Scanning non-dental & atypical parts with 3shape/Kavo scanners?

[tuyere]

Howdy all,
Lately, i'm frequently finding myself having to scan a range of parts that aren't typical fare for a dental scanner. Sometimes it's producing scans of manufactured crowns and other bits for QA analysis and fit troubleshooting by comparing scanned meshes to the original design .STLs using the Zeiss Quality Suite GOM Inspect software (it's free and very handy for this sort of thing, I don't know how much adoption this has in this industry),other times it's scanning non-dental calibration parts and milling test artifacts for QA reasons.
Having worked primarily with a Kavo LS3 and a little bit with a 3Shape E3, I'm finding this kind of oddball scanning work awkward at best because it doesn't conform to the work the scanners expect you to be doing. I wish there were an 'open-ended' scanning mode for these tools, that'll just scan whatever I put in there, capturing from angles X to Y with the part at Z height, etc.
So: is there a better way to be doing this kind of work? Is there an ideal scan type or configuration that will give me better results or more control over the process? I know the Kavo scan software is very limiting wrt rejecting scans that don't 'look' like the part type you've specified, but I haven't spent much time at all with the 3Shape, so if it's better for this kind of thing I can try to get some more time with the 3Shape scanning suite.

 

[macgyverfuerarme]

Did you find a way? If have a Cares cs2 Scanner at Home and want to use it non dental ;-)

 

[tuyere]

Did you find a way? If have a Cares cs2 Scanner at Home and want to use it non dental ;-)

Nothing new, my existing workflow with the Kavo is to designate a 'jaw' section of teeth that more than covers the overall envelope of the part to be scanned, and then do a 'diagnostic' scan of fewer teeth in the area I want to focus the scan on, or alternately on any holes or cavities in the part to be scanned that will need multiple scans from as many angles as possible to capture everything adequately. Once I get an acceptable diagnostic scan (which often takes a few trial scans and repositions) I export it all, discard the jaw scan, and work with the diagnostic.
Because I'm scanning for immediate use with GOM Inspect I usually clean the mesh up with the tools that comes with, I'll use the plane trimming and hole-closing tools to get rid of the unwanted scan data, usually the scanning putty and/or armatures I use to position the parts in the scanner with. If this were scanning for pleasure, so to speak, I'd do the mesh cleanup in Rhino 3D or Meshmixer, I don't think you can export modified STL meshes using GOM Inspect, and the tools it has aren't particularly robust for more than cleaning up and isolating a scan for comparison with a 'clean' STL.

 

[tuyere]

For what it's worth, here's a scanning tool I made to let us get 360-degree scans of a diagnostic crown we use in-house for getting a holistic sense of how our mills are performing. We modelled a D-shaped shank onto the side of the crown- we put labels and ID numbers on the flat of the shank- and I designed a base/holder for that shank diameter; the screw is a clamp that locks the shank in place so it can't move or rotate in place. Then we put the jig plus crown down on a pat of putty in the scanner, which lets us tilt the jig as needed to get a perfect scan. The shank is really easy to trim off after scanning, so we end up with a single all-around scan that only has a small flat blemish where the shank attaches.

 

[rkm rdt]

I can scan anything with my Trios.
Why not buy a used Trios 2 ?

 

[tuyere]

We bought a clutch of upgraded scanners a year back, can't really justify getting one just for diagnostic scans for a good while. Maybe we'll pick something up down the road when an opportunity presents itself, though- good to know a Trios is a good fit for this kind of thing.