Representing Surfaces in Reverse Engineering

Abstract

Reverse engineering is the process of reconstructing a computer model of a physical object based on the 3D point cloud data captured from the surface of the object. This work presents a novel and extremely cheap approach of reverse engineering for reconstructing a CAD model of the physical object.
Unlike conventional data acquiring dimensions methods using laser scanners and Coordinate Measurement Machines (CMM), we use a (Linear Variable Differential Transformer), LVDT position sensor for measuring the data from the surface of the object. Solid works CAD/CAM software has been used to obtain a carrier for the unorganized set of measured data.
A dedicated system was constructed to collect data using a 2-axis milling machine. The benefit of this scanning system is the ability to scan the target object surface completely in the following aspect: extremely cheap, measurement accuracy, speed, ease of calibration, and estimation of measurement uncertainties. This system allows for quick scanning of any object while minimizing the number of data points in the resulting scan data.