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Success is defined by results - and we have many stories to tell. Here are just a few... |
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NVision’s Contract Service Division recently reverse engineered the complete core of a steam turbine for a major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in only 6 weeks compared to the 6 months that the OEM had budgeted for the project using less sophisticated measurement methods. “Measuring the critical blade geometry to high levels of accuracy made it possible for the turbine manufacturer to perform simulations that helped to redesign the blades and diaphragms to substantially improve the energy efficiency of the hundreds of existing turbines,” said Steve Kersen, President of NVision. (More...)
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Toshiba GE Turbine Components (TGTC) has reduced the time required to inspect and
measure steam turbine blades from 280 minutes to 45 minutes by using the MAXOS non-contact measurement system. (More...)
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Fain Models uses NVision's HandHeld Laser Scanner to produce accurate copies of jet fighter ejection seats for use in the flight simulation and training markets for significantly less than the cost of the flight worthy seat. Fain technicians use the NVision scanner to capture the 3D geometry of the more than 100 components in the seat and then use the geometry to machine the seats or models used to make molds. "The NVision HandHeld Scanner is ideal for this application because it can freely move around an object to capture data at any angle at a very high resolution," said Cris Runge, Scanning and Reverse Engineering Manager for Fain Models. (More...)
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Using NVision’s laser scanning and engineering services has helped a manufacturer of K9 training equipment save time and money while increasing the accuracy with which it can digitize prototypes. The result has been better products produced in less time at less cost. “I have become convinced of the value of laser scanning,” said Guy Hairston, President of Harddog’s Requisites. “I have also seen first-hand the dedication of NVision’s people to meeting their customers’ needs and would recommend them highly to anyone who needs a first-rate laser scanning service bureau.” (More...)
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The aluminum casting was left too long in an oven where a heat treating operation was being performed. The oven distorted the geometry to the point that operators for the subsequent machining operation felt that they would be unable to make a good part. The distortion reached the level that they were not able to even determine an orientation that the part could be placed in that would eliminate the need to add material to achieve required dimensions. The part could have been recast but that would cost $5,000, taken two months, and delayed the delivery of the finished product to the customer by nearly that long.
The solution turned out to involve an innovative use of NVision's laser scanner. (More...)
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Tennessee Watercraft, Inc. (TWI) is enjoying significant time and money savings by using NVision’s laser scanning service to speed the process of robot programming. The company has found that NVision’s scanning service easily pays for itself by cutting an estimated $150,000 off the cost of robot programming, a reduction of ±60 percent. The laser scanning also has greatly reduced the time required for programming. (More...)
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Laser technology was used to generate a solid model of a 53-foot trailer with significantly less time and money than would have been
needed to do the job by hand.
The "virtual" model was created to test heavy vehicle components produced by a leading tier one supplier for automotive, commercial, and off-highway
vehicles. A CAD operator would normally need several months to create such a large simulation model. Instead, the supplier contracted NVision Inc. to model
the trailer using laser scanning and laser tracking technology. The model is now being used to refine the design of the supplier's truck components at an earlier
stage in the development process, which reduces "time to market"
(More...)
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Recently, a tier one automotive supplier asked Hunt Machine and Manufacturing to build a mold to produce an enhanced version of an existing interior trim component that sits on the top of the airbag module in an instrument panel. “The challenge came from the fact that we were given this task without any historical data that anyone felt comfortable with.” Hunt said. The part was so soft and flexible that it would have been impossible to use a contact measurement method to determine its geometry. It would have been possible to measure the mold using a contact measurement method but this would have created the challenge of somehow backing out the shrinkage allowance for the original material and adding the shrinkage allowance for the new material. In addition, there were intricate cursive graphics on the part that would have been nearly impossible to reproduce using a CMM.
Hunt looked for an alternative method of digitizing the part. “I was particularly impressed with the NVision people,” Hunt continued. “They seemed to have the best technology and the deepest talent.” (More...)
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Track Seating, a stadium seating manufacturer, has improved its ability to re-use previous designs by using laser scanning to reverse engineer existing seats. The company frequently has the need to build new tooling for or make revisions to products that were designed before computer aided design (CAD) systems were available. In the past, it took weeks to capture geometrical data from the old products point-by-point with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). More recently, the company began using a laser scanning service bureau to reverse engineer the seats. The bureaus’ scanner generates a point cloud consisting of millions of data points in minutes. This dramatically reduces the cost and time required while also generating a file that represents the contours of the seat to a much higher level of accuracy. (More...)
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Hensley Industries (Dallas, Texas), which builds ground engaging tools for the construction and mining industries, is saving a significant amount of time and money by using an NVision laser scanner to verify that its replacement parts will fit existing equipment just as well as do its original parts.
One of the greatest challenges for Hensley in building replacement parts for a wide range of equipment is the need to build teeth and adaptors that fit perfectly with the installed base of existing equipment. As they introduced a new product line recently, Hensley engineers wanted to verify that it’s mating geometry was the same as that of its previous product line
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After changes in the GTS rules for the 2003 world famous Le Mans 24 hour race, Veloqx Prodrive Racing were faced with a mandatory reduction in engine power. This rule change, combined with an increase in competition for this year’s race, meant that any possible improvements in the aerodynamic performance of the rear wing, primarily drag reduction, would play a major role in the success of the car.
Given that the project was outlined in early March and with race day fast approaching, there were very few opportunities remaining for actual testing. In fact there was only sufficient time for one wing design to be tested prior to the pre-qualifying event in May. (More...)
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Military hardware is aging fast.
In some cases, it’s older than the soldiers who use it. Spare parts are required to keep this equipment running, but many of the companies that supplied the parts have long left the business, and drawings and documentation may no longer exist. Reverse-engineering firms have stepped in to recreate the parts using the latest computerized numerical control machinery, and laser scanning systems offer them performance benefits.
One approach to reverse engineering is to use a coordinate measuring machine to produce a model of a new or used part. The machine employs motors operating through ball screws to provide three axes of linear motion. The operator moves the probe to a point that he or she wishes to measure, and rotary encoders determine the position of each axis with a high degree of accuracy. This method offers some positive results, but it is not without its drawbacks. (More...)
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By replacing a seat inspection system based on templates with a laser scanning approach, Johnson Controls saved $60,000 in template costs and reduced validation time for PT Cruiser seats from almost four months to three weeks. Building 24 sets of templates to test all the possible seat configurations for this vehicle would have taken three months.
Testing 270 seats, the number required by DaimlerChrysler, would have taken another three weeks. Instead, the quality department opted to capture seat contours using a laser scanner. The cost and three-month delay for building templates was avoided, and the scanner captured 3D coordinate data for all 270 seats in only three weeks. "The main benefit of using the scanner was the time savings since we had to delay production until the testing was completed," says Rosa Leyva, division quality manager at Johnson Controls' Toluca, Mexico Comfortseat operation. "But the scanner also gives more accurate information, which we are using to establish manufacturing
tolerances. "More...)
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Evernham Motorsports is using NVision's hand held laser scanning system to develop its race cars more quickly by allowing the team to document even the smallest changes to the body design. The major components of the Model-Maker system are a 3-D laser sensor, a mechanical digitizer on which the sensor is attached, a PC, and software that extracts, displays, and manipulates the data.
In automobile racing, where as little as 1/100th of a second difference in lap time can mean the difference between first and second place, slight variations in body design have a huge impact on performance. Teams work hard to optimize the car's shape for the best aerodynamics, but until recently, they had no way of precisely documenting that shape. (More...)
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At Jerry Fain Models (Bedford, TX), the problem was time.
The company provides prototyping, modeling and reverse engineering services for a variety of manufacturing markets. Critical to the business is the ability to accurately measure models that are provided by customers and to inspect parts produced by the company’s machinists in order to ensure that they are dimensionally accurate.
For these tasks, the company has long used a portable, laser-based coordinate measuring machine (CMM). But limitations of this unit are that it captures data points one at a time, and that the operator must manually move the steering system to track each point to be measured.
'The time required to perform this task makes it impractical to completely reverse engineer anything beyond relatively simple components and assemblies," says Cris Runge, scanning and reverse engineering manager at the firm. (More...)
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Switching from a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) and height gauges to a laser scanner has substantially reduced the time required for reverse engineering while improving accuracy at Boeing's Phantom Works facility in St. Louis, according to David Skiles, Rapid Prototype Development Technician. Reverse engineering, producing a CAD model from a physical product, is important in cases where modifications are to be made to an older aircraft as well as other situations. In the past, the most common approach was using a CMM to measure data points on the surface of the aircraft, which was time-consuming and provided limited accuracy. Laser scanning, on the other hand, generates a far greater number of data points, which improves accuracy, in less time. " Using special surfacing software, scanned data can be used to create a CAD surface model of the part that is accurate to within 0.0012 inch to sheet metal surfaces and 0.0002 inch for hole position," Skiles said. (More...)
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NVision's laser scanner creates surface models of vehicle interiors and occupants, measuring human factors criteria, such as reach, posture, and visibility.
Using NVision's laser scanner to create surface models of vehicle interiors and occupants can substantially improve the occupant packaging design process Occupant packaging is the process of measuring human factors criteria, such as reach, posture, and visibility, for a proposed interior package
(More...)
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Reverse engineering plays a significant role at Priority Designs of Columbus, OH, because we are often assigned the task of taking old products and making them function better or meet the needs of a new application. And we do this for customers who make everything from sporting goods to plumbing wares.
One recent example was a project for a manufacturer of protective eyewear for lacrosse players. Priority Designs took on the job of designing the new eyewear last year and was faced with the challenge of reverse engineering a head form model that was provided by the client. The model was based on the target market for which the eyewear would be manufactured. (More...)
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The differences between motor racing on two wheels and four go far deeper than just arithmetic. In Formula 1, for instance, races are routinely won and lost in the pits; on motorbikes, the archaic practice of overtaking is still regularly reported. It is behind the scenes, however – away from the cameras – that the real differences between the two sports really emerge. (More...)
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