scan to laser to cut

[Brian Robison]

Information overload!
I'd love to make a laser scanner and save in the right format to cnc cut. All my investigating has done so far is confuse me even more. I'd hate to use 27 different software packages to get from A to B.
I use Auto Cad btw

[Guy Mathews]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtd-xFukZQ4

We also have an LDI Surveyor 3500. The LDI generates an IGES file and I have to work those scans through a few layers of software to get a finished product. It is to be fair to LDI, an older laser, but why spend 60K to upgrade if what you have, does what you need it do because of the work around software that we use?

The object being scanned, light sources, refraction, reflections, electrical noise in the scanning area, the operator and any other number of things can make even the best scanners seem useless.

I have read about and seen videos on Davids Scanner, Nextengine, Leica, and Handyscan. I have had the honor of getting a Handyscan file which I promptly put in the recycle bin of my desktop and used my Polhemus to do the restoration job for the church. (The Handyscan File may have been a bad operator to be fair to HandyScan) The difference between the two scans was night and day. With Polhemus, the operator only needs to know how to spray paint. I am an avid fan of Polhemus Fastscan and I am signed up on their Referral Program so I do get a referral fee for the sale of one by sending customers to them. I joined that program only after working with their product for almost 2 years.

Our company was the first woodworking company in the world, to embrace the Polhemus FastScan. When we called them and told them we wanted to scan furniture and carvings, we could swear we heard them laughing at us in the background. The CEO himself came on the sales call when they came to our company. He likes to tell his salespeople, the only sales call he ever went on, he and his salesman sold the laser in just 15 minutes! I had lots of fun at IWF setting his employees straight on that one! We actually made our decision in about 30 seconds. We knew what we were looking at on the computer screen and we saw the potentiel. That was early 2006.
I produced some wood carvings from scans and even made a sign for them for IWF 2008 for their booth. I stopped by a few times to talk with people and introduced Jim McGrew to a few of the sales people. After IWF 2008 and this article (fourth story down) http://www.modernwoodworking.com/art...px?a=1713&z=82 Polhemus is no longer laughing at us in the background. The article states that it will scan most non-metallic objects... I have successfully scanned metal with it as well. It uses a magnetic field for reference and metal is supposed to screw with field and make bad scans according to the company. Guess what guys? Surprise, surprise.

You have to decide what you want to do and how far you want to take it. There has to be a payoff to your investment, both time and money. Like you said, you are already "Overloaded".

The Nextengine may suit your needs for one thing and be useless for something else. I am still trying to convince my boss to get one of the Nextengine Scanners for R&D but to date he is still holding out. I have started threads on Laser Scanning here, CNCZone and CAMheads asking people to post their info about there scans, and their finished works. I have asked them to not just show a finished .STL file, but the stages to get it there as well. I have not had many responders so far. There is one fellow on this site, Khalid, who has built the David Scanner. My hat is off to him. He is an mazing man with lots of intelligence and talent. He has a standing job offer with our company if he ever decides to move to America. The guy is brilliant!

I stand behind the Polhemus FastScan probably with as much pride as the CEO of the company himself. I have had people tour our shop and blown their minds in just seconds with the FastScan. I even have a challenge out there on one of the forums for a guitar neck to be reproduced and to date no one has taken me up on it. Oh well.

The owls are just one example of the power of the FastScan. If you were to call the company and talk with them about the Hooters Video, you will find that the results I had achieved with the FastScan came as a surprise even to them. They always knew it was accurate, but coupled with the RBF software and in the hands of a maniac like me... anything goes.

The FastScan was used to perform all the Baseline Scans on the Chess Pieces for James McGrew. Each file after scanning had an average of 3-4 hours work with various software to get the level of detail. Because I could not use my normal scanning procedures on the chess pieces, the level of detail was lacking because of reflection from the pieces. Had I made a plaster replica, I could have just scanned them and touched them up with the Virtual Carving software. File work would have been about 30 minutes each, but plaster replicas would have taken a number of hours. If I used the LDI, I would have had greater detail, but the file sizes and the stitching I would have had to do to make a usable .STL for Jim would have been cost prohibitive to him and to us.

There are many ways to achieve the end results you are looking for. Some are easy, some are hard. It all comes down to what are you planning to do?

To restate, what I have said so many times before on so many threads dealing with laser scanning, 4th axis, software, machines and any of my hundreds of other CNC soapboxes...

"There is no magic button."

Check our website Brian, Baseline Scans start at 100 bucks.

Guy