How to reverse engineer a miniature engine casing

[OMERYOUNOS]

How to reverse engineer a miniature engine casing.I want to model in Pro/e .I ve heard the best solution is either to use CMM or scanner to take the dimensions.Does anyone can explain the scanner or CMM method.By the way it is a single cylinder ,two stroke glow ignition engine.
Thanks.

 

[Recneps]

3D scanners are good marketing tools. They are made to scan something that an artist has done by hand or an existing product and represent it in a CAD-like 3D space. Problem is, they are generally very proprietary and do not gather data that a CAD system would use.

CMM is the way to go, but either the CMM program must be capable of generating IGES surfaces from a point cloud, or you need ProE's CMM interface module (which I am told is not that robust).

Post what you eventually use, as I would be interested in your findings. We are tossing around the idea of purchasing the 'curves and surfaces' module for our CMM program as well.

Recneps

 

[ProEpro]

Recneps

Have you had a bad experience with scanners? They are used for reverse engineering and inspection all of the time. If used properly they are very accurate (<0.001&quot. There is lots of software avalable to turn the point coulds into surfaces. (We use Paraform.) The surfaces are easily turned into Parametric Pro/E files. There are many service providers that will scan your part and quickly return fully modifable Pro/E file.

Gom has some good examples on thier web page

http://www.gom.com/En/Applications/digitizing.html

this page lists lots of other scanners.

http://3dk.asu.edu/digitizer/

If anyone needs more help with scanning I will be glad to answer e-mails.

ProEpro

 

[Recneps]

I must admit that I have no experience with scanners that are designed for output to CAD applications. I have seen and tested a few that are designed for 'reverse marketing'...where a product is created and marketing wants a pretty 3D picture of it so they can stick it in a brochure. I have no need for those.

Recneps