Scanning

No file? Bring the part.

If the thing you need already exists — a bracket that snapped, a knob nobody sells any more, a fitting you want six more of — we can scan it and work from that. 0.01 mm accuracy on a 3DMakerpro Seal, for parts from 10 mm up to 300 mm.

Scan it, then print it

The useful part is that the two halves line up. The scanner handles parts up to 300 mm; the printer bed is 256 mm. Almost anything we can scan, we can also make — and when it is bigger than the bed we split and bond it.

What the scanner does

0.01 mm accuracy, 0.05 mm minimum point spacing
blue structured light, 100,000 points per second
24-bit colour texture — colour and texture, not just shape
Parts from 10 mm to 300 mm
Exports STL, OBJ, PLY, ASC

What that means in practice

Fine enough for knurling, logos and small text
Good enough to reproduce a worn part before it fails completely
Colour capture matters for replicas and display pieces
Not a substitute for calipers where a dimension has to be exact

A scan tells you the shape something is. It does not tell you the shape it was designed to be — worn, bent and shrunk parts scan exactly as worn, bent and shrunk.

What you actually get

Three different jobs, priced differently

Most places advertise “3D scanning” and quote for the cheapest of these while customers picture the dearest. Here is the difference stated plainly.

Raw scan The mesh straight out of JMStudio, aligned and exported. Fastest and cheapest. May have small holes where the scanner could not see, and is not guaranteed watertight. Output: STL, OBJ, PLY or ASC Good for: Reference geometry · Measuring an existing part · Input to your own CAD work If you are going to rework it yourself anyway, start here.

Cleaned mesh most common Holes filled, stray noise removed, base flattened if it needs one, and checked that it will actually slice. This is what you want if the goal is to print the part. Output: STL or OBJ, watertight Good for: Reprinting a part you already own · Replicas and display pieces · Shapes that do not need exact dimensions Our default, and what pairs with a print job.

CAD reconstruction The scan re-modelled as a proper solid with real dimensions, so it can be edited, tolerance-adjusted or machined from. This is design work, charged by the hour, and we will tell you honestly whether your part is worth it. Output: STEP, parametric Good for: Parts needing exact dimensions · Anything to be edited or scaled · Drawings for manufacture Quoted case by case — ask before assuming.

Two things worth knowing

Multi-axis turntable Rotates and tilts the part under the scanner, so it captures top, sides and the awkward in-between angles automatically instead of us repositioning by hand. Scans come out more complete and, more usefully, repeatable — scan the same part twice and get the same mesh.

Fewer holes to fill, consistent results on batches.

Smart Grip Runs the Seal untethered from a phone, so scanning does not have to happen at a desk. If the part cannot come to us — bolted down, too awkward to move, or you simply cannot have it off the machine — we can scan it where it sits.

On-site scanning across South East Queensland.

What scans badly

Better said now than after the invoice

Shiny, clear and very dark surfacesTransparent, reflective and hairy surfaces need a matte scanning spray to read at all — 3DMakerpro say so themselves. The spray we use sublimates away on its own and leaves no residue, but tell us if the part must not be coated and we will discuss alternatives.

A scan is a mesh, not CADScanning produces a surface made of triangles, not a parametric model. It reproduces a shape faithfully; it does not give you an editable, dimensioned part. That is the CAD reconstruction tier, and it is real design work.

Line of sight onlyDeep bores, blind holes and internal cavities are invisible to the scanner — it can only record what it can see. The multi-axis turntable reaches most awkward outside angles for us, but nothing reaches inside a closed cavity. Internal features have to be measured and modelled.

Threads rarely scan usefullyEven at 0.05 mm resolution, thread flanks come out rounded and unreliable. It is faster and far more accurate to identify the thread and model it properly.

Featureless surfaces can lose trackingThe Seal tracks visually, on the part’s own geometry and texture. Large smooth blank areas give it nothing to hold on to, so very plain parts may need reference markers.

None of these are dealbreakers on their own — they are just things that change the price or the approach. Tell us what the part is and we will say up front which of them apply.

How a scan job runs

1. Send a photo and a measurement Before anything moves, a photo and the longest dimension tells us whether it is worth scanning at all. Sometimes the honest answer is that measuring and modelling it is faster and cheaper.

2. Drop it off, post it, or we come to you Pickup in Moreton Bay, or post it. If it cannot be moved, the Smart Grip lets us scan on site anywhere in South East Queensland.

3. Scan and clean up Captured on the multi-axis turntable, aligned and processed in JMStudio, then cleaned to whichever tier you picked.

4. File, part, or both You get the model, the printed part, or both. The part comes back to you either way — we do not keep it.

One thing we will not do: scan and reproduce someone else’s commercial product or a licensed design. Replacement parts for something you own are fine; copies to resell are not.

Start a job 07 3558 1076