- Most common application- Reverse Engineering is one of the most common applications for utilising the scan data output from 3D optical or CT scanning. Throughout the following reasons you will understand why it is so common.
- Spare parts- We can 3D scan and reverse engineer a piece of equipment to deliver 2D manufacturing drawings and 3D CAD models which can be used to reproduce spare parts. This is cost-effective as you don’t have to replace the whole machine if only one part has become faulty, even more so if the cost of removing said machine is high or the delivery time for replacement is too long.
- Optimisation- From capturing the geometry of a piece of equipment, we can reverse engineer and optimise its performance structurally, in manufacturing or in assembly. Through looking at optimising materials, design and manufacturing performance.
- Restoration- Reverse engineering compliments any restoration project through data collection of a classic or heritage piece. For example, if an old historical piece is damaged, we can 3D scan the item to produce CAD model and drawings to help reproduce and repair the damaged item. This method was used within the historic wooden roller-coaster restoration project our team supported.
- Competitor Bench-marking- Reverse engineering can provide the ability to collect data, reverse engineer and simulate the performance of a competitor’s product- “bench-marking”. It must be noted that the data is only used for analysis in order to prevent potential infringement of intellectual property rights.
- Additive Manufacturing- Modern manufacturing methods including additive layer manufacturing can use the output data from scanning directly into 3D printing. This is because the scan data is in an stl. format which means that reverse engineering would be the solution if you wanted to create an object that had no original drawings.
- Cost-effective- Reverse engineering is cost effective where a part or assembly is rare or cannot be replaced individually. It can also help reduce the downtime of crucial equipment and the associated costs of the machine not running, as you will be able to reproduce parts to replace those broken or likely to wear out.
- Legacy Equipment- If the CAD drawings for your item doesn’t exist, or the data is outdated and no longer represents the actual part, then we can 3D scan your item and reproduce these designs through reverse engineering. Also, this data can be digitised and archived, so if something happened to the original physical item the client has data to fall back on to replace or repair the item.
To find out more about what reverse engineering is, then click here.
