Restoring an Heirloom Revolver: 3D Scanning & Reverse Engineering

Restoring an Heirloom Revolver

We recently received a request by a family to assist in refurbishing a family heirloom: a 1950s revolver that belonged to a late detective of the family. The revolver is very obviously aged, to the point that the trigger no longer functioned. It was worn, chipped, and would not engage.

Below is a picture of the revolver completely deconstructed and prepped to be scanned.

In order to have confidence in creating a working model of the trigger we scanned all significant pieces and virtually reassembled them. Why? If material is missing from the trigger and we reconstruct that material in the model, we need to be sure there won’t be any interference.

This slideshow demonstrates the different components of the revolver and the complexity of the assembly.

The slideshow below shows where the actual trigger would not engage and how much closer the custom model (in blue) will be once it is machined.

Below is what we call an “overlay.” The part and model are literally overlaid in our software for comparison. The scale is set to +-.75mm.

Green to red on the spectrum tells us there is too much material in that location compared to the created model. Green to blue tells us there is less material in that location than the model. Because the heat map shows green to blue we know that the model was adjusted properly to correct the wear and chip on the trigger.

While we have you here we have to show off the amazing resolution of the safety by our Zeiss Comet L3D scanner.