A technological approach to equipment repair saves from production downtime

Technology: marker scanning, reverse engineering
Location: RangeVision Laboratory
Equipment: RangeVision PRO 3D scanner
Software: ScanCenter, CAD
Time costs: scanning — 16 hours, processing — 24 hours

The Nizhny Novgorod branch of RangeVision was approached by a production company with the task of reverse engineering metal tooling. The object was promptly digitized using a 3D scanner of the PRO line with the accuracy necessary for making a duplicate. As a result, the client’s production downtime was tripled.

The production equipment — the mold for making the canister lid — was seriously worn out and required prompt replacement. It was a complex multi-sectional structure made of steel. The nuances of its geometry: narrow grooves, holes, chamfers and ledges — were executed with high precision, but they were severely destroyed and deformed. Since this product was supposed to serve as a reference for making a duplicate, the engineer digitized it as accurately as possible using the RangeVision PRO scanner with structured illumination technology.

The sample was disassembled into its component elements, and technological markers were glued to their surfaces to improve the accuracy of operations. Thanks to this, the scanner recorded not only the location of the main working surfaces relative to the guides and baselines, but also the shape features that are barely visible to the eye.

Next, the created polygonal model was transformed into a mathematical one, analyzed and reconstructed — the lost elements were completed to avoid repeating signs of wear in the new product. The customer planned to produce a duplicate on a CNC machine with an accuracy of 0.1 mm. In fact, the measurements, and therefore the CAD model, turned out to have a double "margin": the scanner provided accuracy up to 0.05 mm.

The main goal of reducing production downtime has been achieved. The shape of the canister lid was absent from the workshop for only 2 days. For comparison, the traditional use of coordinate measuring machines or other tools would take three times as long, and the geometry of the product would be less accurately determined.

Dmitry Telegin, a RangeVision technology engineer, has been engaged in digitization and post-processing of three-dimensional objects for over 11 years. He notes: "The effectiveness of the technology is particularly visible in extreme situations. When it’s not just a matter of speeding up prototyping or saving an electronic model for future modifications, but when a company is risking money due to production downtime, and every hour counts." 3D scanning technology is optimal for obtaining high-precision models in the shortest possible time.