When working with large point clouds, particularly those from our FARO Focus S 350 long range scanner, it is often necessary to modify the existing point cloud to align or organize the data. For example, scans from the long range scanner are translated and rotated in all six degrees of freedom to align to one another and create a contiguous point cloud. To do this, a transformation matrix is applied to the data.
Most companies that have a need to digitize parts ask the “Make/Buy” question. Do I purchase part scanning equipment and train staff (Make) or do I find a good service provider (Buy)? Or are there levels in between this?
Your Molds and Dies are critical to your business. They were meticulously created and iteratively tuned until the parts they produce are within specification. At that point, they were put into production and no documentation of the final tuned geometry was captured. This is actually the standard operating procedure for most of the world. The problem occurs when a part gets stuck and the equipment is cycled again and the tool cracks! Now you are stuck with having to go through the entire tuning process again. Or are you? With laser scanning and structured light scanning you may be in luck.
Many measurement and reverse engineering requirements require more than simple caliper or micrometer measurements. Whether you are conducting a First Article Inspection (FAI), troubleshooting a manufacturing issue or reverse engineering a legacy part for improvements, one or multiple of the modern data collection methods may work – but what is best and what are you compromising on by using any particular method? Do you do this work yourself or hire out an experienced service provider?
Non-contact or touchless dimensional measurement devices are the modern new comer to an array of contact devices that have been traditionally used. Contact devices are discussed in this link on Common Contact Measurement Devices. All of the non-contact devices generate a point cloud or voxel data set as their most raw form of data. The exception is the optical comparator which has been around since the late 1920s. It does not expressly produce digital data, but some of the variant equipment that evolved from this equipment does.
3D Engineering Solutions recently acquired the new FARO Focus S 350 long range scanner to compliment its growing customer demand for increased accuracy in long range scanning services. This new ‘best in class’ long range laser scanner offers outstanding features over the existing field of competitive equipment.
Continue Reading →
At 3D Engineering, we sometimes have projects that involve conducting long range scans of large buildings. Scanning these buildings is more complicated than just placing the scanner in the center of a room and being finished after one scan (unless your building is a single room). You have to consider the complications that come with hallways and corners, which must be worked around. Multiple scans must be taken to accurately align each aspect of the building to each other. While this can be done using a few different methods, one of the most dependable procedures uses white spheres.
When it comes to engineering services, we know there are many options to consider. To better explain how our services compare to the competition, we created a video that answers the question:
What differentiates 3D Engineering Solutions from scanning bureaus?
At 3D Engineering, we are ecstatic about our latest long range laser scanning and digital mapping project. As part of our BIM services, we employed long range laser scanning and digital mapping to capture exact position and orientation of each stone of an historical church building being relocated more than 1,000 miles from Middletown, Ohio to Bee Cave, Texas.
Using long range laser scanning, 3 software platforms and Building Information Modeling (BIM), a team of our engineers at 3D Engineering Solutions created a clash detection simulation that highlighted interferences preventing replacement turbines from entering a Fortune 100 coal-fired power plant. After our team calculated interferences, workers were able to cut away concrete from a plant door and shift two sections of high-power conduits measuring 2-feet in diameter. Riggers then moved in massive turbines, with only 4-inches of clearance on either side of the turbine crate.
