice were enough to figure it out. The turntable is pretty flaky (random bluetooth disconnects) but the scanner itself is great.