wtb 3D scanner for modeling hand guns

I am looking for a nice 3d scanner that can do hand guns. Often they are chrome and the scanner needs to be able to do them. I also need to be able to edit the files to remove errors. Completely new and overwhelmed by the different offerings and there is too much to read... I do not need a complete scan, just one side, but at least 50% down. I want to make a gun case that fits the gun exactly. I have spent 3 days drawing and tweaking in Solidworks and have given up. I drew the gun as accurately as possible, but I used photographs to create the profiles to extrude and there are problems.

Not able to upload a picture...

trying again...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...pstnbi5jik.jpg

You've identified several problems that are common with 3D scanning projects. Yes, shiny metal parts are difficult for optical scanners to handle, since reflections cause erroneous points to be recorded. It's common to use dulling sprays, white paint, or even plaster casts of the object to overcome this.

Any scan, to be useful, will need some post-processing to remove extraneous points, fill holes, and register different scans with one another. Some scanners come with software that can do these things, like the Capture/Wrap bundle we sell. But most don't, so you need to get the software separately. Fortunately, there are starting to be some free and cheap packages that do some of this.

If your gun is no more than 2.4" in thickness, you could use a Roland MDX 20 to scan it. It uses a touchprobe to scan with, so the reflective surface isn't a problem. It has all the resolution you'd need for a project like this, down to .002" granularity. And it doubles as a mill, so you can use it to carve the recess as well. These were discontinued by Roland, but I still have one left in stock.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

Hi Andrew, Thank you for your reply. I think I can get away with putting a thin rubber sheet over the gun and use a vacuum to pull it onto the gun. This would solve a few problems. It would add the thickness of the rubber sheet to the model, which is a good thing for my purpose, and it would provide a mat surface for the laser to model. I think I'm really looking for a rotating table laser scanner. I am looking for advise on what is available hopefully from someone who has experience with using the machine and the software. I want to do more than one of these. Also after the scan of a revolver for example, I would want to remove the indents from the cylinder so the gun will fit the case without the cylinder being in the eaxct same rotation as when scanned. I have solidworks 2013 but don't know if I can modify the file created by the scanner. There will also be other changes like removing the opening for your trigger finger. Here is an image of what the resulting file needs to look like.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...psncv6qfzd.jpg

I've got a rotating-table laser scanner (Roland LPX-60) I can sell you for $7k. It would work fine for this project. I'm not sure about your rubber sheet idea, though. It might make more sense to take it to a vacuum former and have a plastic sheet drawn over the gun; then you'd have a permanent thing to scan that wouldn't snap back as soon as you released the vacuum.

It shouldn't be too hard to make the changes you're talking about in Solidworks. Just superimpose an appropriately-sized cylinder over the notched one in your scan, and save the composite as an STL. You can model up a block that fits the trigger guard and treat it the same way. Or if you're going with the vacuum-forming idea I mentioned above, just fill in those areas with clay or something before you do it.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

I made a lot of progress on this. I purchased a EinScan Pro and was able to make these cases. I vacuum molded the guns, painted the plastic then scanned them.

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