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To keep a long story short, I picked up a 3D scanner for multiple personal projects on my car. Part of my frustration and reason for buying the scanner was that I couldn't find files I wanted/needed online. Now that I have a scanner, instead of keeping the files for myself, I had the idea to publicly host the files to my website as purchasable content for everyone to do with as they please seeing as free design software and in-house 3D printing is so prevalent now. Most files that you find online are pretty awful as the resolution just isn't there, so I'm hopeful that a modest charge to offer high quality files is understandable to help cover some of my time and equipment costs. The scanner I'm using is capable of up to 0.2mm resolution, but to save processing power and make file sizes manageable, I've found that 1.0-1.5mm resolution is plenty.
As of me writing this post this morning, I only have 1 miata file uploaded (NB1 front bumper), which you can find here. You can scan through the website to see the other (non-miata) files that I've already uploaded as well. https://leftlanedesigns.net/collecti...azda-miata-nb1
I do have the following list made for myself for items that are planned for the next couple months as they become available thanks to helpful locals with spare parts, so expect the miata category folders to grow drastically quite soon.
Open to feedback/ideas or other parts you'd like to see added to the list.
Not sure if that sale price of $7.99 is indicative of what you'll be keeping going forward, but that's a great deal. Having seen the quality of your work, I'm much more inclined to trust your scans than those from a random I've never heard of.
I'm interested in the NA6 dash scan to model a tombstone extension gauge pod. I've never integrated a scan into a 3d model before, but I'd like to use it to get the curvature right on the dash.
I'll be completely honest with you, I mentally go back and forth with what I feel is fair. At the end of the day, files are going to vary depending on size/complexity, but I feel $5-$20 per file is where a majority of miata files will fall and that feels reasonable.
Most files that I find online are just one-sided (like an external surface) and not both sides of the part, which is a shame. My intention on all future scans is to ensure I get all sides of the part meshed together so that external surface profiles and all the mounting geometry behind it are captured. It's much more time consuming doing that, but the information that most of us will want when reverse engineering something or checking clearances on an assembly.
Rear subframe is different between the NA6 and NA8 because of the differences in the subframe brackes. Early NA6 had none, later NA6 had a cross bar at the rear only, and NA8 had more tabs for a subframe brace that tied into the floorsheet.
There was a small delay in getting started with my long list. The exstar software is pretty hardware demanding when meshing files together, so it pays to spend a bit more on computing power so one is not waiting around looking at progress bars climb to 100%. I was temporarily borrowing a friend's gaming laptop to make sure the scanner was performing as expected before making the investment into a higher power PC for myself and that day came last week.
i7-12700KF
2x32GB DDR5-6000 RAM
1TB M.2-2280 SSD
4060Ti 16GB GPU
...and a very large air cooler for the CPU
Now that I had that piece of equipment, it's green flag racing to start attacking my list. Made a temporary workstation in the garage and started on the 6spd transmission that I just pulled from the car (see my build thread for reasons why)
You can now find the file here on the website. Should be great for those possibly putting a miata powertrain in another chassis looking to check for clearances or for those that simply want CAD data to make their own adapter plate for a BP as all the bell housing bolts are easily visible in this file. https://leftlanedesigns.net/collecti...ission-3d-scan
We have one of those scanners and have found the software to be a resource hog. I hate the way it stores the scan in memory until you run out. I brought in my gaming laptop to use with it since it has a much better CPUID score than the desktop we have allocated to it. Makes it easier to work around the shop, but it only has 40 GB RAM and that fills up fairly quickly.
The fan in our scanner quit working after 6 months or so. At the same time it became very finicky to use. It will only do texture scans now. On small parts I get so many tracking errors that it takes many tries to get an usable scan. It seems to work better on larger parts. I tried to return it but their tech support wouldn't take it. It does work, but just not as well as it did before the fan died.
How many scans did you have to align to get that done?
We have one of those scanners and have found the software to be a resource hog. I hate the way it stores the scan in memory until you run out. I brought in my gaming laptop to use with it since it has a much better CPUID score than the desktop we have allocated to it. Makes it easier to work around the shop, but it only has 40 GB RAM and that fills up fairly quickly.
The fan in our scanner quit working after 6 months or so. At the same time it became very finicky to use. It will only do texture scans now. On small parts I get so many tracking errors that it takes many tries to get an usable scan. It seems to work better on larger parts. I tried to return it but their tech support wouldn't take it. It does work, but just not as well as it did before the fan died.
How many scans did you have to align to get that done?
I researched about how the software was a resource hog so I planned accordingly. I currently have 64GB RAM but can easily expand to 128GB for another $100 if needed, so I attempted to future proof as much as I could
Disappointing to hear you had challenges with yours. Customer support seems hit or miss so I'll hope I don't get unlucky.
The 6spd trans was only 2 scans to align. I scanned the full exterior shell first, and then scanned the internal bellhousing second. I'm still learning the most effective way to scan and post-process everything, but am happy with how this turned out.
Originally Posted by Midtenn
Now I want to send you parts to scan so I could better design a downpipe brace for my Kraken setup.
If serious, toss me a PM. We could reason through options on how to get what you'd want. At the very least I can get it on my ever evolving list. I know of a few locals with Kraken setups, and also plan to work with a few SM racer buddies who have spare parts galore to scan (engines being one).
That's the biggest downside with that scanner; the software is really demanding, meaning that 1k scanner is in reality 1k scanner plus 1.5+k PC. Still a good price for what you get IMO.
Got a file up today for those with NB2's that may be interested in making their own custom intake, brake duct, or aftermarket fog light mounting kit in the OEM fog light hole. I'll be using it for my own purposes here shortly.
Got 3 more files up tonight. These are from an NB dash and would be useful for those making a large variety of dash mounted devices, digital race display integrations, or custom dashes all-together as I captured front and back surface of as much as I couid.
Got what I hope to be some pretty helpful files up for a lot of people. The first was a 5spd transmission. I already had the 6spd so I figured it would be silly to not have the 5spd available as well.
The second file was a torsen rear differential. If you are handy with CAD and want to make diff arm reinforcement plates to save some money over off-the-shelf options, this would be a helpful file to have.
3rd we have an NB rear subframe. Let the world be your oyster with this one. It took longer than I want to admit to get this scanned nicely, but now that it exists it should make custom rear end swaps that much easier to design up yourself. One could also use this as reference for a tubular rear subframe design of their own I suppose.
Last but not least, I got a NB front subframe done as well. Not that fabbing a custom front subframe is easy, but this scan will surely give you a better starting point if you are feeling ambitious.
03-04-2024, 10:50 AM
3D Scanned Miata Parts - Left Lane Designs
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