CowTech Ciclop – $99 Open Source 3D Scanner on Kickstarter

By on March 25, 2016
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The 3D printing revolution has come, and it’s time for 3D scanning to follow. The CowTech Ciclop is a RepRap 3D scanner with a large scan volume, simple, yet elegant design, and a disruptive price point that blows any other laser scanner out of the water. The user prints the plastic parts on their own printer in any color and resolution they choose, and can assemble the scanner in less than 30 minutes. Then, simply take any object you want to replicate, set it on the 200mm laser cut acrylic turntable, and start scanning. We wanted to make sure our product was usable for anyone who owns a 3D printer, so we meticulously designed  our parts for a print bed volume of only 115mm x 110mm x 65mm (4.5 x 4.3 x 2.6in) so they can be produced on even the smallest of printers.

Our scanner was born out of the BQ Ciclop, an open source scanner using the same design and software as our scanner. We kept all the same basic functionality as the original BQ, but redesigned the scanner from the ground up, making several significant changes and adding many features.

First, we were able to slash prices by designing our own Arduino shield, using a more logical turntable bearing, purchasing our own laser cutter for the acrylic parts, and importing many of our components from reputable manufacturers overseas. We designed our printed parts to use significantly less filament and half the print time of the BQ version. Furthermore, we decreased the minimum bed size of the printer needed to print the parts to a measly 115mm(L) x 110mm(W) x 65mm(H) (4.5in x 4.3in x 2.6in), from a 6x9x3 required on the original. We focused a great deal of energy on aesthetic improvement as well, replacing the ugly and unwieldy threaded rod with sleek laser cut acrylic, adding a magnetic back cover to access the electronics, and an internal LED glow to make the scanner stand out in any environment.

The CT Ciclop scanner is a fully open source Rep Rap project, and all details will be released after the campaign is concluded.

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