Despite what some people think about LIDAR for cars, in the near future it is foreseeable that this technology will take its rightful place in our daily lives. Not just for cars but with almost anything and everything. We have already seen Apple’s new iPad and iPhone utilizing this technology. I wanted to see if I could use a LIDAR, in its most fundamental function, on a film carrier that is printed on a 3D printer.To get more news about Cavity PCB, you can visit pcbmake official website.
After using Espon’s v600 and v700, and DigitaLIZA from lomography, I wanted to make a versatile film carrier that would help digitize film negatives faster and better. We hardly notice it but camera sensors are among the fastest scanners readily available to us. Captured images are read line after line out from a sensor at a rate that even makes 120 frames per second videos possible. And this feature is becoming more mainstream. In addition, the resolution and colour quality that these sensors typically provide are quite amazing today. Therefore, making a film carrier that utilizes these sensors for purpose of digitizing film negatives makes more and more sense when compared to scanners made a decade ago.
Noticing all the cheap LIDAR sensors available on AliBaba and Amazon made me wonder if I could incorporate this technology on this OPEN medium format film carrier. Most common LIDAR’s make use of infrared frequencies that make it invisible to the naked eye. The LIDAR that was chosen for this film carrier is called VL53L0X. This sensor is design to measure short distances within the range of few centimetres to a meter. The module makes use of 940nm wavelength that is sourced from a Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL). The light that is bounced back from the subject is detected on an integrated Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD), and from this the time is calculated. The distance is deduced from light’s time of flight (ToF), since distance is proportional to time. The VCSEL used is a Class 1 laser, and is safe under all conditions of normal use.
The word LIDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging. In principle, LIDAR’s are just like RADAR’s; they are directional ranging devices. However, what separates a LIDAR from a RADAR is the electromagnetic (EM) frequency they use. RADAR’s are based on radio frequency (Ra) and LIDAR’s are based on wavelength closer to the visible spectrum (LI). And the remaining abbreviation DAR, is Detection and Ranging. Maybe one day these names will merge and become EMDAR.
It was the first time I was using a 3D printer. Bizarrely, everything went super smooth with the first test prints. However, it was time to design a film carrier, and last time I made any technical drawing was many many years ago. Moreover, I was only taught to make a technical drawing on paper using a T-ruler and a compass. But because 3D printers did not understand paper based technical drawings, I needed to learn how to use a computer aided drawing (CAD) software. Because Fusion 360 (by AUTODESK) was in process of changing its free license terms, and SOLIDWORKS can be afforded by companies usually. This left me with using FreeCAD! I soon found out how much FreeCAD was packed with features. Maybe, even too many; this open software was developed by hundreds and hundreds of developers over the past 18 years. It felt a bit like a jungle at first. I found out that there were correct ways of designing, and there were really correct ways of using FreeCAD. One that makes going back and refining designs easier. With that said, it did not take very long before I stumble upon the notorious “Topological Naming Problem” of FreeCAD. This issue arrises when you decide to change a previous feature of your design, which ends up breaking a reference that is used downstream due to the change in the number of faces and edges. This and other smaller software bugs almost made me give up on FreeCAD. But I decided to press on and make it work for me. And did it work ! Some of the YouTubers who also made my learning process easier were: Brodie Fairhall, Jayanam, flowwies corner EN, Martham Engineering, MangoJelly Solutions, Andrew CAD, and Joko Engineeringhelp. So a big thanks goes to them!. That said, I am continually learning how to use FreeCad in better ways and more efficiently. To conclude, FreeCAD is like any other analog camera; it may have its limitations, but the more you use it the faster and more efficient you become on it. And due to its active developers, I can only image it will improve even further. The FreeCAD that is currently under development is also rumoured to have tackled the notorious “Topological Naming Problem.”