Every machine here was bought because of a specific job that couldn't be done with what was already here. No single machine covers everything, but together they cover what people actually write about.
Scanners
Matterport Pro3
A professional-class LiDAR scanner. The same kit used to survey hotels, factories and museums. It is not a phone app, and not a 360 camera pretending to measure. It fires hundreds of thousands of measured points per second, works outdoors in sunlight (which most structured-light scanners cannot), and covers a flat in a day; measuring the same by hand with a tape measure runs into a week.
It costs enough that nobody buys one out of curiosity. You buy one once you've worked out that measuring by hand is the expensive option.
- Used for: flats, offices, warehouses, production halls, common areas, outdoor sites
- Output: measurable 3D model, virtual tour and dimensions read off the model
- Strength: speed over large areas and dimensions you can trust
- Limit: it does not replace a fine-detail scanner
Einscan H2
A handheld scanner with two light sources that cost more than some second-hand cars, and earns it back every time somebody asks “can this be copied?” White light gives maximum detail on technical objects. Infrared mode is made for people: it doesn't dazzle and doesn't get confused by a subject who breathes, blinks or is four years old.
Colour texture comes with it, so the model isn't a grey ghost. It looks like the thing that stood in front of the scanner.
- Used for: medium and larger objects, engine parts, furniture, sculpture, the body
- Output: mesh with colour texture (STL, OBJ, PLY)
- Strength: moves around the object, not limited by turntable size
- Limit: very fine detail comes out better on the desktop scanner
Einscan SE V2
A desktop scanner with a turntable. The object goes on the table and is scanned automatically from every side. Controlled lighting and a fixed distance give repeatable, even results. The right choice when a part has to be accurate, not merely recognisable.
- Used for: smaller parts, spares, prototypes, moulds
- Output: high-detail mesh, input for CAD
- Strength: repeatability and accuracy on small objects
- Limit: object size bounded by the scan volume
iQube S
A dedicated foot scanner. Foot geometry is captured in seconds, in a form that goes straight into designing a custom insole. No plaster, no casting compound.
- Used for: custom comfort insoles, footwear fitting
- Output: 3D model of the foot as CAD/CAM input
- Strength: fast and repeatable enough to run inside a normal appointment
From the air
Drone
A light-class drone for photography and video. The low weight means more flexible flight rules and faster access to a site than a larger aircraft, which would need more clearance time than the job itself.
- Used for: roofs, façades, plots, construction sites, property aerials
- Output: photos and video, wide shots of a site and its surroundings
- Strength: shows what simply cannot be seen from the ground
- Limit: visual material, not a geodetic survey
The printer fleet
No model names here, because they get replaced every couple of years. The principle doesn't get replaced: the machines are top of the line and there are enough of them that your order doesn't wait behind somebody else's.
FDM: the daily workhorse
Latest-generation machines with multiple nozzles and automatic material handling. In practice that means three things. One job can carry several colours or several materials at once. Dissolvable support makes internal channels and cavities possible that a single-nozzle machine simply cannot produce. And an enclosed chamber keeps the temperature even, so technical plastics that would contract on an open printer come out straight.
- Used for: functional parts, short runs, multi-colour pieces, jigs
- Strength: speed, material range, and several jobs running at once
- Dissolvable support: complex geometry with no removal marks
Resin: when the detail has to be fine
Resin is there for when the surface has to be smooth and layer lines can't show: models, miniatures, casting patterns, fine figures. Each layer cures across the whole area at once rather than being drawn as a line, and that's where the detail comes from. Washing and post-curing are part of the job.
- Used for: small and fine parts, models, presentation pieces, moulds
- Strength: surface quality and detail FDM cannot reach
- Limit: resin parts are more brittle than FDM parts
Engraving and laser marking
If the project needs an engraving, a number or laser marking, it can be added. Mention it when you ask for a quote and it becomes part of the job rather than a surprise later.
Mains power is optional
The whole kit runs on batteries. Scanning also works on a site with no power yet: a half-built house, an empty plot, a cellar, a warehouse, a plot at the end of a forest track.
A top-of-the-line Anker Solix power system comes along too, enough to run a full working day with nothing plugged in. The iQube S needs power to scan a foot, and a larger object can take long enough to drain an ordinary battery. Either way, the Anker is why it never runs out.
If the site is genuinely remote, we'll sort it out. If it comes to it I'll ride an enduro up the hill, power system in the rucksack. Hasn't happened yet, but the offer stands.
Software
Hardware is half of it. The other half is what happens to a scan afterwards. Raw data is useless to anyone until it has been cleaned, aligned and put into the right format.
- Scan processing and alignment into one coherent model
- Mesh repair, cleanup and optimisation
- Virtual tour preparation and web delivery
- CAD modelling from a scan, when the model has to be editable
- File preparation for printing, separately for each technology
- Photo and video editing for drone material
- AI-assisted model generation from photographs, where scanning isn't possible
- Delivery in standard exchange formats: OBJ, STL, PLY, STEP, 3MF, FBX
Material handling
Filament is kept in vacuum bags with regenerable silica gel and dried on a regular cycle. It isn't something a client sees, but it is why parts come out strong and surfaces come out even.
Not sure which machine suits your job? Describe the object and I'll pick the machine.
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