Scanning a part

you might try the "3D printing Repository" on this forum, if you had pictures and dimensions someone may step up to give it a try.

@sidehack is right. Pictures and dimensions will give the people in the Repository enough info to make a CAD drawing that can be printed.

However, finding someone with a 3D Scanner would be equally as helpful. I just think you're more likely to find success with a photo and a dimensioned drawing. Are you handy with a pair of calipers?

@BillY0414..just so happens that my wife gave me a digital caliper for Xmas.  Yep, it's handy.  Please see below the picture as requested...

Gotcha. I can either try to guess the details on that door or you can do a whole bunch of measuring. It's up to you. It's a slow process but I think a lot of those details can be printed. Or were you wanting to add those yourself?

Let me do some research.  I'll get back to you in a few days.  Thanks for your help.

@Ahitpy posted:

I do not have a 3D scanner or CAD software.

If you’re interested in learning how to use a CAD package, you can sign up for a free 1 year personal license of Autodesk Fusion 360.  After the first year is up, you can renew it for another 1 year term for free (I just did this last week).

I use Fusion to model R/C car parts and export them to STL files so I can print them.  It doesn’t have all the features of a professional package like SolidWorks, but for what I’m doing it works just fine.

@cta4391 brings up a good point. I think learning a CAD program is a good investment of time.

Either way, let me know. I would be happy to help.

Several years ago I had some free time and had a lot of experience with CAD so to keep my skills decided to reverse engineer a simple Lionel box car. It came out quite nice just using a pair of calipers.

Didn't do anything else with it and now is just a 3D model in my computer but it sure was fun.

Could be something wrong with me @sidehack but I find that sort of thing relaxing. I usually sit on the couch with some calipers and the laptop and just measure and model.

I've decided to purchase a 3D scanner.  For what I need, that will provide the best choice.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Bill, I agree, only thing is the time, a precious commodity, if you have plenty enjoy it while you can, if not that's life.

Ahitpy, wish you all the luck in this and hope you keep us informed as to how it is working out for you.

Here is a truck I reverse engineered with calipers, when I had the time 11 years ago

Ray

Ray, is that a fully functional truck?  Did you print one or more and see if it was functional?

That I would throw my two cents into this thread.  I use openSCAD to do CAD work.  It's limited (sometimes hampered) by the language, but you get incredible control over the dimensions and finer detail of the model for the trade-off.

@Ahitpy I actually have no experience with a scanner. Please post when you get it! We would love to hear your experiences. I could definitely get some mileage from having one.

@sidehack sometimes I have to make time. But more often than not, I don't have time haha Also, that is very impressive! Did you ever print parts of it? I gotta assume you would need to find yourself metal axles/wheels. But that's beside the point.

@A. Wells I haven't heard of that one. I will have to investigate. It would be great to have a few free programs to recommend.

@A. Wells posted:

That I would throw my two cents into this thread.  I use openSCAD to do CAD work.  It's limited (sometimes hampered) by the language, but you get incredible control over the dimensions and finer detail of the model for the trade-off.

Hmmm....

I have been using FreeCad. The my top priorities are (1) Fully-parametric modeling, so that I can create "meta-models" that can be tweaked via parameter, and (2) be fully-free, with "no strings attached".

I have never tried openSCAD, but it appears that it meets both of these requirements, as well.

FreeCad is incredibly powerful and feature-full. The big downsides, though are (1) it is very complicated and hard to learn; (2) the UI is amateurish, redundant, and changes frequently; and (most seriously) (3) it is very buggy. It is very common for a complex model to suddenly "fall apart" in ways that are difficult to recover from.

I am an experienced programmer, so I often feel like I am trying to bend FreeCad into a programming language, and it doesn't always cooperate. I am wondering if I should throw in the towel and move over to openSCAD.

Any thoughts you or others might have on this topic would be gratefully received.

Thanks.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Ray, is that a fully functional truck?  Did you print one or more and see if it was functional?

I wish, but no this was done way back before I was 3D printing, I was designing dies to forge exotic metals in.  I think I could Convert the parts and pieces to produce solids for STLs but right now no time or interest, but maybe down the road?

@Avanti (Pete) -- If you're an experienced programmer, you may also want to look at Open JSCAD (https://openjscad.org/) as well.  You can do a lot more in terms of defining very complex parts programmatically.  I like openSCAD because I can whip up something very fast.  (I have my own Java Library for making very advanced extrusions following curves from complex 2D paths...think goose neck building lights, but it is very programmatic.  It was also a challenge getting all the math in place for the transforms and, as you might expect, it is incomplete.)

You all got me wanting to create a rotating gantry with a VL53L0X to scan stuff now.

@A. Wells posted

@Avanti (Pete) -- If you're an experienced programmer, you may also want to look at Open JSCAD (https://openjscad.org/) as well.  You can do a lot more in terms of defining very complex parts programmatically.  I like openSCAD because I can whip up something very fast.  (I have my own Java Library for making very advanced extrusions following curves from complex 2D paths...think goose neck building lights, but it is very programmatic.  It was also a challenge getting all the math in place for the transforms and, as you might expect, it is incomplete.)

Well, I really, really hate Javascript, so I think I will pass on that one.

However, I am a big fan of Python, and your suggestion make me wonder if anyone had done Python bindings to openSCAD...  As it turns out, EVERYBODY has. There must be a dozen such projects. Now I am wondering how not to bet on the wrong horse.

This link suggests that SolidPython is the most popular. Any opinion?