About 3D Reverse Engineering
What exactly do we do?
The
ideas
behind
3D
Reverse
Engineering
are
deeply
rooted
in
my
mechanical
engineering
study
and
30
years
experience
with
computer
aided
design
(CAD).
Our
goal
is
to
make
our
clients
ideas
come
to
life.
We
do
this
by
producing
fully
functioning (realistic) prototypes rather than a dumb 3D model.
In
order
to
make
our
clients
idea
come
to
life
we
use
some
relatively
new
engineering
technology.
Our
3D
printer
uses
a
technique
we
first
encountered
in
the
early
90′s
when
such
printers
cost
500,000
pounds
(yes,
my
origins
are
in
the
UK).
Much
progress
has
been
made
since
these
early
days
and
within
a
few
hours
we
can now create accurate, hard and durable plastic parts.
An
innovative
design
is
the
foundation
for
any
new
product
and
we
make
heavy
use
of
various
engineering
design
tools
to
be
able
to
produce
the
necessary
3D
models,
from
which
we
later
create
the
prototypes.
Being
able
to
take
a
design
brief
and
turn
it
into
a
3
dimension
model
is
core
to
what
we
do.
Often
for
our
clients
its
the
first
time
they
get
to
visualize
their
idea
in
a
tangible
form.
The
design
software
gives
us
the
ability
to
create
an
image
that
is
more
like
a
photo
than
a
computer
generated 3D model.
More
and
more
often
our
projects
begin
by
capturing
the
details
of
an
existing
product
or
form.
We
refer
to
this
as
Reverse
Engineering.
We
utilize
3D
scanning
to
capture
an
image
of
the
existing
part
that
we
can
then
enhance
using
our
engineering
design
software
and
later
send
to
the
3D
printer
to
create
the
new
prototype.
We
have
one
scanner
primarily
for
engineering
components
(engines
parts
etc.),
which
uses
a
laser
to
capture
the
3D
image
and
recently
we
added
a
second
scanner
that
use
a
light
to
project
a
pattern
onto
the
item
to
be
scanned.
We will use this scanner to capture faces, hands, feet, statues etc.
Last
month,
we
were
contacted
by
a
client,
who
needed
to
quickly
replace
a
key
part
of
a
machine
used
in
daily
production.
The
main
controller
had
broken
and
due
to
the
age
of
the
machine
a
replacement
part
was
not
available.
We
used
our
3D
scanner
to
capture
what
was
left
of
the
control
knob
and
we
used
this
data
as
a
template
for
a
new
and
updated
model.
Based
on
our
experience
we
filled
in
the
gaps
in
the
model,
literally.
Within
three
days
we
were
able
to
re-construct
the
control
knob,
print
the
new
part
and
send
it
along
with
the
original
back
to
our
client.
This
reverse
engineering
project
used
3D
scanning
and
printing
to
save
substantial
time
and
costs
for
our
client
associated
with
having
a
production
tool
out of service and potential delays in delivers.
© 3D Reverse Engineering 2013