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Jun 2016

It’s madness.

You have scanned reflective surfaces by coating them in things. You’ve done the impossible.

It’s impossible to print with a string of ABS plastic, I have had success by heating the plastic in a hot end.

@ Miaviator

You are welcome for the help and advice that we all have given to you.

All the nonsense written by people like you is just a waist of time.

I am not. If someone asks about scanning a reflective/shiny object and the answer is, “this is impossible”, according to all statistics and research performed that person will over 80% of the time stop reading.

Not one, but two, people responded that reflective objects cannot be scanned. This we all know is complete bunk. The guys making titanium parts for F18 jets 3D scan the parts all day long in order to ensure they are within some ridiculous .001% tolerance. They simply coat the reflective part. (With what I am assuming is $10,000 baby powder or gray primer). It is therefore entirely POSSIBLE and in no way IMPOSSIBLE to scan reflective parts as is later stated by both responders. I take issue with false information being continuously posted to people.

My analogy is very accurate. It is quite impossible to print 3D objects with a roll of 1.75mm diameter ABS filament. I however do so every day by heating the plastic in a hotend. As a general rule, the impossibility is not discussed as the use of a hotend is COMMON PRACTICE and COMMON SENSE. The exact same rule should now apply to 3D scanning reflective objects.

As you would not tell a customer or forum poster:

“it is impossible to print with ABS though I have had success doing so using a hotend”

you should not tell a customer or forum poster:

“it is impossible to scan a reflective object though I have had success using powder or primer.”

I simply take offense to the whole approach which seems to imply you are better than everyone else?

It – is, has, will be – quite – possible, common place, easy – to scan reflective objects. Any information to the contrary is akin to things like the world being flat or printing with ABS being impossible.

Soooo what you’re trying to say is that the guys who 3D scan F18 all day long spend $10,000 on substance to “COAT” the parts first so they can scan it? why coat it if they can scan reflective parts? … You’re confusing me…

Also $10,000 for baby power is a bit daft don’t you think…

Well I want to thank everyone for their comments and help so far. I just want to mention that I do know its not easy to have a highly reflective part scanned and I was sure I probably wouldn’t be able to without having some type of coating on the object. The reason why I asked if someone was able to scan a reflective part was because a buddy of mine who works as a civil engineer knew of a company called creaform who specialize in high end 3d scanners. Apparently they produce a scanner called the handyscan 700 series which my friend mentioned could be used on reflective parts. I just reached out to creaform by e-mail and they responded mentioning that the handyscan 700 series is not the best option and instead the creaform MetraScan was guaranteed to scan highly reflective surfaces such as chrome in high detail (0.064 mm according to: MetraSCAN 3D | Handheld [Optical CMM 3D Laser Scanner] by Creaform 4). Apparently the MetraScan was just released in April of this year to satisfy the need for scanning reflective parts like those which are chrome plated. Anyways I figured it was a long shot to see if I could find someone with a high end scanner which could do reflective parts as well as high resolution scans for maximum detail. I encourage those who have not looked into the creaform handyscan 700 series (- YouTube 3) to see why I posted what seems to be a ridiculous question about high detail and reflective part scans. I saw this video and I was astonished so I figured there must be someone out there with one of these looking to provide scanning services so I figured why not ask.

What kind of Artec scanner are your sporting for your prints? Is it the artec carmine,eva or spyder?

Yeah I actually spoke to a maker space which have 3d scanners on hand (the makerbot scanner to be exact) and they mentioned coating the object in baby powder to get a scan completed but mentioned it wouldnt be very high in detail though. Since I have no skills in 3D model design and editing I figured I would look to see if there was someone on 3D hubs which might potentially have a scanner in the professional domain. Maybe I am crazy and should just get it designed If I want such accuracy. I figured I would try and see if there was someone out there that may have a professional grade scanner who may be interested in scanning a reflective hood ornament.