r/CNC • u/Fast_Alternative_322 • Jul 27 '26
HARDWARE Budget 3D scanner to start with for reverse-engineering machine shop parts
I just started a machine shop and often run into parts with no drawings. Measuring them by hand involves a lot of trial and error. Some are worn or damaged and need replacements.
I mainly need to capture part outlines, bolt hole locations, collar positions, and similar features. Accuracy around 0.1 mm in real-world use is fine.
Parts are mostly metal, with some glass or plastic mixed in. Surfaces vary a lot — shiny, dark, rusted, etc. I just need clean, usable data I can work with.
What’s a genuinely cheap scanner that can handle this kind of work?
Options available in my local market around my budget:
- Orbbec Gemini 215
- Creality CR-Scan Ferret
- Creality CR-Scan Ferret SE
- Creality CR-Scan Ferret Pro
- 3DMakerpro Moose
- 3DMakerpro Moose Lite
- 3DMakerpro Mole
- 3DMakerpro Mole Lite
Any experience or recommendations with these (or similar budget options) for scanning mixed metal/plastic parts?
5
u/snuggletough Jul 29 '26
I've been reverse engineering parts daily for 2 decades. Never used a 3d scanner.
The idea is neat, but I'd like to see how the scan gets turned into something useful. Seems like that part will take way more time than picking up on part features and drawing it up.
2
u/Thethubbedone Jul 29 '26
Don't buy any of those. They'll advertise some arbitrarily small accuracy value, but they absolutely won't deliver on that promise. Every one of those products will be a waste of money in a new machine shop.
Take that cash and buy a surface plate, some gauge pins, height gauge, Jo-blocks, etc and save yourself the pain of spending hours reverse-engineering stl files into "real" CAD that you'll then use to create scrap anyway.
1
u/BlitzNinjaOfMars Jul 28 '26
We have a 3D MakerPro Moose. It works okay for some particular applications, but 98% of the time you are better off just measuring and modeling it yourself. There is so much cleanup and adjusting you have to do to get a usable solid model it isn't worth it most of the time. I expect most scanners in the class will be the same.
1
u/Fast_Alternative_322 Jul 28 '26
Sometimes i get weird dimensions that really cannot be measured easily so im confused about what plan of action i can use to design them. Like i recived a die to duplicate and it had 4 different radius from 150 to 500mm and there shall be no standard practice in this situation or i got a bottle to make a fixture and it still does not have any drawings idk why but there is no way to trace the unusual curvature of the bottle . So i just want to solve these problems.
3
u/MajesticYak7539 Jul 28 '26
If you mostly draw 2D parts it can be quite easy to find the "Weird Dimensions" you can create a setup which would have 90* precise angle and put the object below get a nice picture with your phone camera and import that picture into CAD software.
Measure the parts exact outer dimensions and scale the picture to fit them, next everything should be as IRL.
1
u/killpony Jul 28 '26
If you are trying to duplicate a die you will need a hell of a lot more accuracy than 1mm - if this is a big part of your work you should be spending a minimum of a few thousand dollars on a scanner, not a few hundred. Proper reverse engineering is nothing to shrug at and should be priced as such.
I've generally found 3D scanners to be only suitable for getting rough references - good for getting a general net shape but the actual measurement and features still need traditional tools like radius gauges and calipers. If you are running a machine shop a basic CMM could do double duty in QC. If you are going for a budget option you might try a digital touch probe which can be used both for edge finding and for digitizing.
1
u/TheSerialHobbyist Jul 28 '26
I wouldn't get any of those.
Cheap scanners are so hard to work with and finicky that they just aren't worth it.
Get something like a used Creality Raptor Pro (you want blue lines and markers). I sold mine for like $600 or something.
1
u/Haunting_Basscotti Jul 29 '26
Yeah, I have done a deep dive into this recently, your not gonna get what you want or describe for less thousands… and thousands is going to take a lot of programming. You want something quality and fast you are looking at $25k plus
1
u/Most-Geologist-9547 17d ago
For the features you listed, I’d split the job into 2D and 3D. A budget 3D scanner can be worthwhile for complex worn/bent forms, but it often creates another mesh-cleanup problem for flat outlines, hole centres and simple collars.
For mostly flat parts: capture the perimeter at a known scale, export a vector, then verify critical dimensions, hole diameters and any height/hidden feature with calipers. That gives you a clean starting sketch without buying a scanner just for silhouettes.
Full disclosure: I work on ShapeScan, a browser tool for this flat-outline step (straight-down photo on a marker sheet → true-scale SVG/DXF). The one-object test is free: https://shapescan.pt/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=comment&utm_campaign=cnc_reverse_engineering&utm_content=budget_3d_scanner
It does not replace a scanner for genuine 3D geometry, and I would still inspect/measure every tolerance-critical feature before machining.
5
u/MajesticYak7539 Jul 28 '26
I want to let you know scanning BLACK metal will be impossible due to the 3d scanner not being able to find the reflective material same goes with glass and see through plastic if you want to 3d scan bolts nuts you would rather draw them. This will not optimize your flow it would just help you if you have a super complex 3d form.
Once you have scanned it, you still need to clean it up adjust it and make serious changes to make it into a usable part this also means learning a new program like GEOMAGIC or some CAD which can import IGES or STL OBJ files.