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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Planning for Quality - An Integral Part of Reverse Engineering 
Planning is perhaps the most critical stage in the reverse engineering process. It's also the point at which many errors are made.
The first step in the plan is to define what you expect to do with the output from the scan. How do you see the file being used in the future? Will it be edited at some point? The answers to these questions will help define what type of file needs to be developed from the scan.
Second, work with an engineering team that not only has complex modeling expertise, but understands the product development cycle and precision manufacturing in general. This depth of knowledge is indispensible in producing a robust file that can be put to use quickly.
Third, clarify what surface preparation may need to take place to obtain an accurate point cloud. Most precision parts require some sort of surface preparation before scanning can begin.
Fourth, confirm the level of accuracy you'll be provided. Know what error is inherent in the prep & scanning process and how much error may be introduced by the surfacing/modeling steps. The sum of these two will be a good estimate of the overall error to expect in the finished file.
©2012 David DeVowe
