Building a 3d laser scanner

Other Hardware Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hello, I was planning to build a 3d laser scanner. Most of the tutorials reveal almost the process but there's a few things that becomes varied. Here's the parts that I'm thinking of using:

Hardware

  1. 1 Nema 17 stepper motor
  2. 5w laser pointer
  3. Arduino Nano
  4. 20 Megapixel web cam

Software
Blender

Here's were things gets varied. Some say to use MeshLab for the processing, for the hardware they say to use an Stepper motor driver board (H bridge) that needs to be used while other mention to just code it and the process will be the same.

I'm hoping to have the scanning capability on 1 milimeter or less (very precise). Which is better to process: Via computer or just using a SD micro SDHD adapter for storing? there's some scans that would be 1' 9" (one feet, nine inches) and other scans would be a little complex. I'm unaware which of these two are the best: Point cloud or photogrammetry for this type of project.

Any additional help would be greateful.

2
  1. 5w laser pointer

2a. Safety goggles
2b. Public indemnity insurance.

3

5W is not a pointer, that's a high power laser. Are you using optics to generate a line array from that?
Its certainly enough power to drill holes in the subject and instantly blind.

4

3D scan done with the Lidar Lite V3:

5

I think you got your information from this site:

There it sayst that you should use a 5mW Laser not a 5W laser.

Anyways I think that an Arduino isn't suitable for this project because it cant process Image data. A Rasperry pie would be a better option. Just google Fab Scan. There is everything explained and its quite a good scanner.

P.S: If you want to Scan bigger objects in a cheap way you can try to use a Kinect with Reconstruct me.

6

"There it sayst that you should use a 5mW Laser not a 5W laser"

My apoplogies I meant 5mw, I misstyped (it was too late when I realized it). I actually looked into the Fab scan and if you compare both (from the raspberry Pi vs Arduino) and they're almost the same except Arduino gets short because of the processing and Fabscan has a few more components. What is the scanning capabilities of the Fabscan?

I've just checked with Reconstruct me,the processing capabilities are amazing. I'll try and check for Kinect, I'm unaware for the Kinect if you just need the USB cable or you need the plug in too?

7

MarkT:
5W is not a pointer, that's a high power laser. Are you using optics to generate a line array from that?
Its certainly enough power to drill holes in the subject and instantly blind.

Sorry, I meant 5mw I want the walls to be cleaned and not looking like there was any cook off. Its the smallest laser pointer that I'm referring to.

8

jremington:
3D scan done with the Lidar Lite V3:
Hobby Lidar Build - Page 1

This is nice, can it be programmed to make a specific moving angle back and forth?

9

Yes.

10

jremington:
Yes.

Even better, thank you