3-D Scanner-based Reverse Engineering For some reverse engineering jobs, the entire process may be done using scanned 3-D surfaces produced using QC Inspeciton Service's COMET 250 white light scanner. Applications include molded or milled parts with slightly less stringent tolerances than most machine parts. The object is scanned with full 3-D coverage using the COMET 250 white light scanner. Separate partial scans are aligned and merged into a single surface made of thousands or millions of triangles in a large mesh, with any parts of the surface obscured from the scanner filled in manually. Sharp edges that were softened in the scan process are enhanced. The resulting polygon surface is watertight and used to generate an analytic NURBS surface. This surface can be further modified by importing into 3-D CAD packages or can be exported directly to IGES or other formats for machining or molding. The COMET 250 can also be used to verify CAD models using more traditiional techniques. The COMET excels at quickly acquiring surfaces that a CMM cannot fully capture. By comparing a full surface scan with a CAD model, a color map can be quickly produced, highlighting any trouble spots in the CAD model. The CAD model can be adjusted, and the comparison repeated until even very complex surfaces are modeled accurately. To view more information about our Engineering Group, please go to www.qcinspect.com/eng.htm. To view more information about our reverse engineering capabilities, please go to www.qcinspect.com/rev.htm. To view more information about our COMET 250 white light scanner, please go to www.qcinspect.com/comet250.htm. Comment on this article