Mylar Prints

[gsejrmech]

I am looking for a digitzier that can input the data from classic Mylars into CAD type file. Are there any people stuck with 1 to 1 huge prints of J & K size and using caliper and old fashion methods or is it just me.

 

[jtil]

We have a similar situation with our legacy drawings. What we have done is lease a large scanner to convert the drawing to a raster image (TIFF format for us) and then use a raster to vector application (RasterEx in our case but there are plenty of choices out there) to vectorize the portions of the drawing that need to change. Note we don't vectorize everything, just the minimum that needs to be done. The result is a hybrid raster drawing that resides in a CATIA v5 CATDrawing. Also if your company can't afford a expensive scanner take the drawings down to Kinkos and have them scan it for you.

Hope this helps
Jim

 

[solid7]

Also if your company can't afford a expensive scanner take the drawings down to Kinkos and have them scan it for you.

Last time I went to Kinko's to check prices on anything large format, I sort of arrived at the conclusion that if you couldn't afford to buy/lease equipment, then you probably also couldn't afford too many jobs through Kinko's either.

Large format printing and scanning is charged by the square foot. I don't want to quote prices, or misrepresent Kinko's in any way - so you'd better call them. But be prepared for a shock...

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CAD design engineering services - Catia V4, Catia V5, and CAD Translation. Catia V5 resources - CATBlog.

 

[JacobL]

I had a project of converting about 1000 parts and drawings from paper to Solidworks.
Seems like many times it's easier o create the model and generate a good drawing then to scan and manipulate the drawings.
You get the added benefit of having a 3D model where you had only paper.

 

[catiajim]

Another application that helps is the Sketch Tracer. This allows you to import and scale a bitmap image in 3-D. You can then sketch geometry over the top of it. By tweaking the scale of the view, you can get pretty accurate.

 

[gsejrmech]

I agree with JacobL as long as the part doesn't have contoured/irregular shapes. I deal with wings all the time, and they are all over the places. I kinda inkling towards CATIAtips as a tracer, so I can bring in a bitmap right in 3D. The other challenge would be to have different profiles as they are mentioned most of the times in old days with section views at various stations so i can develop a surface from them.

 

[JacobL]

If you are doing wings, and you have the NACA specs for them, it might be still possible to get a more accurate cross section then a scan.
The problem is when you deal with lofted parts, then it's best to do a point cloud on the model

Its all a question of money and importance of the model.