Industrial CT Scanning for Reverse Engineering

CT Scanning offers unique benefits for reverse engineering. When parts are cut to acquire internal data, relief and warp can be introduced. Cut lines remove data that could be needed and can be difficult to repair. Further, complex parts can be impossible to section properly to acquire all geometry.

This post highlights a part that could not be sectioned due to multiple layers (a critical feature of this casting was the internal water jacket geometry). We used Industrial CT Scanning to acquire general scans, and then focus scans for higher resolution. Each of these scans was then aligned to a master scan acquired by our Zeiss Comet L3D.

Watertight CT Scanned .stl File

These images show high resolution, water tight geometry of the external and internal features of this aluminum casting.

Auto Surfaced Model

Auto-surfacing, or mesh wrapping, is the most accurate method for turning scan data into CAD, but the surfaces can be difficult to work with due to their organic shapes and large file sizes.

Parametric Model

Parametric Modeling is reverse engineering including design intent. We can build models to be inspired by its scan but with corrected features like flat planes, concentric holes, and perfect patterns. File sizes are smaller, surfaces are easier to work with, but these models are less accurate because they correct part imperfections.