Jason Smith and Weston Downs were unhappy with the selection and prices of current 3D scanners, so they decided to develop their own system. They wanted a scanner with a low price point, with a large scan envelope and simple operation. Their solution is the CowTech Ciclop, a kit that allows users to assemble their own 3D scanner for $99.
The incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign uses the open source bq Ciclop scanner as a base, and the team redesigned the system to drive down the cost. The kit allows users to laser cut some components, 3D print other components, and then assemble the kit parts to create the scanner.
Two Class 1 red line lasers work with the open source Horus software to create point clouds that can be pushed to other programs to create STL files. A Logitech C270 webcam, NEMA 17 stepper motor, a CT Arduino shield, UNO R3 development board, A4988 stepper motor driver, a 6008Z steel bearing, and 1.5 Amp power supply are included in the kit. The scanner claims to have 0.5 millimeter resolution, and perform a full scan in two to eight minutes. The scan bed itself is a 200 millimeter wide hexagon and the scan envelope goes up to 205 millimeters tall.
CowTech Ciclop is definitely not a kit for beginners. Along with the assembly skills required the user will also need to work with the scanning software and point cloud software to generate a usable model before 3D printing. One nice touch is that all of the parts the user needs to 3D print to assemble the model were designed for very small 3D printers with a 115 x 110 x 65 millimeter volume.
One interesting aspect of the campaign is that both Smith and Downs are farmers. They say that this gives real world application skills that urban counterparts may not have experienced. There is also good discussion on the campaign page about the changes made to this project from the bq Ciclop scanner used as the open source inspiration. Makers are still looking for the 3D scanning solution that will incrementally push the object-to-scan-to-printed-part movement forward, and this is another great step in the right direction. Units are expected to ship in April 2016 after the campaign ends on March 22, 2016.