Currently building: DIY 3D scanner
Tools, experiments, electronics, cars and other things I'm currently building.
I build things.
Sometimes I need a tool before I can build the thing.
Apparently buying everything I need would be too easy.
Please read before judging
Before you decide I'm just another guy asking for money — read this page to the end.
If you get there and still think “yep, another give-me-your-money website”: no hard feelings. There's the door. 😂
I'm not hiding the fact that there's a Support button. This whole page is me explaining why it's there. Nobody owes me anything.
The philosophy
People on TikTok get financial support for cracking eggs on their heads, licking radiators and doing increasingly questionable things on camera.
So I thought:
Why shouldn't someone get support for building something actually useful?
I'm not asking you to fund me doing something stupid.
I'm asking you to help fund tools that let me build stupidly useful things.
Gets funded online
What I’m asking for
The mechanical scanner already exists and works. What's left is the camera mounting system, followed by calibration and testing.
Of course, like anyone else, I'd love to just go out and buy a proper 3D scanner and have the whole thing solved tomorrow. But that's not really the point.
This scanner is being built primarily because I want to use it for my own projects, but it can also become a useful tool in my professional work — reverse engineering, recreating parts, prototyping and other 3D work.
A good 3D scanner isn't exactly a cheap tool, so for now I'm building my own. I already have the mechanical system, I'm finishing the camera mounting system and the software is almost ready.
The goal is to get this machine working properly while I keep looking for a way to eventually get a better, dedicated 3D scanner. In the meantime: why buy the solution immediately when I can spend weeks building one first? 😂
The DIY scanner is also a practical project in its own right — a chance to experiment with the whole scanning process and, hopefully, come out of it with a genuinely useful tool for future projects.
Placeholder frames — ready for real photographs of the scanner.
The scanner mechanism already exists and works. The camera mount is one of the remaining problems.
Support this project
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A voluntary financial contribution towards DIY 3D SCANNER — €0 of €600 so far. Handled by Ko-fi. It’s not a purchase and there’s no product or reward.
Why build it
I already build and design functional parts myself. The part I can't get past is the original physical geometry — the shape that already exists in the real world and has to be captured before anything can be modelled around it.
Car key housings. Automotive side indicators. Plastic caps. Small automotive parts that were never sold separately and have no usable 3D model anywhere online.
I've already had real projects I couldn't take on or finish for exactly this reason. Someone recently asked for replacement automotive caps — the part isn't available online, and without a scanner there was no practical way to reproduce the geometry accurately. A key housing could probably be remade, but the original has to be captured first.
So this isn't a wishlist item. The scanner mechanism is built. I just need to finish the tool so I can capture the shape and get on with building the actual parts.
Not a wishlist item. The machine already turns.
You don't have to buy anything.
If you enjoy watching these projects, learning from them, or simply want to see what happens when I finally get the tool I need, you can help fund the next step.
No complicated rewards. No subscription required. Just support for a project you want to see finished.
Project Lab is where I document what I'm building — personal projects, hobby projects, experiments, and work that's tied to what I do professionally. Some of it stays a hobby, some becomes a tool I actually use, and a few may eventually turn into a product or a service. The scanner may end up useful for personal projects and for future work — that’s the honest version.
Who's behind this
This is the guy. And this is where he makes them.
I've been obsessed with electronics and taking things apart for as long as I can remember.
When I was a kid, I loved taking toy cars apart. The only problem was that I wasn't particularly good at putting them back together.
Somehow, I grew up. The interesting part is that the kid who wanted to take everything apart never really disappeared — he just acquired bills, responsibilities and significantly more expensive things to take apart.
Today I run an electronics repair service: computers, laptops, motherboards and other electronics. Electronics isn't just my job. It's the hobby that somehow became my job.
More recently, 3D printing and 3D design became the latest obsession. What started as another hobby quickly turned into another rabbit hole. And now a lot of ideas that have been sitting in boxes — sometimes literally collecting dust for years — are finally starting to come back to life.
A lot of these projects aren't new ideas.
In my head for years
Sitting in boxes
Waiting for the right tool
Waiting for me to have enough time
Life, work, bills and responsibilities have a funny way of getting in the way of building things. The Project Lab is my way of finally bringing some of those ideas out of the box and into the real world.
A lot of these projects start in my head. Sometimes it's a rough idea. Sometimes a mechanical problem. Sometimes an electronics problem. Sometimes it's simply: “I wonder if I could build this…”
AI is what I use to plan, brainstorm, check ideas, explore approaches and help structure a project. It sits on the bench next to everything else.
And yes, I use AI. Quite a lot, actually.
If someone tells you they don't use AI at all these days, they're either working under a rock — or they're lying.
And as we all know: lies have short legs. 😄
I still build the things. AI just helps me think through the process.
But I don't have every tool required for every project. Sometimes the missing piece is a scanner. Sometimes it's a better computer. Sometimes it's a specific piece of equipment. Sometimes it's simply time.
That's what this Project Lab is about: taking ideas that have been sitting in my head — or collecting dust in a box — and actually building them.
Supporting a project isn't “giving money to a guy”. It's helping remove a practical bottleneck so an actual project can happen.
Progress
Where support goes and what's actually happening with the build.
DIY 3D SCANNER
The mechanical scanner structure is working. It turns, it's repeatable, and it holds position.
The application is almost finished — capture, basic controls and export are in.
I'm currently building the camera mounting system. This is the part that decides whether the scans are actually usable, so I'm not rushing it.
Once the mount is sorted, calibration and testing are next.
DIY 3D SCANNER
Mechanical system is done. The frame is rigid enough and the drive is consistent between runs.
Started roughing out the scanner application and getting frames off the camera reliably.
The honest math
A roll of filament might cost €13, €15, €20, sometimes €30. That's only the beginning.
Some prints fail because of my mistake. Sometimes the printer makes the mistake. Sometimes the settings aren't right. Sometimes the model needs redesigning. Sometimes it looks perfect on the screen and comes off the bed several hours later as a completely useless plastic object. 😂
Same goes for electronics, prototypes and the rest. A project can take several attempts before the final version actually works.
Every failed print still used
The final part might cost €5 in material. Getting to that €5 part might have cost €30.
Some visitors will think: “You run an electronics repair business. Why not just buy all this yourself?”
Yes. I have a business. And yes, I can buy things myself.
But having a business doesn't mean every project, tool, experiment and idea automatically becomes a business expense. I've also got normal life expenses, responsibilities and bills. And some of the things I want to build are simply projects I want to build because I enjoy building them.
That's actually the whole point of this page.
I'm not asking people to finance my life. I'm not asking anyone to pay my bills. I'm not even saying I can't afford to buy these things myself.
I'm saying: if people are willing to financially support someone for doing something completely ridiculous on the internet, why couldn't someone support a person who's spending his time building something?
If nobody contributes, I'll still build things. It might just take longer. Some projects might have to wait. Some tools might have to wait until I can justify buying them myself. That's life.
THE CORE MESSAGE
I'm not asking you to finance me.
I'm giving you the option to help move a project forward if you think it's worth supporting.
But if you look at a project and think “I'd actually like to see this get finished” — that's what the Support button is there for.
I can build these things myself. Support just makes some of them happen sooner, allows more experiments, and helps cover the inevitable cost of trying, failing, redesigning and trying again.
See the projects ↓What I'm building now
What's on the bench, what's queued next, and the equipment that would unblock it. One project is the current focus; the rest open for support when they're actually the thing being built. Finished, working projects are under Realized Projects — not here.
The mechanical scanner already exists and works. What's left is the camera mounting system, followed by calibration and testing.
The current ASUS VivoBook is fine for everyday work, but its GPU is the limiting factor for heavier 3D workflows. The target is a machine that stops being the bottleneck the moment serious 3D data is involved.
A Raspberry Pi based Android head unit: Waze, Poweramp, reverse camera, GPS and CAN bus integration.
The mounting assembly / installation cage has already been designed and 3D-printed. The next step is to assemble the printed cage and integrate the electronics and components into the final assembly.
Another project where 3D printing is used to make a custom solution instead of buying an off-the-shelf mounting system.
Automotive parts, replacement parts, prototypes and functional components — the ongoing background hum of the lab.
Funding not open yet
What I've already built
These aren't ideas. I actually built these — finished hardware and software that's assembled, tested and working. Some of them you can buy.
🔌 ESP32 CAN BUS SNIFFER
This started as an experiment because I wanted an affordable and practical way to work with automotive CAN bus data. It eventually became a complete hardware + software tool.
I designed and built the hardware around ESP32 + MCP2518FD, developed the Windows application, designed the enclosure and 3D-printed it myself. It has been assembled and tested.
The device works. The software works. The finished product exists. And yes — you can actually buy one.
Project video
I walk through the hardware and the software, then demonstrate the finished device working. Part of the project documentation — in English.
📟 3D PRINT MONITORING SYSTEM
My 3D printer is not just a printer anymore. I ended up building an entire monitoring system around it.
One ESP32 monitors the room environment. A separate ESP32-WROOM-32 / CYD unit sits on the Bambu Lab printer and shows the print in real time — including filament usage worked out from the G-code, then subtracted when the print finishes. A Tasmota smart plug handles power monitoring and switching the printer on and off.
And because apparently a normal printer screen wasn't enough, I also built my own display for it. 😂
Custom hardware + 3D printing + software + automation — a small monitoring and automation system around one printer.
Kept strictly separate from what's still being built and from anything looking for funding. A realized project that's also a product keeps a normal purchase link — that doesn't make it a support project. More get added here as they’re finished.
Reality check
Because building something costs money. Support helps me build, experiment, test and finish projects. It does not mean every finished product automatically becomes free.
If I spend months designing hardware, developing software, designing and 3D-printing an enclosure and testing all of it into a working product, there's nothing strange about eventually selling that product.
The Project Lab is not
“Give me money and everything I make will be free.”
It is
“I'm building things anyway. If you want to help make some of them happen sooner, you can.”
GitHub is great. But no, I don't have to publish every single thing I build on GitHub to prove that I built it.
Some projects are open source. Some are experiments. Some become products. Some contain software or designs I may want to keep private. And some projects simply don't belong on GitHub. I don't owe the internet my entire workshop. 😂
“GitHub or it didn't happen” is not a legal requirement. Neither is publishing my source code just because someone asked nicely.
Support and purchase are two different things. Support helped the project exist and move faster. A finished, packaged product that took months of work is something you can then choose to buy — or not.
Supporting a project doesn't turn its finished output into a free download.
SUPPORT
Voluntarily helping a project move forward because you like the idea.
PURCHASE
Paying for a finished product.
Two completely different things. A supporter does not automatically become entitled to:
…unless I explicitly decide to offer those for a particular project.
Supporters
People who decided this project should actually get finished.
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