Model Railway Forum

Having splashed out on a 3D scanner and separately a 3D printer I'm now in need of some advice.

1) Does anyone else on here use a 3D scanner.....? What do you scan - existing plastic kits or clay models you've made yourself or something else?

2) Does anyone print in 3D on here? Where or how do you get the STL files from and are they any good, or do you produce your own? (I know there are number of 3D repositories - some look ok although I've not tried any yet for printing as the printer isn't quite set up yet!)

Shouldn’t you have asked these questions before you bought it?

That thought crossed my mind when I read the original post.
Interesting that you have bought a scanner though - I would have thought you would use that to scan full size objects and reduce them in scale when printing. ModelU use this when scanning people at exhibitions.
I think building something to scan is often done in the virtual world on a PC with suitable CAD software.
A quick google of STL revealed any number of sites hosting and selling files of all categories - some seemed a bit expensive though.

Probably you're both right - but I rarely do things the sensible way!

The scanner isn't a hand-held device, it is a one utilising a turntable and a camera fixed to a screw mechanism that raises and lowers it. It can only do small objects up to 25cm tall and around 8cm or 9cm in diameter.

To do large objects a smart-phone is now good enough, something called photogramettery would be used. Some interesting Utube videos on that topic are available.

3D items already scanned into STL and similar files can be found here - (there are others)...

https://www.thingiverse.com/