Laser mod
I, like many of us, picked up a 3d scanner a while back and after many attempts to get things to scan started scouring the internet for ways to get more from my scanner. The review for that will come in the future as I am still testing mine. One of the things I noticed while treading the vast wilderness that is Google search is that Google hates me. I’m joking please don’t flag my ip google. What I noticed was that higher end scanners that have lasers as their surface detection system all have green lasers. So I ordered a pair and when they arrived I found they were much better than the red lasers that came in the kit. I want to say that the kit is great for what you get but a little money and some mods could make them so much better.
Why green Line lasers?
So after more google Foo, it seems that there are a couple Reasons why this is a better match. Most of us use Logitech scanners. According to people that are smarter than I, Logitech’s Camera’s see at 532nm better than the rest of the spectrum (all links below). I’ll let you read the forum posts on this for more info. The idea makes sense though when you back that with the fact that any high-end camera based scanner that uses lasers seems to have green as it’s preferred laser.
Voltage issues
The next problem and where I am currently stuck at is the voltage. My driver board doesn’t put out 3 volts. I’m not sure if this can be rectified through the Arduino or the driver board. I’m good at finding hardware fixes, though. So I ordered a pair of dc to dc voltage converters. If any of my readers know if there is a way to boost the voltage please let me know but for now, I’m waiting on my converters. They aren’t that expensive and if I don’t end up needing them here I’ll use them in something else.
My test Rig
Given that I don’t have working scanner images yet we will leave this as a To be continued. When I get this up and running I will update this post and time stamp the update. The power source here is one of those phone booster packs You wouldn’t believe how hackable these things are. Pull the case off and you have a battery pack for a wide verity of projects and it already has battery protection and charging protection. If you keep all the ports your project can still charge a phone as well. I usually wait till these go on sale and buy a bunch. This is still all a work in progress but I’m expecting this to make a vast improvement on my scanner. Let me know if you decided to try it yourself or know if you know of any other great mods to these scanners.
Sources
DAVID-Laserscanner Forum
http://forum.david-3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=1631
http://forum.david-3d.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1337
All links to stuff I own are amazon affiliate.
Line lasers http://amzn.to/2mFruea
Power converter http://amzn.to/2m6qYZY
Battery Pack http://amzn.to/2mFARul
11 thoughts on “Get more from your cyclops scanners”
Thanks for sharing this information.
Following along with interest on this Nathan, I am not an Elec. Engineer either but to my knowledge a boost converter or a transformer is what you need. But the Ciclops has a 5V rail on USB I thought, so wouldn’t it be possible to draw power from that? Just a thought.
Sadly, Amazon said ‘no frickin’ way’ to shipping me lasers, but I’ve got Baan Mo Market here so no worries.
I really hope you get it worked out, I kind of shelved the Ciclops, it was just too much fussing to get half decent scans that still required tons of cleanup. Would love to put it to use again.
thanks for the info
Greetings, if you do in fact have a 5vdc rail then this will do the trick. 99 cents DC 5V to 3.3V DC-DC Step-Down Power Supply Buck Module AMS1117 LDO 800MA. eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/281058278731?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmtid%253D1588%2526kwid%253D1%2526crlp%253D177782895069_324272%2526itemid%253D281058278731%2526targetid%253D284532639108%2526rpc%253D0.19%2526rpc_upld_id%253D108015%2526device%253Dm%2526mpre%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fulk%25252Fitm%25252Flike%25252F281058278731%25253Flpid%25253D82%252526chn%25253Dps%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D1015089%2526poi%253D%2526campaignid%253D753747355%2526adgroupid%253D48029464708%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-284532639108%2526gclid%253DCjwKEAiA_9nFBRCsurz7y_Px8xoSJAAUqvKC9frG2MTvPyFm9pCb9BC9DW-xJPwDEDqH8ZIdn6ZsuBoCMjDw_wcB%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D1175912548168&ul_noapp=true
Not sure about shipping across the pond. Just trying to help. Sorry if you’ve already tackled the problem, if so look forward to the resulting conclusion. Be well and have a great day.
Thanks, I may buy some for a future project I have in mind but the problem is the lasers are powered and triggered by the same source so I need to take that voltage and increase it just enough to power the new lasers. these won’t do the job. But I am going to need something like this for a raspberry pi project soon.
Perhaps something like this. Variable output with a potentiometer. 2vdc in up to 28vdc out. If im missing something just tell me to go fly some chickens or something. Lol. Be well
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/322372696487?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmtid%253D1588%2526kwid%253D1%2526crlp%253D164965185820_324272%2526itemid%253D322372696487%2526targetid%253D271413269430%2526rpc%253D0.20%2526rpc_upld_id%253D109125%2526device%253Dm%2526mpre%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fulk%25252Fitm%25252Flike%25252F322372696487%25253Flpid%25253D82%252526chn%25253Dps%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D1015089%2526poi%253D%2526campaignid%253D714751104%2526adgroupid%253D42866488452%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-271413269430%2526gclid%253DCj0KEQiAot_FBRCqt8jVsoDKoZABEiQAqFL76OK62s3taVt8XUiiBkRsX7iR0QztUpjZtobEIrFQGUQaAjwp8P8HAQ%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D1176083156638&ul_noapp=true
That looks like exactly what’s needed,I think. Big plus, they are small enough that once you get them tuned they’ll stuff inside the Ciclops shell. Very nice find and dirt cheap!
And Hong Kong shipping for me is about 3-4 days. Thank you both so much, I want to get this Ciclops scanning better.
Was wondering if you’ve finished the scanner? I would like to give it a try myself but I’m going to need to go by what you came up with. I am NOT very smart when it comes to electricity and boards…I’ve had many ruined by me tinkering around with them and even a couple of small fires! But when I hear “LASER” I get excited and want to start playing around with one!! LMAO! Maybe I’m not too bad when it comes down to it 😉 so I’m gonna start looking this up and ordering. I’ve always wanted to play around with a scanner!
Hello Mr. Nathan
I would like to know if you want to sell your Ciclop Scanner with the changes you proposed to improve the quality.
I want to use it for dental scanning.
Thank you very much for your attention.
I could not get Horus to see the green laser at any brightness – any ideas?
Any alternatives for Horus?
This is a very interesting idea… I was wondering about upgrading the entire system with a 3D camera (like below)… The realsense modules are also available inexpensivly on AliExpress.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-RealSense-R200-3D-Camera-Development-Kit-USB-3/163998779910?hash=item262f16ca06:g:ctwAAOSwUCFd~UFw
In addition, I was wondering if a laser “grid” might be more accurate than the current laser line setup…
https://www.amazon.com/Education-Flashlight-Demonstration-Projector-Equipment/dp/B07Y5X5WL1/ref=sr_1_34?dchild=1&keywords=laser+grid&qid=1579183936&sr=8-34