[clug] Of topic: does anyone have access to a 3D scanner and printer? (linux Digest, Vol 171, Issue 9, Message 1)

[Miles Goodhew]

John,

Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2017 13:20:17 +1100
> From: "jhock at iinet.net.au" <jhock at iinet.net.au>
> Message-ID: <0BF3A756-39E4-406A-84E8-90BBEA84466F at iinet.net.au>
>
...

> Sorry for off topic but I feel that if anyone in Canberra has access to,
> or knows of, a 3D scanner and 3D printer, then it's likely to be someone on
> this list.
>
> I have an automatic, chook hatch on my chicken coup which has been bespoke
> made for a particular vehicle, automatic, car aerial. At dusk the aerial
> closes the hatch and at dawn it opens the hatch.
>
> Unfortunately, it got caught on some rough edges (which I have now
> removed) but in the process of trying to close, it stripped a nylon gear.
> It was difficult to get the aerial a couple of years ago so I thought it
> might be quicker, and therefore safer for my chooks from fox attack, for me
> to get that part 3D printed. Hence my off topic request. Alternatively, I
> have to try and find the same aerial or rebuild another chook, hatch system
> to suit a new aerial and that leaves my chooks open to fox attack for
> longer.
>
> Any information regarding access to a 3D scanner and 3D printer would be
> greatly appreciated.
>

For scanning, you  *could* use something like the free-as-in-beer (But not
liberty) tool from Autodesk called 123D Catch.

However any 3D scanner is going to give you pretty wonky gears. You might
be better off measuring the gear and using a gear generator to make a model
from those measurements. I'm pretty sure there are a bunch of
repo-installable ones, but there's also cloud (as-in-not-your-computer)
options like geargenerator.com. This can produce 2d SVG images that can
then be converted to 3D extrusions. A fused-deposition print might be OK,
but you might get better results using an SLA printer like DirtySLA:
http://dangerousprototypes.com/store/print3d

Hope that helps,

M0les.

-- 
Miles Goodhew,
Executive Computer Scientist