Scaling hand made sculptures is extremely difficult, time consuming, and sometimes impossible. Urbana needed to create a master pattern of their hand made sculpture for plaster casting.

The CAD Workshop, a Dassault Systemes training company, needed to obtain CAD data of an aircraft lightbulb unit, which consists of an assembly of 9 separate parts.

Blister packs and other thermoformed parts often present problems to design engineers. Frequently there are numerous complex shapes, blends, and radii.

Collectors of ancient artifacts know that while rare and sometimes extremely valuable, the preservation and maintenance of relics of the past is of the upmost importance. While restoration of such antiquities can extend their life, the chemical reactions taking place within their ancient materials mean that decay and deterioration is unavoidable.

Panoramic Inc., a designer and manufacturer of custom thermoformed plastic packaging products, needed to reverse engineer existing paper packaging to create new plastic packaging.

Microprocessor Designs, a product design and development company, needed to obtain CAD data of a desktop-sized ‘donut’ consisting of four sections. The complex sections contain numerous bolt-holes and features which are critical to the function and fit of the part.

J.C. Steele & Sons, the largest producer of heavy clay machinery in the United States, needed to remodel some of their existing steel machine parts. The function of the machinery depends on the tight fit between the individual parts.

Heritage Manufacturing, Inc., a revolver manufacturer, needed to reproduce a legacy part gun. Because Heritage had no existing CAD data to aid in design assistance, they would need to find a way to extract the dimensions of the housing and loading gate of the gun.

Gilbarco, a leading global supplier of fuel dispensing equipment, needed to optimize fluid flow through a complicated cast part. Gilbarco wanted to use computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis in order to quickly optimize the shape for fluid flow but no CAD data of the cast part existed.

While structurally strong and economically viable, most plastic parts today suffer from warpage of their otherwise rigid structure over long distances or under differing amounts of pressure.

Denton ATD Inc, a leading provider of Anthromorphic Test Devices (ATDs), needed to update the shape and features of many of their existing ATDs. Because the parts were designed and manufactured many years ago, most lacked any CAD data.

CertainTeed, a complete building products manufacture, needed to reverse engineer existing roofing tile cutters. The cutters are currently in use by CertainTeed, however no CAD model of the physical parts existed.

AGCO, one of the world's largest distributors of agricultural equipment, needed to recreate to key components of an engine coupler. The two large gears had combined cast and machined surfaces.

Based on and inspired by a '54 Chevy, the Southern 408 looks and feels like an American classic. To help bring this classic street rod to market, Southern Motor Company partnered with Panoz Automotive.

Engineers often need to design parts that fit inside objects that lack CAD data. The measurements of these legacy parts are typically obtained via calipers or a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM).

Elan Motorsports uses a standard fiberglass lay-up process to create the shell (outer body mold) of their VanDiemen DP02 Sports Racer. Based off the model design of an existing racer body, Elan needed to know the shell's dimensions in order to correctly place the engine and chassis.

Digital models of massive aircraft such as the Airbus A319 can be tested via computational fluid dynamics (CFD) if the model is accurate enough to the actual physical shape.

The National Park Service’s Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument in Idaho contains the largest concentration of Hagerman Horse (Equus simplicidens) fossils in North America. The NPS paleontologists at the Fossil Beds were curious about the technology of 3D scanning, but had never used it in their research.

BSCI Energy Impact Systems is a leader in the development and research of foam safety components and has pioneered innovations that have set the industry standard in professional racing. BSCI’s successes are driven by their understanding of the importance of properly designed and functioning padding inside the car - padding that helps protect drivers from the tremendous forces applied during a crash.

In 1994, NASA obtained a specially modified Boeing 757-200 to be used for aeronautical research. Named the ARIES, or Airborne Research Integrated Experiments System, the aircraft has gone through numerous customizations and modifications to earn its "flying laboratory" nickname. Over time, NASA realized that in order to maintain the ARIES as its premier research aircraft, they would need to modify the fairings.

Situation Original, CAD, and Internal Features Medical training programs are the cornerstone of successful medical practice. Medical Education Technologies Inc. (METI), a developer of medical training products, lost its only supplier of the PediaSIM® airway, leaving them with physical models but no CAD data and no way to manufacture them.

Engineered Metals and Composites, Inc. (EM&C) is the premier OEM manufacturer of aluminum towers and small products for the marine industry. From T-tops, hard tops and towers, to rod holders, leaning posts, rails and poling platforms, they provide the highest quality enhancements and accessories for fishing and pleasure boats.

Situation Truck Armor Kit The vast amount of supplies being sent into Iraq has been key to the U.S. Military's efforts in the region. Convoys of trucks loaded with supplies have been entering Iraq from Kuwait for the past several years; however, the lightly armored trucks offer very little protection for the drivers against projectiles and explosives. DRS Radian was contracted to develop armor kits for several models of trucks in order to ensure the safety of the drivers.

Since its introduction in the 1960s, the MC-130E Talon I has been modified on a nearly continuous basis to incorporate more and more modern technology into its legacy design. One such addition is of a state-of-the-art radar system which would be housed inside a radome that was hand-crafted from fiberglass in the 1950s.

Omix-Ada is the premier manufacturer of Jeep replacement, restoration and accessory products, including the Rugged Ridge accessory line of floormats. Currently, Jeep floormats are either “carpet,” thermoformed rubber that fits the car, or “deep” all-weather flat floormats that are not formed to fit.

Aftermarket manufacturers are unable to fully take advantage of OEM CAD data because of the slight variations between the CAD data and the as-built part, especially for body panels. Furthermore, automakers offer their own competitive in-house brands as an alternative to third-party companies.

The Rotunda of the National Archives Museum is the final resting place of the Declaration of Independence, one of our nation's most treasured documents. Over time, the unique hand-crafted frame has become worn down, leaving its intricacies muted and details eroded.

The affordability, efficiency and quality of the turboprop engine has spurred its widespread use in various industries since its entry into the market. Acme Turbine Company*, a turbine blade manufacturing company, wanted to gain a competitive advantage by producing superior blades at a lower cost.

A Minnesota company who manufacturers high quality ATV, snowmobile, and motorcycle parts and accessories designed and manufactured a prototype snow blade for the Yamaha Grizzly ATV. The company needed a faster and more accurate way to capture the ATV’s geometry for their part design and development process.

The US Department of Energy has funded the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for advanced research in fusion power. Using a device called a stellarator, the PPPL has been able to generate a million-degree fusion reaction that is magnetically suspended inside the stellarator's experimental and unique shape.

NASA routinely performs maintenance and repair on the 40,000+ unique heat resistant tiles covering the space shuttle. Tiles are usually repaired by removing them, filling the space with plaster, and then machining a new one based on the shape of the plaster.

Bell Helicopter's "Huey" is one of the world's most recognizable helicopters. Primarily used by the US Marine Corps, the current model UH-1Y's design stems from the original UH-1 developed in 1955.

Companies working with molds must often make changes to the shape of tooling right on the shop-floor. These continuous improvements are necessary to avoid delays in production due to imperfect manufacturing results.

Miniature figurines have long been a source of interest for collectors and military enthusiasts. Historical battles can be completely recreated on a small scale with hundreds of figurines, each one representing a regiment or battle group.

This type of commercial application showcases the remarkable capabilities of 3D laser scanning to accurately, completely, and quickly facilitate changes in scale; small items can be made larger to scale or larger items can be scaled down.

Orthopedic devices, with their focus on fit and support for the human form, are advancing rapidly as we learn more about how to optimally heal and rehab injuries. GKS Services specializes in 3D laser scanning, which can produce a fast, precise CAD model of whatever body part is affected.

GKS Services Corp. was founded in 1981 as a scanning services bureau. The company has grown in its 30-year history to become a sought-after expert in dimensional inspection, 3D laser scanning, computed tomography (CT) scanning, and long-range scanning, completing well over 20,000 projects.

Fact or fiction?: Data acquired with 3D scanning is inferior to that acquired via touch probe and CMM——This is FICTION! 3D scanning captures tens of thousands of points per second, an enormous amount of data that makes the process statistically superior.

What other misconceptions about 3D scanning have you heard (and maybe believed)?

Back in the mid-1980s entrepreneur C. Martin Schuster had a novel idea: use line-laser scanning to accurately digitize and model complex 3D shapes so they be used in CAD/CAM systems for industrial manufacturing.

The Minnesota company designs and manufactures a unique line of small electrically powered watercraft inspired by the enjoyment of personal recreational experiences up-close in the land of 10,000 lakes.

Laser Design Inc., the leading supplier of 3D laser scanners for more than 20 years, introduced a new high-precision line of 3D scanners, the Surveyor ZS-Series. It is based on the Spectrum CMM platform from Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology, the world-renowned manufacturer of high-accuracy measurement equipment.

Mystery Science Theater 3000, an award-winning television comedy, created many unique puppet characters in the course of its 20-year existence. Producers wanted to create a collector’s item of one of the show’s robot characters. They knew that 3D laser scanning would provide the most accurate and detailed model from which realistic figures could be easily manufactured.

The customer was familiar with the concept of 3D modeling and searched the Internet for a service provider. GKS was the strongest option on his results list so he contacted an account manager.

As the recent economic downturn eases, many companies can again begin to invest in new equipment to improve their manufacturing processes. Two sections of the current Tax Relief Act add incentives for companies to do so.