<p>Will a 3D scanner capture internal details within an enclosure?</p>
<p>I'm contemplating buying a 3D scanner, but they're pretty expensive so I'm looking for advice on whether they will actually be useful for the projects I have in mind. So with the picture below as an example, could I expect to generate a usable STL file by scanning this?</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iYiDz.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/iYiDz.jpg" alt="Object" /></a></p>

[{'answer_id': 18423, 'author': 'Criggie', 'author_id': 12956, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/12956', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>You can certainly get large nozzles, but the material for extrusion still needs to be consistent.  So any chunked plastic would have to be melted and that will produce an erratic flow at the extruder.</p>\n<p>By reforming your shredded plastic into a consistent string of filament, then the printer has a steady supply of material to use.  There are already filament extruders for the small shop, but they\'re still expensive for the home user.  The main problems are getting consistent thickness of filament, and minimising contaminants.  Also colours tend to be lost and muddied.  These might be economical if you have a print farm and are consuming a spool a day on average.</p>\n<p>On a large scale, there are &quot;3d printers&quot; that can place a special quick-drying concrete and produce small buildings as homes in a matter of days.  However they\'re fed a special mixture of smooth cement and accelerators to set the concrete ready for the next layer.</p>\n<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/y1vWs.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/y1vWs.jpg" alt="Tecla 3d printed house" /></a></p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 18424, 'author': '0scar', 'author_id': 5740, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/5740', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Yes these exist. 3D printers using pellets is not uncommon for industry, but for the user at home this might be a different question. Pellets are the pre-fabricate before it is extruded into filament (small balls/cylinders of plastic).</p>\n<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0RIoy.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/0RIoy.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a><br>\n<em>Random image showing a variety of pellets in different colors</em></p>\n<p>There are even processes to turn used plastic into pellets, so if you combine it all this should be very doable. The problem is to get a consistent type of waste plastic to feed your machine. The size of the nozzle doesn\'t matter, as long as your shredding, compressing and heating process can keep up with the flow you need. It would be an excellent idea to get rid of plastic waste and turning these into building bricks e.g. for insulation of heat.</p>\n<hr />\n<p><em>I\'ve seen prototype printers printing PEEK from pallets having a nozzle (slot) diameter of several millimeters.</em></p>\n'}]
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