First Automated Laserscanner Demo

[BrutusJones]

Very nice scan. Where can a guy get the plans to build one like yours ?

[blockh34d]

@BrutusJones Hmm i couldnt say, i just sort of improvised mine together out of stuff on hand. The "tricky" part was implementing an H-Bridge motor controller (for reversing polarity and controlling speed). Also you need to gear a DC motor way down (or use a stepper motor, but then you'll need a fancier controller). I used a dc motor with matching gearbox out of USB toy foam missle launcher i got cheap.

[marcelosouza]

Hi...How did you converted your laser bean to a "laser line"? And do i need an HBridge ? Can i just use a Simple RC Servo (9g) ? Or it's not precise enough ? Thnks man ! Awesome project !

[pkcheeze]

@marcelosouza try shining it through the stem of a wine glass or another glass cylindrical object

[blockh34d]

@marcelosouza a "laser level" (for construction gals/guys) splits the standard laser beam into a thin line for you. You can usually get one for less than 20 bucks. I dont think a servo is precise enough. You need to be able to move the laser line as slowly as possible. You could probably use the servo to control the speed of another motor on a gearbox though, probably wouldnt need the h-bridge then... H-bridges are super easy though, just four transistors you control with a microcontroller.

[blockh34d]

@marcelosouza a "laser level" (for construction gals/guys) splits the standard laser beam into a thin line for you. You can usually get one for less than 20 bucks. I dont think a servo is precise enough. You need to be able to move the laser line as slowly as possible. You could probably use the servo to control the speed of another motor on a gearbox though, probably wouldnt need the h-bridge then... H-bridges are super easy though, just four transistors you control with a microcontroller.

[blockh34d]

@marcelosouza a "laser level" (for construction gals/guys) splits the standard laser beam into a thin line for you. You can usually get one for less than 20 bucks. I dont think a servo is precise enough. You need to be able to move the laser line as slowly as possible. You could probably use the servo to control the speed of another motor on a gearbox though, probably wouldnt need the h-bridge then... H-bridges are super easy though, just four transistors you control with a microcontroller

[Frenchchikn]

I can't get my camera to calibrate. How come?

[blockh34d]

you need to make sure your camera image is set to ultra high contrast (only black and white), and that the only places that arent solidly white are the calibration dots and rings (which must all be solidly black). Also the calibration rings must have at least one hollow/white pixel in the middle. Also make sure none of the calibration marks intersect with the edge of image.

Also remember you can manually specify where the calibration dots go, sometimes this is the only way to make it work.

[Frenchchikn]

@blockh34d I will try that. Thank you for ur help ^^!

[tagalicious89]

Whats the output file format? Would be fun to play with this and SolidWorks..

[blockh34d]

David Laserscanner outputs Wavefront .OBJ format. Meshlab (free software essential for scanned mesh processing) can convert between many formats. Never tried SolidWorks, not sure if it could play nicely with David or not. I'd love to try this technology out with a CNC, is that what SolidWorks is for?

[ic4llshotgun]

@blockh34d meshlab will convert to solidworks part files. And yes, solidworks can be used as input to a cnc.

[thebossdingo]

That is soo cool, i want to build one, but i'm not sure what i would use it for... most likely, world domination, but that's neither here nor there

[gstonegraphix]

Brad told me about this - COOL