CAD Forum

I are considering to purchase a 3D Scanner for reverse engineering and inspection

Do anyone have any recommendation? Anything that i should look out for when choosing a 3D Scanner?

PS: I am currently looking at EinScan which seem to be rather flexible (support fixed and portable scannin)
https://www.einscan.com/handheld-3d-sca ... an-pro-2x/

I just finished the basic training with a Faro Quantum Max that my company acquired this week.

Guess if you want to do some serious inspection you might need a device that can measure with a contact probe too.

(that's all I got for now, sorry lol)

Zhen-Wei Tee wrote: ↑Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:28 am I are considering to purchase a 3D Scanner for reverse engineering and inspection

Do anyone have any recommendation? Anything that i should look out for when choosing a 3D Scanner?

PS: I am currently looking at EinScan which seem to be rather flexible (support fixed and portable scannin)
https://www.einscan.com/handheld-3d-sca ... an-pro-2x/

I've put some time into the Einscan Pro Plus (maybe about 5yrs old). It is quite good - and the software, though clunky, is pretty easy to use and flexible. I had a hard time getting the best accuracy from the unit I had but the newer ones (Pro 2X) look to have better accuracy.

I've never used it for "technical" scanning though. I definitely recommend you get one that comes with a turntable and a tripod for the scanner unit. The one I used is hand-held, and for smaller items having a fixed unit would be essential.

What is the average size you scan? Portable ones are really handy, I agree. Never tried Einscan, I use Artec Space Spider and scan objects mostly 15/40 cm in diameter. The results are really fine. It's specs are a bit better then Einscan, but If they suits your needs I think that would be a good choice.

Something that was in my mail, an interesting option - https://peel-3d.com/peel3cad

Where I work we build shears for cutting metal roofing panels (https://dyna-cut.com/) and the shears that go to the roll forming shops we need to design the blade set specifically to their roll former to achieve a satisfactory cut.
Any recommendations on what device to use to reverse engineer a profile like this? I need to end up with a sketch like this. It's about 38" wide overall. It needs to be accurate to at least +-0.01"
Is a 3D scanner a good option for this application? Or would I be better off using a CMM?
We are currently doing it all manually.

They don't have drawing of their roller?
I did one 20 years ago for roof shingles.
Need to know roller diameter.

Frederick_Law wrote: ↑Fri Mar 15, 2024 8:59 am They don't have drawing of their roller?
I did one 20 years ago for roof shingles.
Need to know roller diameter.

Some of them have drawings of what the roll former is supposed to produce but the roll former doesn't actually produce exactly what the print specifies due to the placement of the rollers, the wear on the rollers, etc.

3D scan will give you a mesh which you can't fold or unfold.
Or make any changes.

Probably better to manual measure and sketch.

Actually all you need is the profile.
2D laser profile:
https://www.keyence.com/ss/products/mea ... local=cbgt

CMM could work with a small probe.

Frederick_Law wrote: ↑Fri Mar 15, 2024 10:02 am 3D scan will give you a mesh which you can't fold or unfold.
Or make any changes.

Probably better to manual measure and sketch.

Actually all you need is the profile.
2D laser profile:
https://www.keyence.com/ss/products/mea ... local=cbgt

CMM could work with a small probe.

Thanks for the info.

I don't need to fold or unfold anything. I just need a cross section. How easy is to get a cross section from mesh data?

That looks like a great option but I talked with Keyence and the problem is it doesn't output CAD data it just outputs values so that won't speed up the process much if anything.

Can a CMM output CAD data or just values?

All you need is X and Y value. X along length on profile. Y on up and down of profile.
Easy to import with macro into CAD and make polyline. Add smoothing algorism. It can go straight to laser cut.

https://lase-solutions.com/products/dis ... lack-line/
Sensor with 0.01mm resolution.
Put it on a linear drive. Measure every 0.1mm (or 0.01mm) move.

In my experience wtih CMM and Faro/Romer arm they will generate reference geometry for you. You tell it what you are measuring, a plane, or a line that crosses that plane. It is also possible to measure a spline, but I think that is what you would get, which probably isn't as useful for the measurements you want to take.

If this is only something you do once in a while, it might be worth hiring it out. CMM's and the associated software aren't cheap. We were demoed a combination white light / lidar scanner that would give you a dimensioned solid. I don't remember the exact price but I think it was high 5 figures. Generating a point cloud is cheaper, but not nearly as usable. (At least for those of us who don't live in that world.)

Frederick_Law wrote: ↑Fri Mar 15, 2024 11:54 am All you need is X and Y value. X along length on profile. Y on up and down of profile.
Easy to import with macro into CAD and make polyline. Add smoothing algorism. It can go straight to laser cut.

https://lase-solutions.com/products/dis ... lack-line/
Sensor with 0.01mm resolution.
Put it on a linear drive. Measure every 0.1mm (or 0.01mm) move.

It look like that might be a good solution. Thanks.

I found this company https://www.acuitylaser.com/product/las ... r-scanner/ that makes a laser that would get the entire profile in one snapshot. It would output the x and y values and then i would have to import that into CAD via macro. But it's $18000. I'm thinking we're gonna be best off picking up a used CMM somewhere. Then I import the x/y values as sketch points via macro. Then I essentially connect the dots with lines/arcs.

I was hoping I could find a solution that would give me the profile in CAD data but it doesn't look like there's anything like that out there like that except a 3d scanner, which i think will have a lot of post-processing in order to get a profile.

Do you really need a clean CAD profile?
I guess you just Laser/Plasma/Waterjet your blade.
So as long as you get a scanned profile that can be cut, you're good.

Frederick_Law wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 12:42 pm Do you really need a clean CAD profile?
I guess you just Laser/Plasma/Waterjet your blade.
So as long as you get a scanned profile that can be cut, you're good.

The only reason I need a clean CAD profile is for designing the bottom blade. The bottom blade is inverted (mirrored) from the top blade and then we raise the middle of the profile creating a angled blade. Then I have to go along and move things so they align with the top blade.
They are then cut with a wire edm.

Jaylin Hochstetler wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 7:59 am I found this company https://www.acuitylaser.com/product/las ... r-scanner/ that makes a laser that would get the entire profile in one snapshot. It would output the x and y values and then i would have to import that into CAD via macro. But it's $18000. I'm thinking we're gonna be best off picking up a used CMM somewhere. Then I import the x/y values as sketch points via macro. Then I essentially connect the dots with lines/arcs.

I was hoping I could find a solution that would give me the profile in CAD data but it doesn't look like there's anything like that out there like that except a 3d scanner, which i think will have a lot of post-processing in order to get a profile.

I'm discovering it's very hard to find a decent CMM for less $18000. I'm going to have a company 3d scan a panel and see how it turns out.