BQ company releases a fully open source 3D scanner

Today, more and more hardware startups tried to squeeze into the current small but expanded additive manufacturing community. Some companies have another way to use completely open ways to jointly develop product development and improvement in the open source community. BQ is such a company, and their goal is to provide the mainstream people to provide both and affordable products to meet the needs of new technologies. The company has built a tree in smartphones and tablets. It is currently in an open source mentality to enter 3D printing fields and provides comprehensive professional support for these new technologies. Recently, this Spanish company announced that they are expanding their 3D printing ecosystem: their first DIY3D scanner CICLOP and the 3D scan software Horus developed. 3D scanner CICLOP 3D Scanning Software Horus It is necessary to focus on that this CICLOP of BQ is completely open source. The company even publishes all related mechanical design, electronics, software, algorithms, mathematics and testing of this 3D scanner. Open source community. At any of the interests, people can build their own 3D scanners and test them with software. The company released the source file on Github for users to modify and improve the scanner. For users who choose to create DIY 3D scanners, BQ wants them to learn and understand the function of the 3D scanner and make their own modifications to help improve their design and functionality. BQ hopes that they will contribute to open source communities will help the development of open source 3D content production equipment. The structure of CICLOP is all consisting of 3D-printed components, including housings, M8 threaded rods, M8 screws, M3 screws, nuts, and gaskets. Its 20 cm radius rotating platform uses acrylic material and has a non-slip surface to prevent the object movement when scanning. The turntable is supported by a balloon of 110 mm diameter and has a NEMA 17 stepper motor to push it to rotate 360 degrees. The sensors used above CICLOP include, the intermediate positive pair of scanned objects is the Logitect C270 HD webcam, and each other has a Class-17 line laser module. The control system uses Arduino-based Zum BT-3288 motherboard to control the firmware of the motor and the laser. Zum BT-3288 also supports USA or Bluetooth connection. In addition, there is also a ZUM SCAN SHIELD above Zub BT-328, which is based on Arduino CNC Shield9 with two stepped drives, 4 laser connecting pins, and two photosensitive resistors. Although there are several open source 3D scanners - such as Fabscan5 and MakerScanner6, their parts need to be purchased separately, it is very inconvenient. CICLOP is designed to enable users to obtain a more relaxed DIY experience, providing a kit package including all parts, while also allowing users to experiment and improve their open source 3D scanners. "For this project, we have to continue to develop and improve. We encourage you to join this project!" BQ said. For more exciting content, please visit the panel 3D scanner area