A scan of a 50-year-old oar

Scanning a 50-year-old oar

Time goes by - we can explain almost everything with this colloquialism. The flow of time is not all lightly handled, most human-made things degrade over time. On the other hand, over the last several decades, technological progress has so strongly influenced all aspects of our lives that we can digitize what is degrading and recreate it as a new and better thing.

This is what happened with the delivered to GLOBAL3D - a composite oar, produced in the 1970s in the German Democratic Republic. An item that looks surprisingly good for its age, although it was slowly losing its functional features. The half-century composite from which it was made, although durable, has its life limitations. Numerous pits and voids appeared on the edges of the feather, which caused the line of contact with water and the work surface to lose its motor values.

What in this case? The standard process of making a copy of such a paddle would require considerable effort and resources; making a mold for casting or creating a one-to-one model with the use of punch tools. Which would significantly extend the technological process over time, even for several weeks. Not to mention finding a professional who would take on this task.

At GLOBAL3D, we approach these types of problems comprehensively. We offer help in choosing the right technology for a specific task, and then we carry out the entire process from A to Z in our research and development department.

In this case, thanks to the use of modern 3D scanning technology and the use of the Shining 3D FreeScan x5 scanner, this process has shrunk from weeks to just a few hours (scanning alone is about 1 hour of work in this case). FreeScan x5 is a ten-beam laser metrology scanner operating on the basis of the German VDI / VDE 2634 standard, which allows for very accurate and fast scanning (accuracy of 0.03 mm) of all kinds of objects, including dark and shiny objects, which were so far a very big challenge.

FreeScan X5

The FreeScan X5 is a handheld scanner weighing only 0.95 kg. It has a flexible and convenient scanning mode. It guarantees high accuracy and stability. It allows you to maximize the scanning efficiency, which allows you to achieve excellent results.

Laser technology

The use of laser technology, the 3D scanner SHINING3D FreeScan X5 provides ideal results for scanning indoors and outdoors. Laser technology also allows you to scan hard-to-reach places - including holes that are often unattainable for structured light scanners.

After the paddle scan and pre-treatment in FreeScan, the .stl file was exported to Geomagic Essentials for more precise processing and giving it features that allow for later work in CAD / CAM software that allows you to carry out the reverse engineering process.

Contrary to appearances, it is a very simple process that, if we train, we are able to carry out very efficiently and quickly. Thanks to this, it will result in a shorter technological process in the next stages of work.

A paddle .stl model developed in this way is ready for further work or for the preparation of a printout on a 3D printer.

What will happen next with this oar, we do not know. We suspect that it will gain a second life and will continue to work for its owner, pushing him towards new successes. In the form developed by us, it is ready for export to CNC machine tools or to another manufacturing technology. The fast and efficient scanning and processing process saved the client time, which he can easily spend on getting to know our offer at www.global3d.pl while sipping a good coffee.

Remember GLOBAL3D is a team of specialists whose task is to solve problems for which not everyone has time. We harness the latest technology and our analytical minds to make your life more peaceful.