Reverse engineering involves creation of design information from existing physical samples. This is often required if you need to duplicate an item and drawings are not available or the item in no longer being manufactured. Keep reading to learn more about how rapid prototyping 3D printing can help with this process.

Situations Requiring Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering in its simplest form means starting with a physical sample item and working backwards to develop the CAD design from which you can build duplicates or modifications of the original part. There are many situations where this may be applicable. This is quite common in manufacturing in situations in which machines and tools are used for decades. A part may break and the replacement may no longer be easily available, risking machine downtime until an alternative is found. Another application is when you are designing something new that has similarity to an existing product. Capturing the shape of the physical sample electronically as a first step creates a foundation upon which further design modifications can be done that fits the new application. A third situation involves troubleshooting a design problem such as parts that do not fit together as expected or quality control problems that come up suddenly. Sometimes in these cases, the original design records may not be easily available, it may be difficult to get the CAD for all of the parts to solve the problem in the time needed, or some cases, design records available may not accurately reflect later tooling changes that occurred during manufacturing of the actual product such that the designs on file do not accurately match the parts being made. In any of these cases, reverse engineering may be required or be a valuable tool.

Creating The CAD Design

There are several ways that you can reverse engineer the CAD design of a part. If you have the right scanning equipment, you can get a 3D image of the item. That image can be used in CAD software to develop a complete CAD drawing. In the absence of this technology, you have to do more basic design work. This involves taking measurements and drawing the CAD model yourself. This requires knowledge of CAD software as well as basic design and drawing skills.

Building the New Part

Once you have a CAD design of the old part, you can use rapid prototyping 3D printing to quickly make a duplicate. This is important to validate your CAD design. Even if your intention is to make the part out of another material or to change the design of the part, printing a 3D model from your initial CAD design can be critical to ensure you’re heading in the right direction. If you’re dealing with an assembly, you’ll want to verify the dimensions to ensure the printed object fits with the other parts.

Another benefit of using 3D printing to build the first models is that you can experiment. You can test different orientations of the part as it is built. How a 3D part is oriented on the build plate when it is printed can affect the appearance as well as the strength of the part. You can also test different materials since many different plastics and even metals are available for 3D printing. This information can help inform your decisions about the final design as well as the final manufacturing approach.

Final Design

Once you have verified your CAD design, you can build your final parts. This may involve additional 3D printing or other rapid prototyping (like CNC machining), depending on the size of the item and the materials required. For high volume applications, you may even want to explore having an injection mold or other type of tool made. But in any case, starting with a 3D printed example is crucial to achieve a good result.

Choose the Best 3D Printing Service in Michigan

If you need to reverse engineer an item so you can 3D print it, you need to have the right tools and software to plan the project. You also need access to fast and low cost 3D printing to validate your designs to accurately solve the problem you are addressing. This requires knowledge of CAD design as well as 3D printing capabilities. Contact Global Technology Ventures Inc. today if you want to know more about our 3D printing rapid prototyping services.