combination of the nextengine and mircroscribe?

[dalianharley]

hi all,
i'm trying to scan motorcycle parts into CAD files, so i thought this nextengine thing would be the solution - well it only does some surface right but the edges are all scattered up. so i bought this microscribe G2 (which hasn't arrived yet) and was hoping with help of a touch probe i can get my lines right.

have you guys done anything similar to this? what's the best way to reverse engineering a part like a front fender of a motorcycle? we make carbon parts for bikes and i really want to digitize the mold making process. but if i have to spend a week to get one part right then it's not feasible. 4~6 hrs of scanning work for a front fender will be very reasonable.

any advices?

thx

daz

[jimiscnc]

I'm in the same boat, except I didn't buy both. I have a nextengine scanner and i only got the minimum basic package, not the additional $2,500 worth of software. I have not been able to use it effectively. My part is too big to spin so I'd like to scan in sections and align the sections together.

It seems like it's good scanning surfaces normal to the laser, but if the surface isn't normal, then it doesn't even show up. I got the white hairspray on the part.

I suspect I'd get better results if I could spin the part?

I would really like to befriend somebody that's mastered one of these and wouldn't mind a phone call or two from me.

the microscribe reminds me of a Faro Arm. I've seen Faro arm demos and they seem to work magnificently for creating full and complete surfaces. So I though all scanners were this great.

My first plan was to get a used Faro arm that was in my price range. So I did the ebay craigslist route and lined some stuff up. Got the model numbers and sent an email to Faro support asking if they would support something like this. The response I got was that Faro does not feel obliged to support product that is no longer part of their current product line!

Looks like they're creating a great opportunity for somebody inclined to start "Faro Obsolete, Inc." to fill the support void this policy would create?

-90% Jimmy

[awerby]

The problem is that every scanner will produce surfaces and (especially) edges that are less perfect than the original object scanned, and certainly less perfect than the original CAD files used to create the object. To get back to this "design intent" you need to use reverse-engineering software. I just got back from a dealer training session on a really nice product for that: Rapidform XOR.

You bring in a scan of a mechanical-type object, which, for instance, is a cylinder with a couple of bolt holes in it. The scan will give you an indication of how the cylindrical surface lies, and where the holes should be, but the surface is noisy and the holes themselves will be unusable for recreating the object. In XOR, you pick a few points on the surface, inform the software that they describe a cylinder, and it creates a true cylindrical surface that fits. Similarly, you pick points at the edge of a hole, tell the software that this is a hole of a certain size, and it will put them into a CAD model that's constructed over the scan but has good (Class A) surfaces, crisp edges, and precise dimensions. It's a huge timesaver, and makes it possible to use fairly cruddy scans to recreate precise, functional parts.

In concert with a hand-held scanner like Creaform's Uniscan (which I also sell) that has the advantage of being able to scan from multiple angles as needed, you can derive clean CAD models from legacy parts for which even blueprints may not be available, and make duplicates or matching parts as needed. This stuff isn't cheap, of course, but the real wonder is that it's possible at all...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[richard_next]

I'm in the same boat, except I didn't buy both. I have a nextengine scanner and i only got the minimum basic package, not the additional $2,500 worth of software. I have not been able to use it effectively. My part is too big to spin so I'd like to scan in sections and align the sections together.

It seems like it's good scanning surfaces normal to the laser, but if the surface isn't normal, then it doesn't even show up. I got the white hairspray on the part.

I suspect I'd get better results if I could spin the part?

I would really like to befriend somebody that's mastered one of these and wouldn't mind a phone call or two from me.

-90% Jimmy

Just to get things out of the way, I work at NextEngine, and would like to say that we have an online live chat option that is open to all NextEngine customers where you can chat with an Engineer to help you with your scanning woes. Please give us a chance to provide you a better scanning experience.

You can just log in to our support website via the Support button in the scanner software, if you have problems with that method, you can try emailing info @ nextengine.com (sorry for breaking up the email...lots of spam bots)

As to RapidFrom XOR, we have that packaged as one of the extra software add ons, ours is just labeled RapidWorks and has a limitation set in the input file you can open, but other than that it's (almost) fully functional RapidForm


Richard

[jimiscnc]

Your response here really means a lot to me.

I will take you up on your suggestion and hook up with you folks and try to make myself more proficient.

I hope you realize my comments have more to do with my personality type than your company! I find that I learn best when I can talk directly with people that know the product and then mess with it again on my own and then ask more questions.

All my working life I've had plenty of colleagues to pick brains, but I'm on my own now and have few places to turn. And I go very slowly if it's something I have only myself to rely on. You've made it clear that you have avenues to extend a helping hand to your customers. I'm impressed!

To summarize, you have a good customer support system, it is I that has not taken advantage of it! Being low on the learning curve can be frustrating!

Thanks

Jim

[richard_next]

You're most welcome! We look forward to hearing from you.

Richard

Your response here really means a lot to me.

I will take you up on your suggestion and hook up with you folks and try to make myself more proficient.

I hope you realize my comments have more to do with my personality type than your company! I find that I learn best when I can talk directly with people that know the product and then mess with it again on my own and then ask more questions.

All my working life I've had plenty of colleagues to pick brains, but I'm on my own now and have few places to turn. And I go very slowly if it's something I have only myself to rely on. You've made it clear that you have avenues to extend a helping hand to your customers. I'm impressed!

To summarize, you have a good customer support system, it is I that has not taken advantage of it! Being low on the learning curve can be frustrating!

Thanks

Jim