3d Scanning for Everyone

I'm looking for your help to complete a new invention involving 3D scanning & 3D printing to move the technology forward.

A brief introduction

My name is Diego Porqueras. I currently own and run a small 3D printing storefront out of San Dimas, California.

A little context & history

3D printing began in the mid 1980s and began mostly as a rapid prototyping method out of necessity for mainly industrial and commercial purposes. Since then however, 3D printing has seen an incredible surge and is found in a wide variety of fields including manufacturing, aerospace, medicine and even education.

In the beginning 3D printing helped businesses expedite the beginning stages of the manufacturing process as it allowed viable prototypes to be made cheaply and rapidly. It also allowed designs to come to live and be visualized by their designers and allowing a whole new level of creative inputs by engineers and designers alike.

My involvement with 3D printing

I started Deezmaker almost 5 years ago in Pasadena. It was around that time that 3D printing technology finally gain traction and more widespread acceptance within the consumer market as the cost of 3D printing equipment were mostly cost prohibitive until that point in time. Deezmaker was the direct result of the success of the Bukobot , the first 3D printer I designed and created with the help of the Kickstarter community in 2012 which I followed up with the introduction of a second model called the Bukito a year later.


(My first Bukobot 3D Printer prototype in Dec 2011)

Bukobot came to fruition due to my passion and desire to make 3D printing more affordable for the masses because I believe this technology has immense potential as a tool in education. Bukito was another step in the right direction. It was a more compact, portable and less costly model which afforded more people the chance to be able to learn and understand this new technology.

3D printing in education

As I stated earlier, I believe 3D printing to have an immense potential in the area of education. For starters, it allows educators to provide students with 3 dimensional views of a subject matter and easily and clearly illustrate a hard to grasp concept or mathematical model. It can also help students visualize the subject matter, offer hands on experience and interactive learning experiences.


Other applications for 3D printing include model building such as often used in Biology, Math and Geography lessons. It also serves as a needed creative outlet for students.

Community Involvement

We are heavily involved with our local communities. Deezmaker actively participates in many outreach programs and partnerships such as the Mini Maker Faire organized by Barnes and Noble which brings together inventors, artists, and the public to learn and use new technologies.


(Nation of Makers meeting at the White House with Andrew Coy)

Other partnerships include events with Boy Scouts of America, Columbia Memorial Space Center, and other education programs such as the University of Southern California’s Young Scientist Program. Recently I was invited to be a part of the "Nation of Makers " meeting at the White House to help the maker movement.

WHY I NEED YOUR HELP...

New project development and additional support

One of the major void in 3D printing I perceive is the lack of affordable and intuitive 3D scanning hardware and software. Most of the 3D scanning devices available today are bulky and hard to use.


I am in the process of developing a much more user friendly 3D scanner assistant robot called the "Scann3r". This device will allow large scale 3D scanning to be faster, easier, more affordable and accurate using cheap off-the-shelf 3d scanner sensors. It will also allow users to essentially scan themselves (I call them "3D selfies") for 3D printing or VR (Virtual Reality) applications.

(3D Printed "3D Selfies" using the prototype scanner)

Because of a few recent events and some economic downturn, they have made maintaining my business a very challenging endeavor. Because I would like to continue to be very engaged in our community and participating in additional educational efforts, I need your help to strengthen our financial health by helping to fund our development of this new product to keep moving things forward.


I have been able to develop many of the components and currently trying to finalize many of the designs but I need your help to raise some of the final funds needed to complete this project. All funds raised here will go toward finalizing the prototype parts and completing the development to move this project the next phase.

(Testing motion travel for first time)

Your contribution and valuable support will enable us to finish this project and get this new product into the market which will benefit our 3D printing community immensely and also support our future endeavors to bring this technology to more local communities, students and educators.

As a reward for helping in the early stages, any person donating to this project will get an exclusive "first adopter" discount opportunity when this product is ready to launch!

Thank you for helping us make a difference.

Sincerely,

Diego Porqueras
Deezmaker