While the boom of laser technology has you regularly interacting with lasers, be it while ringing up your groceries or playing music from CDs, one use you may not have yet considered is using laser technology for your reverse engineering projects.
Replacing calipers and those long, drawn-out periods spent actually creating CAD drawings, 3D laser scanning is a fast and incredibly accurate way to obtain and use CAD data on parts of nearly any size.
3D Scanning for Reverse Engineering, we explore the advanced capabilities of the ROMER Absolute portable CMM arm with an integrated laser scanning head. CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO.
Reverse engineering an already existing part can be a overwhelming and time-consuming task. But with the right tools in your toolbox, time and cost can be greatly reduced.
A 3D laser scanner is a very effective, practical and efficient tool. While we sell both new and pre-owned scanning equipment and provide many varieties of 3D scanning services: white light technology, CT (or x-ray) and laser scanning, it’s laser scanning we’re going to focus on in this article and video demonstration – looking at both the process of laser scanning and its use in reverse engineering.
In the above video, we use the ROMER Absolute portable CMM arm with an integrated laser scanning head. Able to capture data at 50,000 points per second, the arm is lightweight and is set-up in just minutes, allowing us to scan at our facility or yours.
A major benefit of the Absolute portable arm is the 3D scan data, itself. Once a part has been scanned, you have an exceptionally accurate digital model of that part. This diagram can be used to develop matching components or for necessary fixturing for downstream manufacturing.
Once the volume of the part has been captured, we can then extract the necessary dimensional values of the part. While calipers and other hand measuring tools used to be necessary to measure dimensions at multiple points, the scan can now be used to create an accurate CAD drawing much more efficiently.
Once the CAD model has been completed, it can be compared to the original 3D data to verify the accuracy of the reverse engineered part. This allows you to go back and correct any mismatch and fine-tune the CAD to bring it to the allowable deviation.
If you have any questions about our 3D laser scanning services or would like to purchase a new or pre-owned scanner for use on a current or upcoming project, Contact Us at 866.722.2600.
The future of laser technology is here. Don’t continue to use dated, inefficient methods for your reverse engineering projects — Save time and increase the accuracy of your data by using our expert scanning services.
