Excellent Review of the Sense 3D Scanner

Engadget has posted an excellent and bery thorough review of the Sense 3D Scanner from 3D Systems. Brian Heater covers all the bases with a great writing style.3D Systems Sense review: a 3D scanner for the masses (almost)I really appreciate the thoroughness of the review.   But, in reading through the replies to the review, it is obvious that many people don't know how to put price/performance into the proper perspective.  This isn't isn't a +10K device!  It's a low cost consumer device that works well for its intended applications.Many...

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Cube Print Table Tool - Checks and Helps Level the Cube Print Table

I have spent much of my free time in the last three or four months trying to come up with a tool that would help Cube owners check the level status of their print table and make the leveling process a lot easier and more accurate.  There have been a lot of ideas and failed attempts along the way.But, the effort has finally born fruit in the form of a tool that Cube owners can print from an STL file on the Cubify Store site.  I will be putting...

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Vicious Turkeys, LBJ and 3D Scans of Cadets - Thanksgivings to Remember

Perennial holidays have a way of creating and recalling memories of those same holidays from the past.That is especially true for THIS Thanskgiving,Thanksgiving 1948 and the Surly TurkeysMy first Thanksgiving memory is one that makes eating turkey particularly satisfying.  My relish at the thought of eating turkey began at the age of 4.  We lived in what was then a rural area and one of the ways the local Burke volunteer fire department raised funds was to sponsor a turkey shoot.  My father happened to win two turkeys at that event.These...

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A Glue to use in an emergency...

The longer I work with the 2nd Gen Cube, the more I learn about glue application for the most effectiveness.  But, I often wonder what we would or could do should we run out of Cube Stick at a critical printing moment.Recently, a 3D printer owner contacted me and in their email they mentioned using Elmers Disappearing Purple School Glue Stick with his printer... which also has a glass bed.  So, I decided to see how well it might work.Some observations...First, it works.  It goes on purple and as it dries it disappears. ...

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New Update to Cubify Sculpt

There is an update to Cubify Sculpt that includes new "Mashup" capabilities and a direct interface to the Sense 3D Scanner.With so much happening at one time, I'm a little behind checking out all the changes. But, there are two things I need to point out immediately.  First, the icons have been completely changed to a solid grey.  I was concerned that something was wrong since normally a solid grey indicates "disabled".  I'm not sure I'm crazy about this change.  But, I will follow up to find out why this was altered. But,...

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Exploring the Sense 3D Scanner

A lot of people think I work for 3D Systems.  Not only do I NOT work for 3D Systems, I am forever surprised to find that I'm late coming to the party when they release something new.This was the case of the Sense 3D Scanner.I had not idea they were even contemplating a low cost 3D scanner... especially one that retails at $399.00!  My first clue came from an email sent to me by a friend that pointed to an article on the web announcing it. ...

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Leveling Print Table & Non-Magnetic Tools

One of the reasons why we've not addressed the issue of checking the levelness of the print table is that leveling the print table poses some interesting challenges.  Among these has to be the fact that most wrenches that we could use, including the very convenient one that comes with the Cube 3D printer can be yanked from our hands by the strong magnet holding the print table.The other challenge, of course, is simply being able to accurately determine if we have, in fact, leveled the table.  It's extremely difficult to see a less than...

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Holes Revisted! Amazing Improvements in Both Horizontal and Vertical Hole Printing

When I first started printing with a 3D printer, just after the 1st Gen Cube was announced, I discovered that I couldn't really achieve a clean hole in a vertical wall.  A little experimentation showed me that I needed to print a hexagon or a pentagon (in the right orientation) to simulate a hole.That has all been changed with the latest Cubify Client software upgrade!  There can be just the tiniest flattening at the top of larger holes.  But, it is miniscule and inconsequential to the point where designing a hole in a vertical wall,...

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Firmware & Cubify Client Updates Noticeably Improve Print

Latest firmware at the time of this writing is V2.08. The combination of 2nd Gen Cube's firmware update V2.08 and the latest Cubify Client update offer what appears to me to be remarkably improved print quality. While I do not know all the improvements that have been implemented, I do believe that I see much smoother curved surfaces.  There are other LCD user interface changes as well.  I STRONGLY suggest that all 2nd Gen Cube users take the time to apply both updates.It is my understanding that CubeX owners will benefit by the most recent...

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