January 24 Through February 4—TUCSON, ARIZONA: Annual show
Welcome to the GemologyOnline.com Forum
A non-profit Forum for the exchange of gemological ideas
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 2:31 pm

All times are UTC - 4 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 15 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:36 am 
Offline
Gemology Online Übergod
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:24 am
Posts: 4997
Location: McDonough GA
What applications might this have for our industry?

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/photon-3d-scanner

_________________
http://www.selectgem.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:47 am 
Offline
Gemology Online Royal Princess

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:56 am
Posts: 6461
Location: The frozen north prairie :-/
Interesting :-k . Not large enough to scan what I'd want to scan, however 8) .

_________________
IIJA Registered Gemologist
GIA Graduate Gemologist


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:22 am 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:42 pm
Posts: 4091
Location: the Netherlands
Interesting, :-k . Not small enough enough to scan what I'd want to scan, however 8) .


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 8:02 am 
Offline
Gemology Online Übergod
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:24 am
Posts: 4997
Location: McDonough GA
Barbara, you can't scan your husband.

Tim, I'm not going to go there. ;) LOL

_________________
http://www.selectgem.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:44 am 
Offline
Gemology Online Royal Princess

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:56 am
Posts: 6461
Location: The frozen north prairie :-/
Okay, now that that's out of the way :lol: .

What application would these have for jewelry or gemstones?

_________________
IIJA Registered Gemologist
GIA Graduate Gemologist


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 4:36 pm 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:42 pm
Posts: 4091
Location: the Netherlands
Heh... :P

I want to scan gem cuts à la the natural sapphire company (click on 3d interactive stone) and fear that the resolution on this particular scanner will not cut it...


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:16 pm 
Offline
Gold Member
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:01 pm
Posts: 1902
Location: Pine City, NY and Dothan, AL
Tim wrote:

If I had cut that stone, I wouldn't be showing it to anyone :-)


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 5:19 pm 
Offline
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:42 pm
Posts: 4091
Location: the Netherlands
:P


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:13 pm 
Offline
Gemology Online Übergod
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:24 am
Posts: 4997
Location: McDonough GA
Tim wrote:
Heh... :P

I want to scan gem cuts à la the natural sapphire company (click on 3d interactive stone) and fear that the resolution on this particular scanner will not cut it...

That was my initial interest in it too. But as you say, it's not going to be adequate. Perhaps a future model?

_________________
http://www.selectgem.com


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2013 7:40 pm 
Offline
Gemology Online Royal Princess

Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:56 am
Posts: 6461
Location: The frozen north prairie :-/
AlBalmer wrote:
If I had cut that stone, I wouldn't be showing it to anyone :-)
:lol:

_________________
IIJA Registered Gemologist
GIA Graduate Gemologist


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:25 pm 
Offline
Platinum Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:20 pm
Posts: 2659
http://www.david-laserscanner.com/wiki/ ... f/dime.pdf


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 10:35 pm 
Offline
Platinum Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:20 pm
Posts: 2659
I have had my first interaction with 3D scanning and printing.

I have to say it was all fairly disappointing.

I had a macro sized part scanned on an expensive 3D scanner at the university.
The piece was painted flat black. It needed to be dusted with white powder to get a decent scan and it took lots of tries. Then the scan needed lots of editing.

Then we printed in on a Makerbot. Several tries. Worthless.
Finally after a bunch of editing the scan and the print file we got a facsimile of the original but it was pretty much useless.

In my opinion it would be much much easier to just draw something and compile G code for it and run it on a CNC machine. I am not saying this is the last word on the subject. The person helping me had several months of experience on the scanner and the Makerbot and has a degree in computer engineering. But the result was unusable. and not attractive to look at either.

I am sure there is something to make that this could be the first tool you reach for. But nothing that needs any sort of precision. And the software does strange and unpredictable things.

I could see where such a machine MIGHT be useful for casting waxes (presuming you could beat all those buggy things out) But waxes get CNCed too.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:29 pm 
Offline
Gold Member
User avatar

Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:44 pm
Posts: 1079
Location: Washington State
We just received one of these at the shop a couple of weeks ago: http://b9creator.com/ and it has better resolution than any casting facility has the ability to reproduce. This is a Digital Light Projector style of printer which cost under $3000 and it's just incredible how good the details are. In another couple of weeks we are supposed to be receiving a new resin which will make this capable of getting 25 micron resolutions...not that it would do you any good since casting roughness and finishing requirements are bigger than that.

As for scanners, well I'd forget them for a little while. A person is actually better off taking a good clean set of pictures, importing them into Rhino and "tracing" them, getting the scale right through some judicious measuring. This works really well for gem stones, since you can get really accurate perimeter and depth layouts and then just "fake it" by building a new stone in GemCad and the transferring it back to Rhino as a mesh file. It's nearly as fast as a scanner and you have a decent cutting diagram in GemCad as well when you're done.

_________________
Michael E.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 2:45 pm 
Offline
Platinum Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:20 pm
Posts: 2659
I saw some articles about that printer. It is really cool when somebody figures out a good way to do something. For those that haven't looked at it this printer makes layers and the X-Y resolution are based on a Digital Light Projector. The image it would project can be magnified or reduced as needed.

I think it of course costs more than the Makerbot which I think comes in kit form at about $900.

What you say about printing from purely digital sources makes a lot of sense to me.

Is there a lower price alternative or even freeware similar to Rhino. It is or was very expensive.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: 3D Scanner
PostPosted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:41 pm 
Offline
Gold Member
User avatar

Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:44 pm
Posts: 1079
Location: Washington State
G4Lab wrote:
Is there a lower price alternative or even freeware similar to Rhino. It is or was very expensive.


Are you at a University? if so you may qualify for an educational discount on Rhino. If not you could look at the software that maialetto is using in his Virtual Lapidarist thread here: http://www.gemologyonline.com/Forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13309&hilit=virtual+lapidarist I think that he was using Bryce. Blender might work as well, though I have no experience with either. Rhino's something like $825 at Novedge, so it beats the heck out of AutoCad and those really spendy packages.

_________________
Michael E.


Top
 Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 15 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 4 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
Gemology Style ported to phpBB3 by Christian Bullock