Hello! New to scanning and am having a hard time with what I think should be a simple scan. See attached pics. Can the scanner not pick up the depth of the hole? I’ve taken it on many different angles and can’t get it to find the bottom.
Thanks in advance for any assistance. 
Hi, you need to give us a little more to go off of. “Help me to help you”
What scanner are you using. How big is the part? How deep are the features? What is the goal of scanning this? How are you fusing and meshing the data?
That is a pretty basic shape and geometry that could be replicated in CAD easily.
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Hi Nick, I’m using the POP 3 Plus, scanning it on a dual-axis turntable II. Using the Revo Scan 5 software, my scan settings are Accuracy: High, Tracking Mode: Feature, Object Type: General. Scanning distance is 120-249. Depth Camera: 1, RGB Camera: 21.
The item is a Bit holder (Pic attached) and is not very large, 1.25" wide by 5/8 tall, and bit holes are 1/2" deep with the larger middle hole going all the way through the piece. Goal is to 3D print the item.
Fusion Method: Advanced, Point distance 0.10
Mesh: Quality 8.0
Hi!
If you use the scan you already got as reference in e.g. fusion360, you can rebuild this piece in matter of minutes and it will give you better result (surface quality) for sure. Highly recommended to do it like that.
You are right, it is all about right angle. If there is a “shadow” from one angle, infrared scanners won’t be able to scan that area (as exolained e.g. here by @PUTV Capturing nooks & crannies in bones - #2 by PUTV ).
But I see you already scanned the walls of the holes. On such narrow holes scanning from bit farther away should enable the cameras to see deeper into holes. Maybe some matting spray (foot spray or dry shampoo spray) can make it easier to scan already hard to see areas.
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Scanning inside of holes can be difficult because both cameras need to be able to see the bottom of the hole at the same time. Usually one (or both) of the cameras cannot see the bottom because the edge of the hole obscures it, even though the projector can illuminate the bottom of the hole easily. The reason why trying to scan holes from further away helps is because the angle between the two cameras and the bottom of the hole gets smaller, so the scanner can see deeper, although with less accuracy because you are scanning from further away.
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You have a Pop 3 Plus, did you try using the zoom?
This is good advice. By all means practice getting the scan perfect, but once frustration sets in ivan’s suggestion is the way to go.
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Thanks Ivan. I’ve downloaded Fusion360 and looks like it is a very complicated program but will try to learn the basics and see what I can do. I appreciate your guidance. Cheers!
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Yes, I’ve tried all 3 zoom levels but nothing catches it. I think I’ll just move on to the next project and circle back when I have logged more scanning experience. Cheers!
Once you get the hang of how it works it is a VERY useful and powerful software for designing and reverse engineering. Endless possibilities and often fast, clean looking results on mechanic/geometric parts which you can 3d print then. Share questions if you have any and I will try to help you .
This took me like about 8 minutes, but only because I had to guess the shape with your photos as reference. So not dimension accurate. With your scan imported you use this as reference for precise and dimension accurate construction/ reverse engineering.
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