Experts in product reverse engineering and design for manufacture.
Our Trusted Clients.
What is reverse engineering?
The main principle of reverse engineering is to understand how a product works. This information can then be used to recreate the product like for like or improve it with added features and functionality. More often than not, the main goal of reverse engineering is to either re-create a product because it is no longer available or create a similar product in a more cost-effective manner.
At Rev.Engineer we focus on reverse engineering products utilising non contact laser scanning technology. There are three general steps common to all our reverse engineering projects. They include:
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We start off any reverse engineering project by collecting highly accurate point cloud data with either our arm or CMM laser scanners.
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There are various levels of CAD modelling depending on your requirements. However, the general principle is to accurately re-create the part by referencing the scan data considering the parts original design intent. We can also make additional modifications if required.
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Finally, once we have completed the CAD model we will create an inspection report of the original scan data against the new CAD model. Typically this is issued as a general global deviation report shown as a colour heat map.
At Rev.Engineer we have over 35 year experience in reverse engineer services, so we are capable of tackling the most challenging projects. The principles of reverse engineering can be applied to almost any product large or small, from complex assemblies, fine detailed jewellery or even automotive components their are really very little limitations. Our reverse engineering experiences is also supported by an in depth knowledge of manufacturing techniques, so we are capable of taking any project all the way through to manufacture.
What can we reverse engineer?
What is laser scanning?
Laser scanning is a highly accurate non-contact, non-destructive digital technology that captures the 3D geometry of a physical object. Traditional measuring equipment, such as CMM touch probes or manual measuring tools only measure one data point at a time, making them a much more labour intensive, time consuming measurement method. With laser scanning you can record thousands of data points per second as the laser is moved over the part regardless of its geometry.
At Rev.Engineer we exclusively use Nikon Metrology laser scanners (handheld and CMM) as they are renowned for being the most accurate scanners on the market. Our handheld scanner are accurate to +-35 microns (0.35mm) and our CMM scanners have an accuracy of +-4 microns (0.04mm).
We understand cost is an extremely important factor when consider your reverse engineering project. Unfortunately, each project needs to be priced individually as there are various factures that will need to be consider:
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The bigger the part typically the longer it takes to scan and process the point cloud data.
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The parts geometry will effect the time required to scan and also the time required to reverse engineer.
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This entirely depends on your project requirements. There are various levels of processing from reference models to design intent parametric models.
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It is much more cost effective if you can send the parts to our climate controlled metrology suite in Sheffield, but if that isn’t an option we can offer portable scanning services for an additional fee.
Fortunately, we can be extremely competitive on price as our advanced hardware and software mean less time and labour being spent during the measurement acquisition and design iterations, laser scanning is substantially more cost-effective than most other measuring technologies.
See our example price projects below.