What Is the Reverse Engineering Process and How Does It Work?

How Does Reverse Engineering Work?

Reverse engineering is the process of analyzing and deconstructing something to see how it works. An example would be taking apart an alarm clock to understand what each piece does – and how the pieces work together.

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What are my Part Digitizing Options? Buy a Scanner or Use a Service

Most companies that have a need to digitize parts ask the “Make/Buy” question.  Do I purchase part scanning equipment and train staff (Make) or do I find a good service provider (Buy)?  Or are there levels in between this?

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What are Casting datums?

We have all seen prints with many datum reference frames on them. The fact that there are multiple sets of datum’s is not an issue and is put in place for functional design reasons. There can be so many that they look like an alphabet soup. But what about raw castings? Generally the functional part datum reference frame(s) have not yet been cut into the parts yet.  This where casting datums come into play.  They are typically designated as X-Y-Z or Z-Y-X.

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Utilizing Computed Tomography (CT) for Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Inspections and Reverse Engineering

3D Engineering Solutions has expertise in inspection and reverse engineering for many different applications.  We combine the best available equipment and a well trained staff to deliver correct results in a rapid manner.

For PCB’s, we use the Nikon X-Tek 160kV Industrial CT Scanner which is designed to meet every need related to the inspection of PCB’s.  It provides up to 160kV and 20W power, a 1µm X-ray focal spot size, and a magnification range of 2x-600x. The detector can also tilt to a max angle of 75° which provides extra flexibility in examining multi-layer boards.

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Drawing Layout Tip – Bill of Material (BOM) Use

Fully defining large assemblies can be a daunting task. It is a task that cannot be ignored, as a well-defined assembly drawing is necessary to properly convey critical details. Manually labeling everything in an assembly drawing can take days and it is very easy for not all the detail to be captured. A solution to this is to add a Bill of Materials or BOM to the drawing.  Modern CAD software (Like SolidWorks – shown in the images below) all have automated means to generate BOMs.  This helps automate the process, reduce chances for error and allows for automatic updates as assemblies change.

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Using Laser or Structured Light Scanning to Preserve Your Tuned Molds and Dies – Just Like Notre Dame

Your Molds and Dies are critical to your business.  They were meticulously created and iteratively tuned until the parts they produce are within specification.  At that point, they were put into production and no documentation of the final tuned geometry was captured.  This is actually the standard operating procedure for most of the world.  The problem occurs when a part gets stuck and the equipment is cycled again and the tool cracks!  Now you are stuck with having to go through the entire tuning process again.  Or are you? With laser scanning and structured light scanning you may be in luck.

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What Data Collection or Scanning Equipment and Technology is Needed for My Project?

Augmenting Structured Light

Many measurement and reverse engineering requirements require more than simple caliper or micrometer measurements.  Whether you are conducting a First Article Inspection (FAI), troubleshooting a manufacturing issue or reverse engineering a legacy part for improvements, one or multiple of the modern data collection methods may work – but what is best and what are you compromising on by using any particular method?  Do you do this work yourself or hire out an experienced service provider?

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Common Contact Measurement Devices and Methods

Contact measurement devices constitute the majority of what is traditionally used for dimensional metrology.  These consist of devices that must be in physical contact with the object to be measured.  Below is a listing of general types of contact measurement devices.  This covers the vast majority of what is used today and is a good overview on what is possible and what to expect from data taken with these instruments.  We freely use these types of devices in our service business where it makes sense for any particular project due to quality, cost and timing.

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Common Non-Contact Measurement Devices and Methods

Non-contact or touchless dimensional measurement devices are the modern new comer to an array of contact devices that have been traditionally used.  Contact devices are discussed in this link on Common Contact Measurement Devices.  All of the non-contact devices generate a point cloud or voxel data set as their most raw form of data.  The exception is the optical comparator which has been around since the late 1920s.  It does not expressly produce digital data, but some of the variant equipment that evolved from this equipment does.

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Continued CT Services Expansion

Continued-CT-Services-Expansion

3D Engineering Solutions (3DES), North Americas’ most Advanced & Proven Center of Excellence For Metrology & Engineering Services is pleased to announce their ongoing strategic partnership with Nikon Metrology, Inc (NMI) of Brighton, Michigan. 3DES recently purchased two additional advanced industrial computed tomography (CT) systems from NMI. These systems use X-rays to penetrate components and assemblies to retrieve all surface and internal details.
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