Producing Geometry You Can Trust
QC provided an engineer for our project who did a great job of collecting the dimensional data for the parts to be reverse engineered, creating the CAD models, and producing prints for manufacturing. He kept in regular contact with me throughout the project, allowing us to quickly resolve issues as they arose. He was also very responsive when asked to make changes to the prints. Overall, a superior job.
- Paul,
Power Generation
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The Quality Cycle - An Integral Part of Reverse Engineering
We were alarmed at the results of recent polls we ran regarding the success rate of 3D scanning services. Perhaps your experience has been similar...
In a recent poll of engineers who had used scanning services, less than 45% said they received successful results more than 90% of the time. That means over half of engineers experience poor scanning results quite frequently. And a full 11% reported successful results on less than half of their projects.
Alarming! Especially considering the scan process is used both at the very beginning of a product development cycle to capture new geometryand at the very end to qualify first article samples. Such poor results would not be tolerated in any other manufacturing operation! Yet this low level of quality is commonplace with scanning services.
It doesn't have to be that way. 
Without exploring all of the potential reasons why, one thing is very clear. Whether it's laser scanning, white light scanning, CT, or another 3D scanning process, even fundamental disciplines of quality are little-used with a technology that has come of age.
A robust quality cycle must be fully integrated into a good reverse engineering process to repeatedly output a file that is not only accurate, but useful for the desired application. At QC, we call this result "Geometry You Can Trust".
We'll take a look at each of the four steps in the Deming cycle in following articles. Perhaps it will help you arrive at scanning results that are successful every time!©2012 David DeVowe
