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.

In the attached video, 3D Scanning for Reverse Engineering, we explore the advanced capabilities of the ROMER Absolute portable CMM arm with an integrated laser scanning head.

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, visit our website by clicking here, or 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.

The Artec 3D Scanner is a portable 3D video camera. Each frame of the video it captures is a three-dimensional image with precise, detailed scan data about the object in focus.

With a measuring speed of up to 1.5 million points per second, the scanner provides high resolution (up to 0.2mm), high accuracy (up to 0.02mm) data that can be used in a variety of CAD and reverse engineering applications.
Easy-to-use, the operator simply has to walk around the object of focus, capturing it with the camera from various angles. The accompanying software automatically combines each scanned frame into a single mesh.

And now, through Exact Metrology’s special leasing offer, this advanced system usually valued at $17,999 is available to you, complete with software, shipping and training on the system for only $390.82 per month for 60 months.

The lease rate for the scanner without software and training is only $254.76 per month for 60 months.

This is a great opportunity to have advanced 3D scanning technology at your fingertips at an incredibly affordable rate.

Contact us today at (866) 722-2600 or at www.exactmetrology.com with any questions you may have or to enroll in our leasing program.  We will be happy to match you with the leasing option that best suits your needs.

Fine Print: All promotions are subject to credit approval and may change at any time prior to signing documentation. A standard documentation fee may be charged to the customer (see the leasing company for details). This leasing promotion is only available with the purchase of new machines and options.

Do you have a long-range scanner you used to create factory site-plans that’s just longing to map the outdoors?

As a buyer and distributor of pre-owned scanning equipment, Exact Metrology can help your equipment find its way to a new life. And fill your pockets, in the meantime…

Through our pre-owned equipment program, we’ll purchase your well-cared-for scanning equipment, returning that money to your company’s bank account. Additionally, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your old gear is going to someone who can keep it in use.

If it’s purchasing used equipment you’re interested in, we have a variety of pre-owned options available, from used ROMER Absolute arms to Metronor SOLO CMMs. We carefully test and certify that all of the used equipment we sell is in optimal working condition, calibrated to work perfectly. You’ll get equipment with all of its original capabilities, yet save considerable money over buying new.

Exact Metrology can provide financing on pre-owned gear for those who need it, with 60-month financing available at a reasonable interest rate. Talk with us today about our financing options.

Our selection of pre-owned equipment is updated continually and can be found here.

Feel free to browse, and if you have any questions, click here to contact us. We’ll be happy to help you choose the best option for your projects.

So please — Help a scanner that’s been laid off from its role cranking out CAD data find a new job. With the combined savings and results it will provide in return, you will certainly be glad you did.

Did you sit around as a child dreaming of the day when those X-ray goggles you’d see in the comics would be made a reality?

Well, here at Exact Metrology, we’re all about making your childhood dreams come true.

Now announcing a new and advanced weapon for our scanning arsenal:

Our WENZEL-xs CT Workstation just arrived in Brookfield this week, fresh-from-the-box and ready to see right through almost any 75mm x 45mm object (or less) you may send its way.
Where once you had to disassemble or destroy your assemblies in order to see what’s going on inside, the power of x-ray vision has made it so that detailed data can be obtained about the assembly while still intact.

The application of this technology is vast. Our team has taken on such projects as finding leaks in the seals of packaged deodorant bottles and bubbles causing wasted space in a tube of toothpaste.

As an additional demonstration: Take the key-fob for your car. Once assembled, it is difficult to see in such a small technology where problems may occur in the functioning without taking it apart. With CT scanning, we could detect, for example, whether or not the battery contact is in place as it should be.

With the addition of the CT scanner to our toolbox, our capabilities have grown immensely. Detecting even the smallest pieces in assemblies (or irregularities in those assemblies), we can provide both imagery and internal dimensions for configurations and parts that were once impossible to analyze intact.

So if you have a project that would benefit from the most advanced CT scanning services available, Contact Us today for more information or to obtain a quote.

And if you have a small assembly and need fast results, talk with us about our one-day turnaround option. Larger parts or assemblies can be scanned off-site, so have your dimensions ready to help determine the option which best suits your project.

We thank you for taking the time to learn about our CT scanning service options. To learn more about these services or about the CT scanners we have available for purchase, visit us online at: http://www.exactmetrology.com/products/wenzel .

And it’s only natural, with a name like “Kars”, that he’d become a collector of classic automobiles.

Acquiring a 1951 Bentley, (the MKVI H.J. Mulliner Lightweight ‘Saloon Coupe’, to be exact), Johan sought to restore the bumper of the vehicle, which had been damaged in 1969 during a bad parking attempt. Only 7 of these vehicles were made, so bumpers for this car are not all that easy to come by.

Enter Exact Metrology. With our non-contact scanners able to capture precise data about the existing bumper and rear-end of the vehicle, the Bentley’s bumper can be remanufactured, using our data, to be just as it was in 1951.

To learn more about this 1951 Bentley reconstruction and our reverse engineering of the bumper, click here for the rest of the article.

For you car enthusiasts, the story of this vehicle is a good one:

In 1951, H.J. Mulliner produced only 7 MKVI H.J. Mulliner Lightweight ‘Saloon Coupes’.

The car was originally exhibited on the H.J. Mulliner stand at the Earl’s Court Motor Show in October 1951. Being a ‘MD’ series, it is one of the first of the 4½ liter versions of the car, which were introduced that year. The coachwork is a rare 2-door aluminum body with a hood that stretched an extra 3 inches, an enhancement to the classic, flowing lines.

These Bentleys were in high demand and went all over the world. The original owners of the 7 cars included: H.R.H. Princess Faiza of Egypt, Baron Jules de Koenigswarter of Mexico, Antenor Patino of France and Henry Ford II of the US.

The vehicle Johan Kars currently owns was commissioned by Magnus S. Swenson, who resided on Wall Street in New York, and was delivered to Magnus in November of ’51. In 1953, the car was sold to Martin Block, a famous radio host, living in New
Jersey, who passed away in 1967.

The car was then driven on occasion by Mr. Block’s mistress, until her son locked the car in a garage in 1969 following a bad parking attempt. A rudimentary repair was done to the rear fenders, but some damage remained.

The car has sat garaged since then… until recently.

Seeking to restore his precious purchase, Johan contacted Exact Metrology to begin the process of reconstructing the car’s bumper. And Exact was well-prepared and eager to help.

Arriving on-site with our portable NDI Scan System, complete with the handheld laser scanner was ideal for fast, non-contact digitization of physical components. The scanning technician was able to quickly and accurately collect 3D data about the Bentley’s rear end and existing fenders.

The NDI Scan System is a productive, field-proven tool. Its technicians were able to orient the ScanTRAK in all six degrees of freedom (6DOF) without concerns that the beam will break and with no mechanical restrictions. The system has a large measurement volume that eliminates the need for time-consuming data capture,

Once the data was collected, we returned to our facility to complete the modeling. Using Geomagic Studio 3D Reverse Engineering Software, which converts 3D scan data into CAD models, Exact was able to create the following 3D model of the Bentley’s fender:

This data can now be utilized to reverse engineer the bumper, creating an exact replica of a part that hasn’t been made since 1951. And Exact Metrology, successfully, has assisted Johan to bring his Bentley back to life.

Should you like to learn more about our reverse engineering capabilities, feel free to explore our website or Contact Us by web or by phone. An Exact Metrology representative will be pleased to talk you through the best solutions for your toughest projects and provide you with a quote.

Exact Metrology would like to introduce the newest tool in our arsenal: the ROMER RS2 Integrated Scanner.

Used for both inspection and reverse engineering in the automotive, aerospace, medical, rail and energy production industries, ROMER’s RS2 Integrated Scanner is their fastest scanner to date. Up to 66% faster than previous versions, the RS2 is able to record up to 50,000 points per second.

Not only is the speed of the scanner remarkable, but the system requires no time at all to warm up and no homing procedures for the arm. And the addition of the FP3 wireless feature pack and hot swappable batteries, making the unit self-contained, allows the operator to scan wirelessly at the same rate.

Additionally, automatic probe recognition allows the operator to go from scanner to ball probes without additional calibration.

To learn more about the ROMER RS2 Integrated Scanner, you may obtain the technical specs.

Should you seek any further information or have any additional questions about Exact Metrology’s services, feel free to Contact Us by phone or email. Our technicians look forward to helping you with all of your inspection and reverse engineering needs.

We hope to hear back from Mr. Claus as soon as his busy season lets up.

From our team to yours: here’s wishing you the warmest, most unforgettable holidays and the happiest of New Years.

To download an STL file of this 3D ornament scan, click here.

But we save those debates for lunch break.

One of the most frequently asked questions the Exact Metrology team gets is: “What is the difference between white light and laser scanning?”

And since our customers are often unsure of which would best suit their project, we decided to devote some space in this newsletter discussing the two.

Both 3D white light and 3D laser scanners are used for inspection and reverse engineering purposes. Both are close range scanners that will record data quickly and to a sub-millimeter level of accuracy. But each type of scanner has unique properties that make them more or less fitting for certain applications.

To illustrate the difference between white light and laser scanners, we grabbed your everyday deodorant bottle off the shelf and scanned some of its components using each type of scanner. The differences are illustrated below:

3D White Light and 3D Laser Scanners: The Details

3D white light scanners are usually tripod mounted. Scan data is obtained shot by shot, as a grid of light is projected and laid over the component being scanned. As a scan is completed the grid is modified, and the scanner determines the 3D coordinates by calculating the returned patterns.

3D laser scanners are usually handheld or tripod mounted, and scan data is obtained as a laser stripe sweeps over a component or entire area. The handheld type is typically attached to an arm, which provide a constant readout of where the scanner is at any time.

So Which Do I Need for My Project?

When it comes to white light and laser scanners, there are several important differences one should take into consideration when planning their project. These include:

- Point Density
- Speed
- Accuracy
- Cost

Point Density

One significant difference in white light scanner and laser scanner results is in point density. To illustrate this example, let’s use the screw and crank from a deodorant bottle.

The scan on the left is done using a Breuckmann White Light Scanner, whereas the scan on the right is completed with a ROMER Arm (laser):

You can see from this side-by-side comparison the difference in detail the scanners are able to obtain.  This detail is obtained not by accuracy but by having points closer together.

If the goal of the scan were to capture data about the general size and dimensions without the intricate details of the screw and dial, the ROMER Arm and laser scanner will capture this general shape. If the goal of the scan is to reconstruct the dial exactly, the white light scanner has point spacing that is much closer and will record the dial with greater detail.

Speed

When it comes to speed and efficiency of a scanner, laser scanners have the advantage of speed, due to the fact that they can do one sweep much more quickly than the multiple shots a white light scanner obtains. For example, the ROMER Absolute RS2 can scan 50,000 points wirelessly, with real-time exposure.

But with the next-generation cameras, electronics and processors now used, white light scanners can now obtain scan data containing over 8,000,000 points in an area as small as 30mm square and in as little as a few seconds. Due to this rapid scanning speed, white light scanners have been found to be incredibly useful in face scanning and body scanning applications, since people often find it difficult to stand still.  However when many shots are required to cover the part in points additional time is required.

Accuracy

White light technology is capable of accuracies up to less than 0.001 of an inch in small volumes. Once the volume gets over roughly one foot cubed, the accuracies will match that of the laser scanner at roughly 0.003 of an inch.

Since each job is truly unique, your Exact Metrology rep will advise you on which type of scanning will achieve the greatest accuracy based on your project’s volume.

Cost

A white light scanner is typically more expensive than a laser scanner. While low-cost white light scanners are available, the data they obtain is typically not up to par with that obtained by the higher quality scanners.  Therefore, if scan data provided by a laser scanner will meet the needs of a project, this is often the choice our clients go with. If scan data with greater detail is needed, then white light would be a better choice. You can talk with your Exact Metrology representative for a recommendation guaranteed to fit your requirements.

Questions?

Should you have any additional questions about 3D white light or 3D laser scanning, please feel free to Contact Us for more information or for a quote. We are happy to provide any assistance we can on choosing the right device for your project, and thank you for considering Exact Metrology for your inspection and reverse engineering needs.