[Dan Dubeau]

Going the route of the laser is expensive, and i'm afraid isn't a viable option here. Although i do have acces to a CMM (thats the machine with the probe). Cmm's are actually very accurate. I believe ours at work accurate to +/-0.001mm. I'm not quite sure on the exact tolerance as i don't work in that department. While not quite as tight as lasers for what i'm doing it will work just fine.

all else fails i can just do it the old fashioned way with calipers, mic, and some other manual equipment.

I'm only looking to accuratly measure the existing mounting hole sizes and position, as well as any clearance thats need to be provided for surrounding parts. Everything else would be created by me.

again, thanks for all you help. Dan

[tzortn]

Dan there is nothing wrong with the old fashioned way caliper method of reverse engineering. A lot of times I will do something like that then print out 1:1 sections. I cut out the outlines and I use the sections as guages.

How big is the part? I am assuming that it is something small. If so laser scanning would take less than an hour. The last time I worked with a laser scanner we were charging about $125 an hour. Another option is to contact a manufacturer like FARO or Romer. Tell them that you are interested in buying one of their machines. They may offer to do a small job as a test. If you need some contacts PM me.

[damic]

Dan
I'm guessing you have CNC tools at your disposal??
Hmmmm
I got lots 'o ideas for that...
Hehehe..
I really hate being in the field..
The last 5 years have been tough being away from the machine shop. It's the first time in like 25 years I havent had access to SOME tools..

I can relate. I actually am a CNC machinist and love tinkering. My problem is that our production scheduling is too tight to do freelance work. Also, if the machine was free my bosses anal sphincter would pucker big time if I did start tinkering. I'm working on trying to get some mid sized equipment to put in my garage to work on my own projects when the spirit moves me.

[Katgirl]

I just read through most of this, I swear you guys are speaking Punjabi sometimes!

[Black_peter]

Really? cause I don't even know what Punjabi is..

The really cool part was when my company had the offsite production fab,
with full sheetmetal shop..
Bring in a autocad drawing and a 6 pack and you could get just about anything made...

[dark169]

I don't know how they do it at your end, but I've seen systems in use that use lasers to do three-dimensional recreation of physical items with angstrom-length tolerances to whatever was scanned. It's a time consuming process (stick the part in, walk away), but the resultant files are perfect (or as perfect as the original part you measured was). I know there are also CMC systems that permit a sensor tip for doing something similar, but I can't imagine that it's nearly as close in terms of tolerances.

Good Luck!
=-= The CyberPoet

I know the boys on my schools Formula SAE team are having the university do their f4i600 engine with the laser scanning. Pretty neat stuff, and unless your getting it for free it is WAY to expensive.

Perhaps head down to the univeristyies in the area and talk to grad students in manufacturing, mechanical and other various areas and see what is availiable in your area.

[bonstrosity]

I was just reading this post and it interests me a lot. Sorry, I have just gotten into my engineering field at school and have started taking a design and manufacturing class. So I have a pretty good Idea of what is going on. I'm not of any help but Dan what was your degree in school? and how did you end up where you are? (just looking ahead at what I might be doing).