Part Buyers Authority Issue #1

In the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the presence of 3D scanning and other additive manufacturing techniques in traditional production processes. 3D scanning technology has the prowess to empower rapid prototyping in today’s product design and production stages. Reverse Engineering Case Study with 3D Scanning GL&V had a very short window of time to 3D scan a split case pump. There was no 3D CAD model or 2D drawing to reference, so we had to be able to work quickly and accurately. The split case pump that was being reversed engineered was on its last repair cycle and needed to have a replacement casting ready in 6 weeks. The scan data was acquired in about four hours using a hand held scanner. Using the scanned data live, we were able to create 2D sketches and smooth lofted surfaces between the two sides of the data and conform it to the casting using hands on methods in VXModel. Doing this revealed several interesting details to the customer: • The cast surfaces were badly worn & out of typical tolerance • The volume of each cavity was inconsistent VXModel easily overcame these issues. Neidrach was able to generate sketches on the casting. The surface was then trimmed to match the profile. Comparing this data live with color deviation maps to the scan data, Neidrach was able to ensure that accuracy was within the client’s requirements. CARL BERUBE Manager of Technology, CELERO PARTNERS 22 PART BUYERS A U T H R I T Y Reverse Engineering & Patternless Technology Process Neidrach scanning the Split Case Pump casting The Casting Scan inside VXModel VxModel allowed Niedrach to redesign with design intent. He was able to model the part by extracting the profile, generating a sketch and adjusting the revolution axis to the proper design intent. Lastly, he merged the model and extracted the radii from the scan data, applying it to every blade. Once the model was complete in VXModel, he used the software “Transfer-To-Solidworks” technology to send the entire feature-based solid model into Solidworks and saved it as a native sldprt file for the client. Using the CAD tools in VXModel and the product knowledge provided by the customer, Neidrach was able to recreate the entire casting as a solid model true to design intent.