We are now releasing our 3D circumference scanner kits (assembly required)
for sale. This scanner uses a common video camera (not included) such as a Sony
Handycam. It uses the camcorder to record a scan of an object placed
on the kit's turntable. A focusing laser line module is used to
project a line over the object. But first a calibrator is used to
plumb the laser line and to center the line over the center of the
turntable. The object is then placed on the turntable centerline. The
turntable consists of a latching relay circuit, a stepper motor, a
stepper motor driver with a internal pulse generator and a LED that
is used to signal that the turntable has rotated 360 degrees. ( The
turntable is turned on and set to rotate one revolution in 45
seconds. When the protuberance on the turntable trips a microswitch,
the latching relay circuit switches the LED off. When the object has
rotated 360 then the turntable trips the microswitch and turns the
LED back on. Meanwhile the operator has recorded the calibration,
and the start and stop positions as indicated by the LED. The
resulting file is then loaded into a program that takes the video and
creates an .avi file. This file is used to move a calibration line
which then is adjusted with a slider to coincide with calibration
recorded. This tells the software where the center of rotation is.
The program controller is then used to move though the video with
another slider control that lets you locate the exact frame where the
LED when off signifying 0 degrees and then locates the frame where
the light LED turns on identifying the frame that is 360' from the
start. The file is then processed resulting in a raw scan data file.
This file is then loaded into a second program in the kit that
optimizes, builds and triangulates the data points. A surface is then
created that can be rotated, tilted in any axis or direction. There
are controls for patching gaps, smoothing. Best of all it will allow
you to ex! port the file in any of 6 formats including STL,
RAW,VRML2, XYZ ( clou d point), DXF and OBJ.
This scan process sound complicated but once you've gone through it a
couple times is becomes really fast compared to various other
processes that used contact type probes or cameras that you had a
take a picture for every degree of resolution that you want.
I am now taking orders. The software has  been tested and
work quite nicely.  This article for sale is  the software, the turntable kit and the laser line module and stand.A limited number of hardware kits are available. If you want to make your own turntable assembly you can use the included assembly documentation as a guide . With this kit you will be able to make 3D scans at a fraction of the
cost while achieving quality comparable to some of the high end
products out there.
If you have questions email me off line at dmauch@camtronics-cnc.com

See our web sites at www.intricad.com and www.camtronics-cnc.com

Dan Mauch
CNC since 1993
low cost stepper and servo motors.
cases for Gecko drives