I know there’s a stickied thread above, and I read through much of it, but I haven’t really found the info I’m looking for.

I’m looking into getting a 3D desktop scanner and a 3D printer for customs. I have a few personal projects in mind but it could benefit the community over all. I just haven’t seen anybody doing it or talking about it. More or less, I plan on using the scanner and printer for shrinking various things. Mostly, I’d like to take the jacket overlays off lever figures to scan, then digitally shrink and print them. I’d also probably do this with heads and other parts, but my main quest would be for the “best” part of jackets.

I guess my question is, is this possible? I’ve been looking at certain scanners and printers and I just can’t seem to get a great insight on the level of detail that can come out of them.

I’m also curious if anyone has worked with any of the flexible filaments that are available, or if anyone can confirm that if I printed a jacket piece with PLA it will be flexible enough to put onto a figure?

Any advice is appreciated. I’m just tired of hydroshrink, and trying to shrink molds, and flex resin that doesn’t seem to want to work for me.

You're going to have to shell out some money to get a scanner to scan in figures/parts. The <$200 scanner kits don't give a resolution good enough to really get good reproductions. Some of the photogrammetry software can do it with good pictures, but most require you use a camera that is in their database list and if it's locally processed, a beefy video card (pretty much Nvidia or nothing), and a ton of memory. If it's cloud-based, you'll be paying a subscription or per-scan fee which can stack up quickly.

If you're wanting to print items that will look good without a lot of post-processing, you're going to want a resin printer. If you're doing one-offs, just use a resin printer and some flexible resin. If you're wanting something to cast and remold, you can use any resin and just cast it. If you use FFF printing, the best you'll get with a sub-$500 printer is about a .1mm layer height (about the thickness of a human hair) unless you do a lot of tweaking. A resin printer in that same price range can get you to .02-.05 layer heights.

There are guys out there doing this (especially in the MOTU community) and I'm actually working on doing some scanning to complement my prints but still haven't gotten any results worth talking about yet.

All good to know! I should say, I’m not looking at budget machines. I definitely want to aim for quality. I was looking at the Einscan SE desktop scanner, which is around $1k and looks to give pretty solid scans. There are a few other desktop scanners in that price range that seem to work well, it’s just a matter of doing the research I guess.

I see that resin printers seem to give really good quality prints, but the upfront work and the cleanup is just something I’m not sure I’m into. Plus, I like the idea of being able to use the different kinds of filaments for printing. Again, definitely not just going to look at budget machines just to get something. I’d rather have something that works well.

Oh, if you're looking at an Einscan, then yeah, you'll be okay. Those things are awesome. I'd love to have one. Just wasn't expecting you to go that route since you'd mentioned using it for a few personal customs.

Resin really is the way to go if you're wanting quality. There's definitely some upfront learning to get good results but the results are so worth it. There are also various resins with different properties, so you can get similar results to the various types of filament. There are even some that are water-cleanup to cut down on some of the hazardous chemicals you have to deal with.

I will be honest though, I still use my FFF printers over my resin printer because I'm happy with "good enough" on most of my prints (and I like tweaking the printers just to see how far I can push them, results-wise). I'm going to force myself to start using the resin printer more just because the results are that much better. If you're looking at a scanner like the Einscan, you definitely want to consider resin to show off the scans.

I’ll keep that in mind as I’m doing more research into printers. Flex resin concerns me because there’s additional shrinkage after the process. Or, at least there was when I used it in traditional casting. It would be pretty annoying to have to figure that into what is already going to be a process of honing sizes for vests/jackets. Plus, doesn’t resin printing require a few more steps after the print comes off the machine?

I do want this for personal projects, mostly because I tend to want to make things no one else is offering. But I do think that the overall community will be interested if I’m able to pull it off well, and if that happens, I’ll take it from there.

Resins can shrink but so does your filament as you print, which can lead to warping and cracking. And if you're trying to print joints and sockets, you have to allow for that shrinkage in the design. Depending on your material, you can expect anywhere from .2%-1.5%, which doesn't sound like much but can be enough to be annoying. Not trying to dissuade you, just hoping to make sure you have enough info to keep you from being discouraged right out of the gate. If you do go with a FFF printer, definitely get one that is enclosed, especially if you're thinking you want to print ABS.

I don’t plan on printing any joints or anything like that, at least until I get really comfortable with designing. I’ll definitely look at enclosed printers as well. Any recommendations for brands I should look at?

It really depends on your price range. Ultimaker is always good but companies like monoprice have some good printers that are rebadged versions of other brands.

I have had some great results messing with a free photogrammetry program https://www.3dflow.net/3df-zephyr-free/.

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Unfortunately I forgot these results were gotten with Autodesks long discontinued 123d catch. I'm still trying to figure out 3DF Zephyr, and while I have gotten some promising results I haven't gotten anything as crisp as this one yet. I just wanted to show that it is possible.

The one on the left was the initial result, and the one on the right after I applied the texture to the surface.

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That's really impressive. How large is the original object?


I really was interested in getting into 3D work, I just haven't had the time or patience to learn it.

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Yeah, 123D Catch was very good. 3DF Zephyr is good but the free version is limited enough that it can be difficult to get decent results with it. You're limited to 50 pictures. That's usually more than enough for a decent scan but can be difficult if it's an object with a lot of detail. I really wish Autodesk hadn't dropped the 123D line. They were great for hobbyists.

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wow!

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Okay, just as an update for anyone who cares : I bought an Einscan desktop scanner, a new computer, and I’m getting an Elegoo Mars 2 resin printer for Christmas. I did a ton of research, video watching, and speaking to other customizers who were using it and it’s pretty clear that resin printing is the way to go as far as detail and quality is concerned. I’m fairly confident that what I’m hoping to achieve with this whole set up will work and I can’t wait to get it up and running and share the results with everyone.

Edit: I’m also probably going to pick up the Elegoo washing/curing machine just for ease, though I’m sure I could put one together myself if needs be.