Laser Design & GKS Library of Unusual & Wacky Laser Scans · 2015. 4. 29. · A medical device manufacturer wanted to modify the original design of its old “belly board” product

Laser Design & GKS

Library of Unusual & Wacky Laser Scans

2 Laser Design & GKS Library of Unusual & Wacky Laser Scanning Projects

www.gks.com © 2011 Laser Design. All rights reserved.

29 Years of Unusual & Wacky Laser Scanning Projects Laser Design & GKS’s veteran metrologists have performed many unusual scans in their careers. Some that have come to the fore in the recent years range from small objects and parts like molded plastic parts to really big projects including huge oil drilling platforms in the ocean and an entire prison compound, decommissioned of course. Laser scanning projects and customers have grown exponentially in size and number since the technology’s inception in the mid-1980s. Larry Carlberg, an experienced engineer with over 20 years in the laser scanning industry, shared a few of his favorite, unusual scanning projects.

Table of Contents

Vanilla Ice Cream Car Covered in Chocolate Coating……………………………………………………………………. 3

Solid Gold Athletic Shoe Necklace………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

Belly Board for CT Scans……………………………………………………………………………………………............ 4

Corroded Pipes………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 4

Entire Decommissioned Prison Compound……………………………………………………………………................. 5

Model Skull for Decorative Motorcycle Brake Lights and Exhaust Pipe………………………………………………… 6

Molded Plastic Parts………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6

Animal Skulls………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……….... 6

Eroding Sand Dunes………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7

The Interior of a Water Tank at an Aquarium………………………………………………………………………………. 7

Professional Basketball Player Plaster Foot Cast, Size 23!...................................................................................... 8

Artwork - From Small to Humongous……………………………………………………………………………………….. 8

Dinosaur and Fossilized Teeth………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9

Morel Mushroom………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 9

Shake Painter Prototype Product Design Process………………………………………………………………………… 10

Costume Sexy Fangs…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

Race Car Seats……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11

Real Clam Shells………………………………………………………………………………………………………........... 11

Engine Supercharger…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11

Ships’ Tanks…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12

Offshore Oil Platform………………………………………………………………………………………………………..... 13

Anti-snoring Device…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13

Model Train Parts……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 14



Vanilla Ice Cream Bar Covered in Chocolate Coating

A well-known international food products company exports frozen ice cream bars to Japan. The chocolate coating on the bar was cracking, creating a quality-control issue. Japanese consumers are very particular about the aesthetic appeal of their food products, so the company needed to determine the optimal shipping temperature and conditions to prevent breakage of the chocolate shell. Company engineers hypothesized that the current shipping temperature may be too cold, so they wanted to determine the effect of temperature on the chocolate coating. The ice cream bars arrived at GKS in temperature-controlled coolers, cooled with liquid nitrogen. To get as accurate a scan as possible at a set temperature, the process needed to be very quick and thorough on the first try. GKS scanned ten sets of bars at two temperatures. Each bar was taken from the cooler, unwrapped,

and quickly scanned in less than 5 minutes to maintain the proper temperature. Another set of scans was performed at a slightly higher temperature so the surface data could be compared to the cooler temperature data. The gathered point cloud data was exported to STL files and the surface differential geometry was analyzed to determine which temperature made the coating more resistant to cracking. Who cares: Food scientists, international shippers dealing with temperature-controlled products and shipping containers.

Solid Gold Athletic Shoe Necklace A custom jewelry design company with high-profile customers required the high precision of laser scanning to create a unique piece for a unique customer. The customer, a professional athlete with his own line of shoes, wanted to make exact replicas to 1/10 scale of all of his shoes, and string them together into a unique solid gold necklace. The jewelry designer tried having an artist create tiny versions of each shoe, but the creations were not of sufficient detail, complexity, and accuracy. After talking to Carlberg at GKS, the designer sent one shoe to be laser scanned to see if the results lived up to his exacting standards, and they did. The professional athlete only had one archive pair of each of his special shoes from the past collections, so he had to be sure that the scanning process would not ruin the shoes in any way. Since the non-contact laser scanning system projects a line of laser light onto surfaces while cameras continuously triangulate the changing distance and profile of the laser line as it sweeps along, the problem of marring the surface or depressing the soft parts of the shoe was eliminated. The system measured fine details and captured complex freeform geometry so that the shoes could be exactly replicated. Laser scanners quickly measure articles, picking up tens of thousands of points per second. The results were absolutely perfect, down to the laces, the thread on the shoes, and the pattern of the soles. GKS eventually scanned all 14 shoe styles. Some areas of the shoes were more difficult to scan than others, for example, the laces and inside the shoe. However, the experienced GKS engineers were able to develop an excellent process to minimize the errors incurred by geometry that is not captured completely around, such as the laces and the back straps. In the end the entire area is represented on the STL models made for the jeweler who found absolutely no flaws in them. Small wax figurine rapid prototypes were created for every shoe, from which a mold was made. From the tiny, precise, meticulous molds, solid gold shoes were cast, links were added to the toes and heels, and the 1½-inch shoe “charms” were assembled into a necklace. Each shoe design posed slightly different challenges in capturing the details, but GKS laser scanning was the perfect solution. The data was very accurate and allowed GKS to create molds that were exact reproductions of the shoes themselves, which is what the client wanted. He was absolutely thrilled with the results, and commented, “The professional laser scanning at GKS exceeded my expectations and provided the precise results we were not able to get with traditional ‘artistic’ means.” Who cares: Jewelry or product designers who deal with small parts and intricate designs, and anyone scaling objects down or up. With high-accuracy, high-speed 3D digital data from laser scanning, any part can be reproduced and sized, no matter how complex.



Belly Board for CT Scans A medical device manufacturer wanted to modify the original design of its old “belly board” product to make it more comfortable for patients having CT scans. A belly board is a foam board, about 4 feet long, with an opening that allows the intestinal tract to drop below the treatment field when the patients lie on it prone. In addition to making the procedure more comfortable, it also reduces radiation exposure to the intestines and its unwanted side effects. Since this belly board was an older product, no CAD data existed for it. The company wanted to use the original version to reverse engineer a new model, first digitally, then after digital modifications were made, physically. GKS engineers quickly scanned the belly board in 3D to create a very large point cloud of data. Although the actual part was solid, the model created with Solidworks software was a model with uniform wall thickness, in other words, a hollow solid model. With the CAD model, the device company used the as-is geometry to find and report the deviations from a perfectly symmetrical version. The appropriate modifications were incorporated to make the CAD model symmetrical for production. The device company was happy to have a quick and accurate way to easily update their old product with improvements and successfully manufacture it. Who cares: Product designers, especially those who want to reverse engineer older products for which no CAD data exists. Missing and non-existent digital data is extremely common when dealing with older products, and non-contact, high-speed laser scanning is an excellent solution to obtain the necessary 3D data for any type of product, part, or assembly.

Corroded Pipes A water research laboratory at a major university was using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to study water flow in corroded pipes. CFD uses mathematical formulas to analyze and solve fluid flow problems. The lab wanted to determine how much corrosion interferes with the water flow significantly and use the information as a diagnostic to find trouble spots in water distribution systems. To obtain some baseline readings, the laboratory sent GKS two metal pipes, one 2’ long by 1” diameter and one 4’ long by 2” diameter, cut in half lengthwise, for laser scanning. Each pipe was cut in two to create two half round pieces exposing internal features with a nominal diameter to .002”. The corroded interior surfaces of the metal pipes had become calcified from years of use.

The four pipe parts were laser scanned to capture all internal and external surfaces, and then digitally merged into closed 3D models. Once more, the non-contact laser probe was able to capture all the pipe geometry, including corrosion and calcification, without damaging the breakable imperfections. The point cloud data were converted into very accurate and complete STL models, which provided the water lab with the interior profiles of the corrosion upon which to run their CFD tests. CFD will be able to show what happens to water flow when pipes are corroded, i.e., how much resistance it encounters, to predict pipe problems when flow is reduced in real water distribution systems. As this type of research into water flow proliferates, it may some day save you from shivering in a pressure-reduced cold shower. Brrrr. Who cares: Public works, product designers, R&D departments, research universities.



Entire Decommissioned Prison Compound “We have scanned a lot of buildings, but before this prison compound, we were always at liberty to leave whenever we wanted!” joked Carlberg. As a way to put a decommissioned prison to good use, a state department of corrections wanted to digitize the entire compound, inside and out. The idea was to use the 3D scan data to create a model of each area, and use it for training new recruits in how to handle any type of situation that may occur in any part of the prison. Having all areas well documented means that prison employees would know about every access point, defensible area, and hidden corner. That awareness would serve to make them better prepared to safely handle not only normal prison activities, but any emergency that might arise.

The DOC and police force took the idea of modeling the old prison for training purposes to an engineering company to design and implement the plan. Knowing that true-to-life full-scale 3D data of every area would be needed, the engineering firm contacted GKS to provide accurate, speedy long-range scanning of the site. Long-range scanning is a ground-based technique for collecting high-density 3D data to create digital models of large, complex entities such as a prison compound, which can be used for both the interiors and exteriors of structures. GKS is able to perform on-site 3D scanning of objects that are virtually unlimited in size. Using the highly accurate 3D scan data generated with long-range laser scanning, engineers and designers can create CAD models of actual site conditions by processing the scan data into universally usable CAD models. The large-scale laser scanners work by projecting a laser beam onto an angled rotating mirror that reflects the beam to the object being scanned. The unit scans 360° in a horizontal plane and 320° in a vertical plane, so that the net effect is that everything the scanner can “see” within a sphere with a 76-meter radius can be digitized in one setup, while maintaining an accuracy of +/- 3.0 mm or better over that distance. Many setups can be merged together to create large-scale scan scenarios. GKS engineers proceeded with the scanning of cell blocks, shower areas, the cafeteria, exercise yards, office spaces, and even the apartment for night guard. The highly accurate scan data was assembled and then modeled into a digital replica of the entire prison complex. Rendering software was used to color and make the model very realistic. When the end customers, i.e., the law enforcement and prison personnel, saw the demonstration of how the model could be used for many purposes, they were very impressed at how well it worked. Only a few years ago, the technology of long-range scanners was in its infancy. With its evolution and improvement, applications such as this one are becoming more common. The modeled data can be used not only for simulation and video training purposes, but it could also be used in virtual reality settings, where trainees would actually feel like they existed in the virtual prison environment.

And a different, but related application of realistic structural modeling, is in creating video games. The lifelike geometry adds an element of realism and plausibility to adventure video gaming. Who cares: Government officials and city planners and architects who have old, unused municipal buildings that they want to repurpose rather than tear down or leave abandoned, personnel training specialists, video game developers.



Model Skull for Decorative Motorcycle Brake Lights and Exhaust Pipe

A company that makes decorative accessories for motorcycles wanted to acquire a digital CAD model of a prototype skull design from which to create unusual brake light holders. The brake lights were mounted in the eye sockets and the exhaust pipe came out of the open mouth. Since it was a prototype, no CAD data existed of the part. The customer had tried having the skull scanned elsewhere and was unhappy with the accuracy and thoroughness of the results. By the time they came to GKS, their product development timeline was very limited. Luckily, this is just the type of project that GKS excels at. The skull prototype was scanned in less than one hour and an STL CAD model created with the scan data. Once the model was perfected, the company used it to reverse engineer the decorative part exactly as it had been designed as a prototype.

Who cares: Product designers who work with prototypes, especially those made of soft materials. Non-contact laser scanning captures the geometry accurately and quickly, without damaging or depressing the surface of the one-of-a-kind model.

Molded Plastic Parts Molded bunny bottle top: Sometimes companies like to use their logo in many places on product packaging to covertly remind consumers of the brand. Such is the case when a maker of bottled drinks wanted to mold its famous cartoon bunny on the screw top for its chocolate milk product. Although the bottle top screwed off, it had ornate scalloped sides like traditional pop bottles. The top was covered with the relief bunny artwork. The drink company wanted to make sure the artwork was correct and the top was the right size to fit onto the bottles. GKS scanned just the top and sides of the bottle cap, which took just a couple of minutes. After the scanning, GKS modelers made an STL solid model so the company could run their inspection reports on the as-made part vs. the as-designed CAD data. Any out of spec areas were easily identified and the molding for the bunny artwork retooled with correct dimensional data. Rose on soap bottle: This project was pretty much same as bunny bottle top except the rose emblem was molded into a blow-molded plastic bottle. Scanning time at GKS was a few minutes for the whole bottle. A solid STL model was created with the point cloud scan data, and compared to the company’s original CAD model. Dimensions of the bottle and molds were regularly inspected to keep them within spec.

Who cares: Makers of molded parts, small and large, who need to make sure their parts are within spec to fit or assemble with other parts. Molds and molded parts are often inspected at regular intervals, ensuring that the molds remain true to size.

Animal Skulls Deer Skull for Antler Mounting Kit

Some hunters like to display the antlers of the deer they bag, but do not want to have the actual taxidermy deer’s heads on the wall. However, the skull bone is ideal for holding trophy antlers in their most impressive position. A company wanted to create a deer antler mounting kit by providing a skull replica that would make the mounting process easier and sans fuzzy head. In order to make a realistic, correctly shaped artificial deer skull, the company sent a real skull to GKS for laser scanning.



GKS scanned the skull in about 2 hours and created a polymesh SLA to be used for rapid prototyping directly from the data files. With the skull data, designers could devise the best way to attach the antlers to the resin model and to mount the whole thing to a wall, all without having to stuff and mount the actual animal. Rat Skull A university biologist wanted to scan rat skulls for research purposes. He needed precise measurements, along with shape and capacity information. GKS scanned one sample out of more than 200 skulls. The scan took only a few minutes and the researcher was impressed with the point-and-click measuring capability of the data model. Although GKS could complete the job quicker than the blink of a rat’s eye, the university budget committee is still contemplating funding the project, so no further work has been done. Who cares: Product designers tasked with realistically recreating organic free-form shapes found in nature and also those made by human hands such as pieces of artwork or even sporty curves on vehicles!

Eroding Sand Dunes Long-range scanning has been used quite frequently in measuring natural features and landscapes in the construction industry. “We are just beginning to appreciate its uses in documenting land formations,” noted Carlberg. GKS was called upon to scan sand dunes in order to document their erosion due to human-made and natural causes such as foot traffic, wind, and rain. Land-use specialists want to find out how much erosion occurs due to compaction of the sand where people walk and if pathways are detrimental to the naturally evolving environment. Documenting the changes at regular intervals over time will provide data upon which to base future decisions about how the area is used for recreational purposes and how to best preserve the natural elements. Since sand is fairly featureless, distinct geographic reference points were use as markers to make sure the scans were measuring the same areas correctly. The erosion process was clearly visible in the regular series of scans. Who cares: Ecologists and those charged with protecting natural environments, including parks that have preservation and land-use issues.

The Interior of a Water Tank at an Aquarium Carlberg receives some requests that might be considered a bit oddball for the uninitiated. He, however, carefully considers the unconventional project before making a determination of whether GKS can accommodate the customer. An aquarium contacted GKS to see if they could scan one of their installation tanks full of water to capture the geometry of the aquarium features and the fish swimming around. Unfortunately, this particular scan was not physically possible. Although laser scanning easily captures free-form shapes, they must be stationary in order to do so. “I don’t think the fish and sea creatures would have held a pose while we scanned them,” Carlberg quipped. “Although our high-speed lasers capture tens of thousands of points per second, it is not an instantaneous process to capture a large area like an aquarium tank!” Another contraindication is that water is both reflective and translucent, two qualities that are difficult to scan even when not in constant flux. Who cares: Oceanographers and aquarium personnel, please don’t ask about water or underwater items, but we can scan any undersea object when it is on dry land (and not moving).



Professional Basketball Player Plaster Foot Cast, Size 23! GKS has also scanned shoes and foot casts for other reasons: many professional athletes have such huge feet and extreme support requirements, that they need custom shoes made for them. In order to exactly fit the shoe, precise three-dimensional measurements of the feet are needed. GKS scanned a plaster cast of a pro basketball player’s size 23 foot. Since laser scanning is non-contact and super fast, no detail was omitted or missed. With such large frames and feet, as well as demanding physical stresses, athletes need shoes that are specially sized and designed to support their weight and amount of impact they incur. The scan data can be used for simulations and testing of their physical properties to make sure the shoes work like they are supposed to. The precise CAD data ensures superior fit and function for “extreme” custom-designed athletic shoes. Who cares: People who make any kind of custom products, not just shoes. Having GKS scan a free-form, complex shape is fast and extremely accurate, so no worries about taking hundreds of labor-intensive manual measurements that are neither as complete nor as precise as measurements obtained through non-contact laser scanning.

Artwork - From Small to Humongous Jack in the Bean Stalk Sculpture Once upon a time, a model (approximately one cubic foot in size) of a scene from the fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk was scanned and reverse engineered on a much larger scale. The enlarged scene was going to be built on the façade of a commercial building to entice customers to enter and see what was inside. The pieces of the model, such as Jack, the beanstalk, the goose, et al., were scanned separately and then reassembled in the CAD model. The most difficult parts to scan were the curves of the beanstalk since they were irregular free-form shapes with very detailed leaves. Several setups were needed to scan the whole scene, but the entire procedure took only a few hours. The point cloud files were systematically converted to NURBS to create the large-scale model from which the scenario was built. The customer was very happy with the accuracy and detail which made the display very attractive and realistic. And of course, the pieces assembled easily since the scan dimensions of each piece are so accurate and fit together perfectly. Big Iguana to Gigantic Iguana A resort hotel wanted to create a one-of-a-kind experience for its guests by building a giant iguana bridge out of lava rock from a nearby active volcano. In order to make the creature lifelike and to a huge scale, they started with a detailed clay model from a fine artist. The model was 44” long, so it was quite heavy and needed a stable base, or it would become misshapen as it was moved around. Since laser scanning is non-contact, it was the preferred method to digitize the pliable sculpture without marring it or missing its amazing details. The lizardlike sculpture was longer than the scanning envelope and required several positionings of the laser scanner. Data from no fewer than seven scanning positions were all registered together to form the perfect replica of the iguana in digital format. Over forty cross sections were generated to represent the dimensions at each half-meter increment. Eventually the iguana was to be built as a 300’ long sculpture completely out of volcanic rock. The sheer size and volume of the project dictated that GPS positioning systems be used to stay true to the iguana’s original design intent and keep it in the correct location on a narrow peninsula. Small Fine Art Sculpture Sometimes commercial artwork needs to be bigger, but not that much bigger. GKS scanned a 5” fine art sculpted “figurine,” and sized it up to 36” to mass produce. The organic shapes and free-form curves made it impossible to measure and digitize in any other way but non-contact laser scanning. The scanning took only 1 hour on the small figurine, and the post-processing work took another 2 hours.



The true capabilities of the laser to scan accurately, completely, and quickly are showcased with these types of fine art applications. No matter what the customer’s reason, small items can be made larger to scale or large items can be scaled down. Either way, laser scanning creates a perfect digital replica of the piece. Who cares: Artists, artisans, companies that mass-produce objects, theme parks that enlarge popular characters for architectural elements and display purposes.

Dinosaur and Fossilized Teeth Dinosaur and fossilized teeth are more common than you would imagine. GKS has scanned hundreds of them, and several research universities have purchased Laser Design Surveyor 3D laser scanning systems so they can scan their own inventory of fossils, many of which are teeth. What all dinosaur teeth have in common (and for that matter any type of tooth) is the free-form shape and non-uniform structure. T-Rex teeth are larger than the teeth of most of today’s animals, about 4” long x 1½” thick, but like other carnivores their teeth have serrated edges. These types of details make measuring with contact methods difficult if not impossible. Non-contact high-speed laser scanning captures the entire irregular surface of an artifact, such as a dinosaur tooth, in seconds with high accuracy. Small details and the individual serrations are no problem to capture. Minutes later a complete digital point cloud of the scan data is visible on-screen to be modeled and manipulated as needed. The models are accurate to .002” and show incredible detail.

Fossil scan data are often stored in digital databases for archaeologists, paleontologists, and other researchers. The models can be accessed online and easily manipulated in 3D space. All dimensions are instantaneously available for comparison, contrast, and further study. With the ever-increasing cost of travel, this application of laser scanning benefits money-strapped researchers and fossil aficionados alike by being able to access thousands of records from their own computers. Researchers can determine from the shape and wear of the tooth what animals ate, how they lived, and many other research questions. The futuristic technology of laser scanning gives us a detailed and accurate look into our deep past. Who cares: Anyone with archaeological items, research companies and universities.

Morel Mushroom Sometimes GKS has been asked to scan certain items just to see if it could be done. Organic items are especially challenging (bones, teeth, leaves, etc.) and in this case, a doozey of an organic item was chosen for the challenge: a morel mushroom. The customer was an avid mushroom hunter and a materials development engineer at Stratasys, a company that manufactures rapid prototyping and direct digital manufacturing systems. His idea was to laser scan the morel, then recreate the complex, convoluted shape with a Stratasys FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) rapid prototype system directly from 3D CAD files. “Shapes found in nature are unique. There is no way to replicate them via conventional CNC machining-based manufacturing processes,” the engineer reflected. Laser Design’s Surveyor line of automated and portable 3D laser scanning systems are ideal for applications involving reverse engineering of complex-shaped objects be they metal, plastic, or, in this case, organic. Mainly, the idea was to scan and build a very complex-shaped object, and show the amazing capabilities of 3D laser scanning plus rapid prototyping when they are combined. Even though the project’s goal, a lifelike replica of a morel, was daunting, the metrologists at GKS rose to the task. First, they stabilized the flexible shape of the mushroom by inserting a metal rod into the center. This did not affect the geometry on the outside, but prevented the



morel from distorting from the pull of gravity. They then mounted it on a rotary stage to capture as much geometry as possible all the way around from several angles. To recreate an accurate model, the engineer needed high-resolution, high-detail, high-density STL files. The GKS metrologists knew that the deep inside pockets of the morel would be challenging to scan. The laser scanning system projects a line of laser light onto surfaces while cameras continuously triangulate the changing distance and profile of the laser line as it sweeps along, capturing tens of thousands of coordinates per second that it “sees” with the cameras. However, the surfaces deep inside the ridges and pockets are difficult, if not impossible, for it to see and gather data for. Because the surface of the morel was so complex and pocketed, the very large data files still contained over 5000 holes in the surface geometry after all the scan angles were performed. The Stratasys FDM rapid prototyping system would not be able to recreate the model using data containing holes. To fill in the missing sections of data manually would have taken many long hours of massaging the data. Instead GKS decided to use the Rapidform XOR software black box module to automate the process. The software took the huge point cloud of data and automatically fixed and filled the holes in the STL file that was auto-generated from the 3D scan data. It created a continuous surface in a closed STL file which is essential for the FDM rapid prototyping machine to be able to build the part. This data processing step insured the success of reproducing the complex shape of the morel. From start to finish, the scanning process took about 25 minutes total; 10 for performing the multiple scans and 15 for cleaning up the data with RapidForm XOR software. Stratasys used the files to create multiple copies of the completely lifelike morel in a translucent polymer. “Scanning things in nature is an interesting idea,” commented the engineer. “Laser scanning is a quick and painless way to gather the complex and detailed data to create the natural shapes accurately and quickly. This process would allow mass customization in a limited numbers of lots. Anything, no matter how geometrically complex, can be recreated. The potential for such a process is unlimited.” Who cares: Product designers, anyone who needs to model very complex or natural, organic objects for business or pleasure.

Shake Painter Prototype Product Design Process Inspiration for a new invention comes in many guises. A man who sold painting supplies wanted to design a painting tool that would allow easy paint coverage on shake shingles. He had devised a crude mock-up of such a tool with a foam pad and handle. He needed a CAD model to make refinements before mass production, and of course, to use in the fabrication process itself. The shake painter prototype was about 10” wide and took less than an hour to scan. The non-contact nature of laser scanning was again key in being able to produce an accurate digital model without compressing the foam surface. Once the scan data was post-processed, the inventor made stylistic modifications in the handle to make it more ergonomic. The design went on to be a best-seller and the basis for a successful multi-million dollar company. Who cares: Product designers, inventors, prototype makers who need digital models.

Costume Sexy Fangs Have you always wanted to look scary and sexy? Try this company’s sexy fangs for your next Halloween costume accessory. The prototype “fangs” were hand-sculpted and the back surfaces easily adhered to real teeth, giving their wearer a realistic, subtle vampire look – so popular these days. Since the plastic prototypes were sculpted by hand, no CAD models existed. The company needed the CAD to reproduce the product economically and efficiently. Curved, free-form shapes are notoriously difficult to replicate by contact or manual measurements, so the company decided to use non-contact laser scanning at GKS. GKS engineers suspended each fang in the middle of the flip plate frame for easy, quick scanning with no setup changes. The small fangs were each scanned, top and bottom, in just a few seconds, the data was registered together. After the data was cleaned up, a CAD model was made which was used to create the fang profile mold for production. Who cares: Designers and manufacturers of organic and free-form novelty items, hand-sculpted items, and molded plastic items.



Race Car Seats A maker of technologically superior custom-made protective racing seats for professional race car drivers and enthusiasts needed a more time- and cost-efficient way to manufacture their individualized seats. Their current fabrication process consisted of having real drivers sit in special foam that assumes the shape and the contours of their backsides exactly. From that precise representation, the seat is machined in vehicle-grade foam. The main problem with this method is that it creates a one-time model after which the molded foam is disposed of. Every time the drivers needed replacement seats (due to damage or if the seat was single-impact), they had to return to the company and sit in foam again. The company wanted to be able to store each driver’s dimensional data, so that after the first seat fitting, they would never need the car, team, or driver onsite again to make a new seat. These race car seats are made with custom foam molders that surround and protect the drivers by conforming to their bodies exactly, minimizing undesirable movements that can cause injury during impact. Fit is paramount to function. The material provides high-temperature resistance, excellent energy absorption and dimensional stability and is lightweight. They include arm supports which are very important during long races by providing support and preventing fatigue so drivers can go longer without stopping. The racing seat company sent one of their foam seat and headrest assemblies to GKS for 3D laser scanning. By scanning the seat, the 3D dimensional data of its measurements were stored and available whenever a driver needed a new seat. Digital storage took up no space, was fast, and super accurate. Retrieving digital seat data to use in the fabrication process meant that the driver mold only needed to be made once rather than every time a new seat was needed. Once the seat was scanned and a 3D IGES solid model made from the data, a precise organic shape of the driver’s anatomy is always available digitally to make another seat. Laser scanning is particularly well suited to scanning amorphous shapes that make up human bodies. The 3D data file is simply input into a CNC machine and the complete, accurate racer seat product is created. Who cares: Designers/creators/manufacturers of “mass produced” custom products, products that are customized and duplicated for many customers.

Real Clam Shells GKS often gets requests to scan decorative objects for artistic or display purposes. In this case, a tool and die company sent clam shells to be scanned so they could make molds of them. The clam shells, about 6 inches across, with the usual bumps, scallops, and ridges found on shells, were painted white with primer. GKS engineers scanned the exterior of the shells in just a few minutes, and then created a 3D IGES surface from which the company could easily machine molds. Do you suppose Venus’s clam shell was a resin model made from a 3D laser scan?! Who cares: Store designers, product packaging designers, and artists. Any complex free-form object can be scanned, scaled up or down, and used for any number of marketing and display purposes.

Engine Supercharger “We see a lot of engine parts and turbines, but not too many superchargers,” commented Carlberg. This customer was designing an improved performance aftermarket supercharger from the external casting of an old OEM stock supercharger for which there was no CAD model. The supercharger had very complex shapes, free-form curves, and radii that were critical to its high performance. These features would be hard and time-consuming to duplicate with a CMM. Non-contact 3D laser scanning the casting gave the customer a quick CAD model to which the design modifications, and changes could easily be applied. GKS metrologists laser scanned the complicated supercharger casting quickly in only 3 hours. Over 2.5 million points were collected in the point cloud data. Conventional



measuring would have taken much longer, up to 20 times longer, and the data would not have been as accurate and complete. Once the scanning was done, general clean up and post-processing the data into an STL file took approximately 4 hours. The customer then used the STL to build his own CAD model which he modified to develop the new improved casting molds. Having a real dataset of the supercharger profile instead of having to work from hand drawings vastly improved the redesign process. The customer was “thrilled” with the detail and accuracy of the model generated from 3D laser scanning. Who cares: Industrial product designers and engineers who need to update and redesign products that have no existing CAD data.

Ships’ Tanks A couple of projects that GKS performed on ships’ tanks had different purposes: one was to determine the exact volumetric capacity of oil tanks; another was to use scan data along with CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to solve a problem with ballast tanks not taking on water as designed. GKS engineers encountered the same scanning conditions in both scenarios, that is, access to the scan area was limited and the inside of the tanks was dark. Luckily, long-range laser scanners are quite small and portable, and they can function in all kinds of adverse conditions, such as cramped spaces and in the dark. Both scans were performed without a hitch.

Capacity of Oil Tanks on a Tanker Ship Until now the only way owners of oil tankers knew how much oil they held was by taking the word of the company that constructed the ship. There has not been a good way to measure volume after the fact. Even the shipbuilders were not certain whether the tanks had been calibrated very precisely. Who can tell for sure how much a huge tank is off from the given spec in number of barrels?

The owner of one such tanker decided to find out the exact volumetric measurement of his tanker’s storage tanks as a quality check. He calculated that if the stated amounts were off even by a few hundred barrels, his company could be losing thousands of dollars with every transport trip. GKS was hired to scan the inside of the tanks and precisely determine their capacity. Access to the scan area was limited and of course, it was dark inside the tanks. As usual, the portable long-range laser scanners functioned perfectly and the scanning process successfully recreated the tanks so the volumes could be accurately calculated. The owner then had certifiable evidence of how much oil he was transporting. This generated confidence in his ships’ traceability with his customers, a huge advantage to the oil transport business. Ballast Tank Problem A military ship was having difficulty controlling the water intake of its ballast tanks. For some unknown reason, the tanks were not taking on water as they should have. This was adversely effecting the ship’s fuel consumption and hydrodynamics. The commanders contacted GKS to scan the inside of the ballast tanks, both to measure their volume, and to ferret out a reason why they were not performing as designed. Using the scan data collected by GKS, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software would be applied to analyze water flow problems, leading to improved tank and structure architecture, fuel efficiency, power transfer, craft stability, and safety. Although conditions were challenging in the huge, dark tanks, the long-range scanner was able to perform the scan as ordered since it does not need light, nor access for bulky measurement tools in order to function flawlessly. GKS engineers were able to scan the tanks’ interiors and determine wear differences on the inside walls, indicating where water levels were irregular. It turned out that the tanks were not filling to capacity because the interior shape was creating very large air bubbles as the water flowed in, preventing them from providing the ballast the ship needed to perform optimally. The wall surfaces were pitted unevenly and water lines were evident in the scan data which can detect minute unevenness of only a millimeter or two. The CFD analysis then showed what was wrong with the tanks’ internal surfaces. With this knowledge, the tanks were redesigned with better hydrodynamic shapes to correct the water inflow. Better hydrodynamics translated into better fuel efficiency and cost savings Who cares: Marine engineers, naval architects, shipbuilders, and owners concerned with storage and ballast tanks, and/or engine efficiency, fuel consumption, hull hydrodynamics, and other environmental upgrades.



Offshore Oil Platform In a project that encompassed not only the large-scale scope of a multi-faceted industrial complex, but also harsh ocean-based conditions, GKS was called upon to scan an offshore oil platform to document its structure and modifications over time. Incomplete or obsolete offshore facility documentation plagues offshore engineers who are tasked with constructing, modifying, and updating the platforms. The hazardous surroundings demand extremely efficient and safe working procedures, so accurate 3D models are essential. GKS engineers have scanned many offshore refineries and rigs with their long-range scanners, providing valid as-built data and models. Long-range laser scanning systems are portable and quick to set up, so scanning can be performed in environments where health and safety issues are paramount. Offshore platforms are oftentimes constructed of modules built on land and then assembled on-site. In this type of modular construction, each section must fit together correctly and securely. Tolerances must be closely managed between topside structures and underwater ones to minimize the dangers of underwater construction. With 3D long-range laser scan data completely documenting the as-built condition, building modifications, upgrades, add-ons, or reconstruction of the assembly can now be accomplished with a great degree of confidence. This greatly speeds up the project and, most importantly, provides greater reliability that the project will be completed correctly with no surprises when materials and prefabricated components arrive on the job site. The offshore construction process itself can also be facilitated by scanning, using the scans to inspect the work at various intervals. That insures that plans are accurately executed and uncovers design flaws before they become costly and time consuming. Long-range scanning is invaluable in conditions that are less than optimal for manual measurements such as can occur on huge oil rigs. Offshore oil production facilities provide tremendous dimensional control challenges throughput their entire lifecycle. Frequent modifications in the design can be viewed clearly with long-range scan data to check for potential collisions and necessary reworks. This reduces the time required during the construction and can lead to huge benefits. The lifecycle of a facility can be documented through repeat scans detailing any changes occurring while maintaining an accurate record of the current condition. Laser scanning can validate the entire jobsite geometry including locating tie-ins and anchor bolt locations; it can verify footing dimensions and positions. The technology can also be used to provide measurements on land prior to subsea installation which will, when combined with acoustically acquired position data about the installation point, eliminate the need for much deepwater measurement while providing an accurate first-time fit. In the case of damage from a storm, the structure must be rapidly documented to aid in repair or decommissioning. In addition the large structural elements, oil platforms and rigs contain mazes of pipe work. Documenting existing setups and planning for alterations can be facilitated by accurate 3D data gathered by GKS through long-range 3D laser scanning. Long-range scanning provides a fast and relatively inexpensive method to produce accurate drawings which are often required in order to comply with the latest OSHA safety regulations. Who cares: Offshore engineers and marine architects who are responsible for the design, construction, maintenance, and upgrades for large offshore structures including their performance and safety.

Anti-snoring Device If those sexy fang teeth make you snore, check out this next invention: an anti-snoring device based on many years of research in the field of dentistry. This company’s main dental advisor designed and created a functional device that comfortably and healthily helps cure snoring. After the initial anatomical design and fabrication work was done, modifications were needed to make the device more functional. The first version tested the shape and size, but the company wanted to quickly prototype different features into the base design. They also wanted to try different FDA-approved resins for improved functionality and comfort. And, as is typical for a one-of-a-kind prototype, the customer company did not have CAD files of the part.



The company sent GKS the basic anti-snoring device to be scanned. Carlberg commented, “We have scanned small medical devices in the past with great success, so we had plenty of experience producing the best possible scan results.” The original design kept the jaw in a position where the throat stays open to prevent snoring, but needed to add some ribs to the bite to create “positive positioning,” which holds the device in place without sliding. “In addition to digitizing the device to a CAD model, the customer wanted us to help design these functional ribs. GKS eventually made the patent drawing for the device with these design modifications,” Carlberg explained. The irregular soft surfaces and ridges of the device were captured very accurately and completely without distorting the shape. Since laser scanning is non-contact, nothing touched or applied pressure to the pliable resin. The laser scanning system took only a few minutes to set up with the scan parameters and desired scan density (which goes as high as 100,000 points per square inch). Scanning the anti-snoring device was automatic and done unattended except for one flip of the special magnetic fixture that allowed both sides of the part to be scanned. After scanning, the data was automatically combined into one high-density point cloud with a common coordinate system. Only 45 minutes of scan time were required to scan the entire device. Laser scanning is ideal for reverse engineering complex parts like this anti-snoring device into CAD models because the whole surface of the object is scanned, not just a limited sample of discrete points like with contact measurement. The scan data was used to add the rib geometry to the CAD model for reverse engineering and rapid prototyping. After the laser scanning, data editing, and modeling were complete, GKS sent the product engineers at the device company a digital model of the part. Carlberg advised them to produce some rapid prototypes of various materials using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. More digital model versions were made and evaluated, and Carlberg recommended some solutions to the design problems encountered based on his years of experience in working with scans and design of medical devices. The rapid prototypes led to other rework of the final design, which GKS engineers modeled and made the patent drawing from. The laser scanning process was fast, automated, and less expensive than other measurement methods. If the device had been measured only by traditional contact measurement methods, the process would have taken several hours and yielded only several hundred data coordinates. With laser scanning, millions of coordinates from the free-form shape were gathered in minutes. The total topography of the part was recreated and modeled, and thus, could be accurately modified to meet the design needs after testing. The iterative process with GKS played a big role in the development and improvement of this product. Several rounds of designs, prototypes, revisions, and new designs were completed to create the final anti-snoring device. GKS provided the 3D laser scanning to create the original CAD model which was revised based on the prototypes until the design was optimized and the material was selected. The customer commented, “We have had lots of productive exchanges with GKS and everyone was extremely helpful. GKS’s expertise and professionalism made for a very good design and development process. They provided support in all phases of the project, from start to finish.” Who cares: Medical device R&D professionals, device designers and manufacturers, rapid prototypers, and rapid manufacturers, and those working with one-of-a-kind prototypes. Laser scanning can work hand in hand with the people who are in charge of the product development process to make it faster, more efficient, and more reliable with a greater chance of success.

Model Train Parts Sometimes the smallest objects are the hardest to reproduce. A maker of model train parts sent small scale model train cars (1:160) to GKS for laser scanning. Each car had a removable bottom platform that needed to fit precisely into the upper car shell. Having digital CAD data of both parts would reveal any discrepancies in fit and allow them to be fixed before manufacture. In addition the cars were very small and detailed, rife with all the features found on a normal-sized train, including windows, decorations, trim, etc. The interior of the upper car shell was especially pertinent to the fit of the lower platform. 3D laser scanning is non-contact, so access into



the small cars was not an issue. A clear line of sight provided the access necessary to create accurate dimensional data models of the miniature train cars. Also, the miniature size is also not an issue in laser scanning. The laser’s only limitation comes when objects are so miniscule that they are less than the resolution of the laser, which is .001”. Since the laser gathers dimensional data for everything it does see, the myriad details on the model cars were easily digitized. Who cares: Makers of miniature items, jewelry, precision instruments, etc., and especially assemblies that need to fit together

Laser Design & GKS Laser Design Inc. and GKS have been leading suppliers of ultra-precise, 3D laser scanning systems, along with dimensional inspection, 3D laser scanning and long range scanning services for over 29 years. Our engineers can assist with development and design services, rapid prototyping, and complete contract manufacturing services. GKS also offers equipment rentals and expertise to customers with the occasional 3D scanning project. Why Choose LDI & GKS?

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Laser Design & GKS Library of Unusual & Wacky Laser Scans · 2015. 4. 29. · A medical device manufacturer wanted to modify the original design of its old “belly board” product