Been a little while since I've posted.

Fixed up the previous post, as the wiring diagram I had posted was incorrect.  Replace it with better versions (still untested) but I believe they are now correct.

All of my 3D printed parts are now done.  I've re-printed the tower, as I wasn't happy with the red one that I done.  The final camera tower I'll be building off will be a white one, printed using Village Plastics HIPS.

The parts have continued to trickle in from around the world.  Still waiting for a few more parts before I can get started, but am getting pretty close.

I'm erring on the side of caution, and have been ordering multiple parts from various locations.  Currently have a couple sets of lasers.  One set from 3.3-5v versions from Adafruit, and another set of 3.3v lasers off ebay (same ones Bill Owens bought).  I have received the motor controller board(s).  Ordered four off e-bay and one from Aleph Objects, Inc.  I have an assortment of NEMA17 stepper motors to work with as well.

I have all the capacitors, Raspberry Pi2, variable resistors, and breadboard.

Still waiting for the power supply from Adafruit, the ULN2003A, and the LD1117.

Managed to also get my hands on a PCB layout for this circuit (even got the actual EAGLE files), so I could have the board printed.  Here's a picture of the circuit.  I'm tempted to place an order for these boards to be made, but have to order in quantities of 10.  Given that I only need one, if I can get some people interested in sharing the cost, then I'll go ahead and order a set.  Right now, I'm planning on going with an Adafruit Protoboard, but may in the end order this as it's much nicer looking.

Going to need to find some time and start assembling what I have so far.  Time is a precious commodity lately, and I haven't had much free time... doesn't keep me from thinking about the project however.  Hopefully I'll get something happening as soon as the parts arrive.  Can't wait!

I've continued printing the parts for the Ciclop.  Have pretty much everything printed now.  Located what I think are all the electronic parts needed to make it work.  At this point I won't bother listing anything until I get the machine up and running.  At that point I'll document the working parts.

While I'm waiting for my parts to arrive, I decided to start looking seriously at the available wiring diagram.  I think I understand where each line is to go.  Found this really interesting site [ http://fritzing.org/ ].  They have some free open source software for putting circuits together.  A neat feature I found is that you can put together a circuit on a breadboard.

So, I translated the diagram I found to a breadboard.  I posted it on the ATLAS 3D Google+ site.  Hopefully someone there can tell me if I'm on track, whether I've got the circuit right or not.

Here's the diagram that I translated.

My original breadboard diagram I uploaded was wrong, so that's gone.  Included now are three diagrams, basically the same thing with slight differences.

This first diagram was provided to me by Bill Owens.  This diagram he created based on a Pi2 for someone who did not have any of the capacitors and was using 5V lasers.  I'm told that if you have the capacitors, you should use them.

This second diagram I created, based on the first Bill Owens sketch, with the capacitors included, as well as the variable resistors to bring the 5v supply down to 3.3v for the 3.3v lasers.


This third diagram is something that I've created that eliminates the variable resistors and instead, substitutes a new circuit to drop the 5v supply voltage down to 3.3v to feed the lasers.
 

Keep in mind that I have not tested any of the circuits yet, as I'm waiting for the last of the parts to arrive.  Once they all arrive, I'll give the circuits a try, and will post whether they work or not.

So it begins...

Before I get into my discussion about 3D scanners, the BQ Ciclop specifically, I'd like to welcome you to my very first blog.  In all honesty I never thought I'd start one of these things yet here I am.

The picture you see on the left is something that I came across shortly after buying my Lulzbot TAZ 5 3D printer as I started thinking about how great it would be to have a 3D scanner.  I've always enjoyed building things, and this seemed to be a nice little project to sink my teeth into.  

Electronics has always been an interest of mine, but it has only been recently that I've discovered things like the Arduino and Raspberry Pi, and that's really gotten my brain racing.  That combined with the endless possibilities that 3D printing offers, has brought me to where I am today.

The BQ Ciclop has been the most elegant looking machine I've seen so far.  Its combination of rigid metal rods, ascetically pleasing plastic and in my view a superior turntable made this design one that I had hoped to pursue.

Fast forward to the past few days where I've not only found all of the 3D printable pieces, but threads, blogs and information on how to make this a reality.  Don't get me wrong... I'm not the one that's blazing the trail.  People like Mr. Owens (Piclop), FreeLSS and the Atlas 3D have gotten me thinking that I could do this for myself.

The purpose of this blog therefore is to document the construction, successes and failures (hopefully not too many of those) of my project to show others that they too can build something as cool as the Piclop for themselves.