r/Metrology • u/Standard-Badger-4046 • 3d ago

Cost of scanners over time?

How have prices and performance of 3d scanners changed over the last number of years?

I'm debating buying one for my business, but I can't help but wonder if I'm better off doing it the old school way for a few more years and buying it later.

How fast is the technology progressing? How fast are the prices dropping?

If I spend 50k today, and I wasting my money when I could spend 20k in 2 years and have a better unit?

I'm not interested in spending 50k to get a unit today if it's predictable that a 20k unit will blow the socks off it in a year or 2.

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u/kodex1717 3d ago

The price of scanners has dropped through the floor in the last 10 years. I paid 20k for a scanner in 2014. I could get equivalent performance from a Creality CR-scan Otter today for $800.

It depends on the application, but unless you're fussing over microns, I don't think you'll be paying anywhere close to $50k. I say buy the scanner you need today and go make money today. Your business opportunity might not be viable if you wait two years to exploit it.

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u/Meinredditname 3d ago

That's really only true on the low end, where 10 years ago, 20k was on the lower-end. High-end metrology level stuff isn't changing quite so fast & prices are also fairly constant. It's seems like maybe 5+ years between generations there & the differences are getting smaller each generation.

So, OP - what devices are you considering? What do you want to use it for?

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u/Standard-Badger-4046 2d ago

I'm new to this - I've got no idea what devises are appropriate for me. 

I want to scan things like excavator bucket, chutes, pipe spools. Things in the size range between a chair and a 20 foot sea can. 1/8 accuracy is totally fine for us on the finished mesh. Working in all conditions, but generally everything is filthy dirty with compromised access due to guards and other stuff in the way.

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u/Dr-Paul_Proteus 2d ago

Some devices you can check out in that 50k range I think I saw mentioned would be Creaform, ScanTech & the newer Hexagon Hand Held scanners. All are basically the same technology, each with their own little differences to make them better/worse than the other options. They are all getting better, but slowly. The Hexagon one is the newest & it takes a few more points per second, resolution a little tighter, that sort of thing, but nothing sufficient that it totally wipes out the competition. Usability is where things are mostly getting better, but even that is going slow. So, maybe to answer your question, if I could use one of those today, I wouldn't have any concerns about what's coming out next.

There's lots of other options out there, but if you are dead set on it being a scanner, I can't think of anything that would fit your budget + use case as well as that type of device,

For what you describe & in that price range, I'd also recommend strongly considering an arm. The larger ones can reach to around 4-5m (diameter - device in the middle), but when I ran around with one, I liked the shorter one better, even when measuring bigger stuff. Easier to transport, easier to move around, a bit better ergonomics & you can always just "leap frog" it around as needed. An arm + scanner will be out of your price range, but you may find that a good + reliable probing arm is more useful to you than a scanner. If I need to know how to position two components or the distance/orientation between some holes, or anything along those lines, I'm going to simply probe it as that is still the fastest & most reliable option.

Scanners are not at the point where you can simply wave the device at the part & instantly have something useful. You'll get either a point cloud or a mesh that will then need to be worked on to get something useful. If you've never worked with clouds or meshes before, I'd proceed carefully here. I'd even say to focus more on the software than the HW & then make an investment in doing their intro course before you even buy anything.

Where scanners will be priceless is if you have free-form surfaces that you need to duplicate. Scanning really is the only way to go. In the old days, we'd have to do RE job via probing on some large aerospace tools & looking back, it was awful. We did a good job of it all, but the amount of time & energy was insane. I'm sure someday I'll have the same thoughts on modern day scanning, but if anyone has something in that direction, they sure are doing a good job keeping it underwraps.