3D Photocopier

3D printers are now capable of producing high quality results from a range of materials for under £1,000, fuelling widespread uptake. The 3D printer market is currently projected to be worth $3.7b in 2015, growing to $6.5b in 2019. With a resolution of up to 25 microns they can fabricate almost anything, but to do so require 3D data that describes the shape of the object. However, there are no 3D printers today that can also scan objects with sufficient resolution and a high degree of automation to truly replicate a 3D object. Despite this lack of integration, 3D printing and 3D scanning have a synergistic relationship which makes this desirable from a practical and technical standpoint. We believe that almost all 3D printers will eventually include 3D scanning capabilities. This study will investigate the feasibility of integrating a compact, light structured-light system into a 3D printer, making the first true, high resolution 3D photocopier a reality.