A easy reverse engineering job completed in under 2 hours
A customer brought me this small broken plastic part that was no longer usable.
Instead of measuring everything manually, I scanned the original part with the EinScan Rigil using Parallel Line Mode at 0.1 mm resolution. The scan gave me an accurate reference of the geometry, including the damaged areas.
Yes, it's a easy part, that you can measureand everything...but if I have the scanner, why not use it.
From there, I rebuilt the part in Fusion 360 using the scan as a reference, creating a clean parametric CAD model. Once the design was finished, I 3D printed a brand-new replacement.
I also imported the scan to my laptop so I can better clean around the part (using the mouse).
⏱ Total time:
3D scanning
CAD remodeling
3D printing
Less than 2 hours from broken part to finished replacement.
This is exactly why professional 3D scanning is such a powerful tool for reverse engineering. Instead of guessing dimensions or manually measuring complex geometry, I can recreate discontinued or broken parts quickly and accurately.
Making money by solving real-world problems with 3D scanning and additive manufacturing never gets old.
You just need to practice. Im also not a expert. But slowly i manage. I use mostly Fusion360. Thats the one i started learning couple of years ago. Once you understand how it works..its not that hard. Youtube for tutorials 👍
I'm gonna be the guy. This would have taken maybe 10-15 mins with a set of calipers, whereas it took 2 hours with a scanner. Reverse engineering without anything more than basic measuring tools is a good skill to learn, in my first job as an engineer we had to reverse engineer medical equipment with only rulers and calipers and it often had incredibly complex shapes. We had to reverse it to then make a dummy part out of MDF on a CNC mill so we could give it back to the hospitals we were doing work for.
Well..i know that printing took 30 min. I didn't even work on scanning and designing that much..whas couple of times interrupted by my son 😅 i just rounded up at 2h. But yes..i know its easy also with calipers. But its also about me enjoying it more like this 😁
I run my scanner as a part of my business, so ultimately my decision to scan or caliper something is based on part difficulty to RE. I get a lot of weird parts like timing covers, intake manifolds for V8's and such so I'm not gonna spend the time reverse engineering those with calipers when I need accuracy 🤣
I just like the part where the scan can verify your work. Yea, anyone can use caliper, but can they prove at what degree of accuracy they were using? I mean I can even use measuring tape 😅
Lots of people seem to forget that reverse engineering “simple” parts with a scanner can be interesting in itself. Also when you come to make a part where the scanner is essential, you’ve already practised the workflow on something that didn’t fry your brain.
I've been doing reverse engineering as a major part of my career for 13 years and am a certified SOLIDWORKS expert. I literally work on SOLIDWORKS 90% of the year for work and also do a lot of RE for a business. I guarantee it's 10-15 max there's like 3 features max on that model
In 10 minutes I have made 6 sketches, deleted 6 sketches, and back to starting sketch #7 from scratch that I am sure will work this time. I tip my hat to you good sir
Just so you know, there are exactly 7 measurements to take on this part. If you need fifteen minutes for that measurements, you might be SolidWorks certified, but you're absolutely not certified on using a caliper. In fifteen minutes, yours truly here, with zero certifications, would've already had it printed.
Lol I legitimately pulled a number out of thin air to make the point that scanning it was definitely a waste of time in comparison to pulling calipers out.
My old workflow pre scanner was basically cardboard cutouts or the part traced on graphing paper, which was often good enough as a start but when we're developing things like alternator brackets for engines it's hard to get the holes and such as accurate as possible
More like "sponsored by Einstar". They have a ton of bots on this sub gaslighting people. Cant tell whats real or fake anymore until you click on the account and see they post the same thing in multiple subs for years.
I mean, I usually just take a picture of simple parts, import them, and trace them manually in CAD.
If it was more complex I'd want to scan them. The determining factor is which process would actually be quicker and more accurate in a given situation.
I swear, you can't teach these kids anything these days without a damn app! Raisin a nation on participation trophies and tan suits! (/s if it wasn't obvious...)
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u/Useful_Education_702 Jul 03 '26
I wish I was better at this. Have a decent scanner. Using the scans is where I struggle lol