The 3D Scanning Revolution: Complicated Metrology Made Simple

Alexander Rainer

If you’ve read the article in January about 3D printing, and are feeling enthused to try it, you may be wondering how to get an object into a format that can be printed on a 3D printer. Well there are two ways: You can spend hours of time meticulously building a CAD model of your part…or you could turn to 3D scanning to capture your model and generate a model for you.

Figure 1- A 3D model of the Hulk [1]

3D scanning has been around for a while and has been steadily maturing in the shadow of its sister technology 3D printing, to the extent that it is routinely used by industries working in medicine, aerospace and the latest computer graphics to enable them to stay at the forefront of technology. For a long time this equipment was only available to companies with deep pockets; however, technological advances have made the price of this equipment much more affordable. So much so, that there are even scanners even available to the home hobbyist who seeks to dabble in 3D modelling (Makerbot Digitiser, Scanify and Cubify Sense).

But what is a 3D scanner? Put simply, it is a camera that captures the 3D geometry it sees and turns it into a 3D model that is dimensionally congruent with the original. These scanners rely on two distinct scanning technologies: laser or structured white light. Here, one or more angled cameras monitor the distortion of a laser line, or structured white light grid projected across the object being inspected, to read in the real geometry. These scanners can be deployed in several ways dependent on the size of the object. Small objects can be scanned by a fixed scanner with a turntable, whereas larger objects can be scanned in situ using a metrology arm based scanner or a freehand based scanner. Laser scanners coupled to a metrology arm typically offer the highest resolution and are used when only the most accurate scans will do.

Figure 2 – Konica Minolta Vivid 9i Fixed Position Laser Scanner, Romer Absolute Arm Laser Scanner & an Artec Space Spider Freehand Structure White Light Scanner

Having selected the right scanner for the task, lifelike digital models can be created. What you do with the model next is almost limitless and you are not limited to 3D printing only. In fact, these scanners are being used in an assortment of different ways.

Metrology:

Certain industries use 3D scanners to capture measurements from complex geometry, such as the tyre tread across a tyre or the corrosion pitting across cast iron pipe. Better informed metrology is achieved since the number of measurements taken increases as the scanner can rapidly sample the whole object.

Figure 3 – Scanning the inside of an old cast iron water main

Quality Assurance:

Higher quality parts result from tighter tolerances, however, measuring to these levels is challenging particularly if the geometry is complex, such as a turbo compressor wheel. 3D scanning allows an accurate model of this geometry to be captured quickly and then compared to the original CAD design. This analysis can identify any parts that are out of tolerance and even identify errors in the manufacturing process that occur repeatedly.

Figure 4 – Example of a Prae-Turbo Compressor Wheel [2]

Reverse Engineering:

3D scanners are used heavily for part replication since a 3D model can be easily sent to a 3D printer, but scanned models can also be converted into a CAD model of the component using technical software. This is particularly useful when doing restoration projects which need bespoke components which are no longer manufactured or have no drawings. Furthermore, these components can even be modified if further functionality is needed.

CGI:

Not all 3D scanning is focused on metrology. In fact, some applications are more focused on the ability to create a realistic rendered 3D model. For example, CGI companies have adopted 3D scanners as a method of creating a 3D computer model of actors, exploiting the ability to texturise a 3D model. Capturing raw models that are true to life ensures that all computer simulations look frighteningly real. Further, the models can be manipulated on a computer, thus allowing the scene to be reshot many times at a fraction of the cost of doing it in reality.

The use of 3D scanning continues to grow and is potentially endless. Here I have described but a few uses for the 3D scanner which in themselves are very diverse areas. In fact, the sky is the limit for 3D scanning. If you need to make a 3D model, or have complex geometry you need to measure, 3D scanning may be the answer you have been searching for.

 

References

[1] – http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:993933

[2] – http://www.prae-turbo.de/impellers.php

Further Viewing

Jay Leno – showing a Faro 3D scanner copying a rare car part

3D Scanning on a room scale

Applications of Artec 3D scanners

Applications of Creaform 3D scanners

 

 

 

 

 

Rightweighting

In Engineering, less is usually taken to be more. There is a virtuous spiral that people look at when designing a car or an aeroplane (for example) which starts with someone saying “where can we save weight?”. Shaving a few kilograms off an assemblage and a) you’ll reduce the cost of the material needed for the part, b) you’ll reduce fuel usage over the lifetime of the car or aeroplane and c) you’ll reduce the load on neighbouring parts, which means you don’t need as much material as you did before, so a)… you get the idea.

Some such improvements just come down to incredibly clever design – making the materials palette work harder through imaginative Engineering. More often it comes down to new understanding – new materials (once they’ve been vetted through stringent testing to ensure that they behave exactly as they are supposed to over all conceivable conditions and over the design life of the component) can help save significant amounts of weight.

Whilst it should be noted that modern cars are in fact heavier than their older counterparts, this is due to both increasing safety standards and increasing amounts of technology. The use of aluminium has significantly improved on the weight of a car over steel.

But not all situations are the same. Sometimes the properties required are not mechanical or chemical but rather a function of how we interact with the end product. For example, on a personal note, I really don’t like drinking milk out of a ceramic mug or cup – it has to be out of a glass. This class of properties falls into the grouping of “psychophysical”. Those who attended Dr Sujata ‘Suze’ (@funsizesuze) Kundu’s West Surrey Materials Society talk in October 2014, may recall that she gave another example – do you prefer to drink cola out of a glass bottle, a plastic bottle or a tin can? Predominantly the answer came back as a glass bottle (although Suze noted that she had heard of one man who had said ‘tin can’ because “…it made him feel like he was drinking a beer.”)

A drink from a glass bottle is often regarded as tasting better despite research showing that there is no difference in the fluid itself.

The way that we interact with things can be incredibly important. Sometimes it doesn’t matter that something is completely functional and has sufficient strength or stiffness for its purpose. If it is perceived that it flexes too much or feels “funny” then it may not actually be ‘fit for purpose’. Coming back to beer, a glass is a good example of this. A plastic ‘glass’ just feels wrong. For some, camaraderie, ambience and other such factors can overcome this – at a festival for example – so that being at an event or venue where people are worried about significant breakages, or glassware wandering too far from home can be ignored. But for some, there is an ingrained belief that you would only ever drink inferior beer from such a receptacle. There is something about a glass, similar to the glass bottle of cola, that is just right – although it needs to be a glass of the right weight.

Plastic or glass, it may not matter depending on the occasion.

From a psychophysics perspective, this is where things get interesting. You wouldn’t drink wine from a beer glass (there is a question of the volume, for one thing!) but equally, unless desperate, you wouldn’t drink beer from a wine glass – the weight of the glass would be wrong.

All of this may seem a little frivolous – does it really matter what weight a glass is? To some extent it depends on your perspective, as well as the product that you are designing and trying to sell. Everything has an optimum weight, and we must get past the concept that strength or other mechanical properties are the only factor in determining this optimum – the durability of the product, as well as its perceived worth also come into play. Back in 2010, the Materials and Design Exchange (MaDE) ran a workshop to explore this concept. If you would like more information then you might like to have a look at the that was produced.

All of this may seem a little frivolous – does it really matter what weight a glass is? To some extent it depends on your perspective, as well as the product that you are designing and trying to sell. Everything has an optimum weight, and we must get past the concept that strength or other mechanical properties are the only factor in determining this optimum – the durability of the product, as well as its perceived worth also come into play. Back in 2010, the Materials and Design Exchange (MaDE) ran a workshop to explore this concept. If you would like more information then you might like to have a look at the book that was produced.

For some further stories and information on this topic here are a couple of websites to get you going:

http://www.packagedesignmag.com/content/adnams-ale-bottles-go-lighter-for-uks-rightweighting-push

http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Markets/Are-glass-manufacturers-feeling-the-pinch

Lego Building Event

For the first event of the academic year, on the 6th October 2015, we asked everyone to embrace their inner child and play with Lego! While this may seem like an unusual idea for the materials society let me reassure you that there was a materials slant on the activities of the evening.

Those who attended were asked to build some of the typical instruments which are found in a materials testing lab. Be it a tensile testing machine, a scanning electron microscope or any other pieces of kit which may be used.

Of the designs there were some rather interesting multi technique constructions which appeared to be inspired by Dr Seuss and others that were more intent on including as many parts (apparently an SEM requires not one but two propellers!) onto the instrument.

The end result was an interesting array of designs of which 2 were considered thewinner and runner up who could claim prizes. The first place was given to a group who actually followed the brief, always a good start, and the second place was given to a group who assembled the most unusual amphibious pillar drill that wouldn’t look out of place in Wacky Races! Congratulations to both of the winners.

P.S. We are always looking for articles to be put up on the blog. So if you have a particular interest in anything materials based, from manufacturing to analysis, please do let us know.

University of Surrey Materials Society Chartership Café

On Friday 27^th February the University of Surrey’s Materials Society, which is also recognised as an IOM3 Student Forum, held its first Chartership Café event. The aim of the forum is to organise events, talks and workshops to help students and recent graduates make the transition to, and start on, successful and rewarding careers. The Chartership Café was organised as an opportunity for those thinking of becoming chartered with IOM3 to benefit from key information on the process and a chance to gain some inside tips on preparing an application.

Three speakers were organised to give a balanced overview of what chartership can offer, the process of applying for chartership and what we can be doing now to build our required competencies:

1. Ian Bowbrick (Director of Professional Development & Membership at IOM3)
2. David Jesson (Research Fellow at the University of Surrey and member of the Chartership Committee at IOM3)
3. Andy Harris (Structural Engineer at Lockheed Martin UK and graduated EngD student who recently achieved chartership).

The speakers provided a 10 minute overview each disclosing the what, why and how of chartership before the audience divided into Q+A break-out sessions. The audience was primarily made up of students at the university, but a few early career engineers from local companies also attended the event. “Discussing competencies with recently chartered material engineers was helpful in identifying examples I can add to my application. It was also really useful to meet IOM3 representatives who can help with applications.” Caroline Earl, Fluor Ltd.

The Chartership Café is envisaged to become a re-occurring event due to its popularity so keep an eye out for the next one. We wish to thank all of our speakers for making the event such a success. The key points from the presentations and Q+A sessions are summarised below:

 Ian Bowbrick – Why bother with Chartership?

• Chartership is used as a measure of competency within many industries and organisations. Some organisations have mandatory requirements for chartership, whilst others can use it to advertise externally that they have a verified high standard of engineers or scientists. It can also be used by professional consultants to professionally prove their competence and reduce indemnity insurance premiums.
• Every chartered engineer has to meet a minimum standard to gain, and maintain, the status. This is broken into three stages:
  1. Gained knowledge and understanding (via suitable degrees or industrial/research experience).
  2. Initial Professional Development (IPD) showing technical competence in your applied field.
  3. Continual Professional Development (CPD) showing that you are keeping up to date with developments in the industry (CPD logs need to be maintained).
• Chartership demonstrates that you are professionally competent and up to date with current developments. It is internationally recognised and can help secure future job opportunities with companies not familiar with your personal abilities.

David Jesson – The Chartership application process.

• To become chartered you need submit a Professional Review Report (PRR), case study, CPD record and have two supporting referees (one of whom must be chartered themselves).
  • PRR: is essentially an extended CV that gives details of career history and development to date. Competencies in these descriptions are then cross referenced against the requirements for chartership (listed in the guideline documentation available on the IOM3 website).
  • The case study document is usually about 5 pages and is used to demonstrate/prove your competencies with practical examples. It should be written in first person (so not following a technical report or paper convention) and give specific detail to YOUR contributions – not the team in general – they want to know your competencies.
  • Requirements for the CPD record and referees are available through the IOM3 website.
• Upon successful review of the documentation an interview will be arranged before final chartered status is approved. The interviews are not intended to be a thorough grilling, but to delve deeper into the experiences and competencies presented in the application documents.

Andy Harris – Putting together your application.

• Andy worked through the specific sections of the application documentation and gave some relevant examples of the work he included in his application:
  1. Technology Focus – Developing a technology, or market research, can be used as possible areas to satisfy this requirement.
  2. Customer Focus – Working with a customer and providing deliverables in terms of reports or testing results can be used for this part.
  3. Leadership Focus – Satisfying stakeholders (by working to quality standards – ISO 9000), forming business cases/NDAs and working within a team can be used here.
  4. Interpersonal Skills – Andy used his experience in setting up meetings, chairing meetings, writing technical reports (and university reports) and giving presentations to meet this requirement. A timeline is a good way to present how often these were demonstrated.
  5. Standards/Obligations/Regulations – Demonstrable professional conduct, ethical working (can relate back to working within quality standards and to testing standards).

All of the speakers advised potential applicants to think laterally about the requirements for the competencies. Not all of them (e.g. management experience) require direct experience in a conventional sense. Partial competence and a good appreciation can be shown towards these aspects. There is a wealth of information on the internet about the requirements and process (IOM3, UK-SPEC for CEng).

Q&A’s

Q: When did you decide you wanted to be chartered and how much did you do in advance?
A: I always knew and built up my portfolio over a few weeks before I applied for Chartership.

Q: How many years of experience do you need and how much does a PhD/EngD count towards?
A: It depends on some other factors (e.g. placement years etc.), but generally an EngD counts for 4 years relevant experience (fulfilling the requirement) and a PhD for less (maybe 1.5 years). This can be completed faster depending on previous experience. The IOM website contains all the information on requirements.

Q: Could you expand on the interview part of the application?
A: Recommended forming a presentation pack to supplement the application details. His interview lasted approximately 15 minutes.

Q: What are the career benefits from chartership between IOM3 and IMechE for example?
A: Different institutions provide people with different skill sets. There can be several areas of overlap between them. They all use the same application process, but have different focusses and experience requirements.

Q: What if you do not know any chartered engineers to use as referees?
A: There might be other possible ways of using credible referees, but this is very case by case and should be discussed with the institution. It would help if they are at least MIMMM or FIMMM. The institute would also consider chartered engineers from different institutions.

Q: How long must you have known the referee?
A: Two years minimum. This can be a working relationship or otherwise. They could have worked with you several years ago, but this is still viable.

Q: Are leadership competencies usually the hardest to gain?
A: The weightings of the A and B strands are highest and relate to technical knowledge and use/development of technology. The institute realises that companies have changed over the last couple of decades and less hierarchical structures have led to reduced opportunities for leadership/management of people. The competencies can be reflected by working with technicians and apprentices (including students).

Q: As a post-grad student, how did you gain the management competence?
A: Project management of people, rather than functional management, can be used. An organisational chart is a good way to show this e.g. Andy Harris showed diagrammatically how he had to liaise with manufacturing engineers, testing engineers and NDT/analysis engineers through the course of his project.

Q: What is required for the sustainability part of the competencies?
A: Sustainability can usually be sifted out of most research projects. You may need to think laterally, but generally reducing emissions, improving recyclability or efficiency gains leading to both of the previous can be the ultimate basis of many investigations.

The three speakers at their respective break-out tables taking audience questions.

David Jesson giving his advice on the application process.

Want to learn more about becoming chartered? Drop in to our first Chartership Café

Tags

Chartership, Ian Bowbrick, IOM3, IOM3 Materials Student Forum, Materials Society, the Director of Professional Development & Membership

If you are interested in becoming chartered after the EngD…..then come along to our CHARTERSHIP CAFÉ!!

On FRIDAY 27^TH FEBRUARY from 4pm – 5pm the recently formed Materials Society / IOM3 Materials Student Forum will be hosting a chartership café to help cover what exactly is required to become chartered (from both CEng and CSci perspectives).

We have some great speakers lined up for the event, including the Director of Professional Development & Membership of IOM3 Ian Bowbrick. The session will include some short talks from the speakers followed by interactive break out Q+A sessions and general networking time to finish.

There will of course be some light refreshments provided throughout the evening too.

The exact location of the event is currently being finalised so we will confirm this in due course, but it will be somewhere on the University of Surrey Campus. In the meantime, please register for this event using the following link. Please include your name and email address so we can update you on the location nearer the time. The poll is locked so your email address will not be available to other attendees.

There are limited places so please register ASAP and feel free to advertise to colleagues and non-students interested in becoming chartered. As a free event this is open to all!

If you have any major queries about the event then please get in contact us through the comments section or via twitter

We hope to see you all there.

EGM and a Little Brewery Tour

Tags

EGM, Social Event

On Wednesday (21-02-15) the student forum passed another milestone: to be recognised as a student society at the University of Surrey. The purpose of this is to enable us to better use the University facilities and also enable us to attract undergraduate students who have an interest in materials. The meeting itself went without a hitch with all the posts elected within 15 minutes. They are:

• President – Nick Brown
• Vice President – David Williams
• Secretary – Emma Ryan
• Treasurer – Sam Kite
• Public Engagement Manager  – Harry Cronin
• Events Coordinator – Richard Fields

A vote was also held to change the official name of the society to the Materials Society, or MatSoc for short.

Following a successful meeting a group from the forum then headed out to have a very intellectual and informative tour around The Little Beer Company, a microbrewery in Guildford. What this has to do with materials could be argued about for a long time (probably over a tasty beverage from the brewery itself) but as students we felt it to be a fitting excursion.

A small range of the selection on offer at The Little Beer Company

The necessary sampling

The owner of the brewery, Jim, was extremely informative about the entire process and  described the journey of the brewery itself and also microbrewing across the country. It was a very interesting talk with a good selection of ales to taste along the way (it was a pity that a large number of us were driving!) And then finally a bit of a trip to the shop, to stock up on some of the fine tipples that we had been tasting that evening.

The next event to be held by the forum is a Chartership Café which is aimed to allow people to understand the benefits of chartership and also to see what areas they need to work on to improve their position. This will be in conjunction with IOM3 and attended by people in industry and also some people who award charterships. The date is not yet confirmed but please do watch this space and also please follow us on Twitter for more up-to-date information

For more information and news about the Little Beer Corporation please follow the links below.

https://twitter.com/LittleBeerCo

http://www.facebook.com/LittleBeerCorporation

Christmas Social

Tags

Christmas, IOM3, Sarah Boad, Surrey Materials, West

On the 15^th December 2014 the materials forum, which has recently been recognised IOM3, held a Christmas social event and origami master class. With the usual Christmas hits playing in the background, the mood was very festive and a few people even donned their Christmas jumpers! Enticed by the minced pies, or more likely the origami master class, there was a good attendance of 26 people and even a representative from the IOM3 (Sarah Boad) who was keen to visit and see what we were doing with the forum.

The evening started with an origami master class run by Richard Fields (a University of Surrey PhD researcher) who explained the art and origins of origami. Richard continued on to explain how origami can be used to cleverly change standard pieces of paper into elaborate structures and objects that almost seem to be made of completely different materials. Using simple creases, folds and tucks the original floppy and boring sheets of paper are quickly (or not so quickly – depending on your ability) transformed into various moving or decorative pieces.

The event was aimed to be social and interactive so with food, drink and spare paper dotted around the room everyone set to trying to create their own origami master pieces. This gave good opportunity for people to network within the group and also provided an opportunity for students to talk to Sarah about chartership and other benefits to joining IOM3. The event seemed to be very enjoyable for everyone there and we hope to keep attracting students from all subject areas or disciplines who may have an interest in materials science and engineering.

Future events planned for the forum are an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) on Wednesday 21^st January (6pm, University of Surrey EngD room 33AB03) to formally vote in the recently formed committee, which is followed by a tour of a local micro-brewery in Guildford. Please register HERE if you wish to attend this event. We also hope to organise a ‘Chatership Café’ workshop in the near future with IOM3 representation to discuss and run through how we go about achieving chartership and its benefits.

From stilettos to space, how 3D printing is affecting us all.

Tags

3D printer, 3D Printing, Grand Designs, International Space Station, Materials, Student Forum

Astronauts may have many things to think about when floating around on the International Space Station (ISS). I doubt, however, that one of these things is stylish footwear. There is a chance that all this could change in the near future though thanks to a massive leap in the world of 3D printing.

3D printing, or additive manufacturing as it is also known, is a process where parts are manufactured in their final form i.e. there is no ‘finishing’ required. This is done by building a model on a computer that is then sliced up into lots of layers by the software. These layers are then sent to a printer that will ‘print’ each layer in turn.

This can be done by two methods. The first is fused deposition modelling which is where a plastic filament is melted onto the latest layer as the print head moves over the piece. The other method is where glue is injected into a tray of powder which, in between slices, has more powder deposited on top of it. Selective laser sintering, a variation of the second method, is also used: here a laser melts particles together in between the deposition stages.

This process can be used to make very simple shapes or very complex pieces with interlocking and moving parts. As an area of engineering it is one that has come on in huge leaps and bounds in recent years with the want for fast prototyping in industry and the advent of crowdfunding opportunities, where a start-up company can appeal to the public to provide funding to progress an idea or concept. So much so that in 2010 a 3D printer cost in the region of $20,000, and a mere 4 years later there are better printers that cost in the region of $500. This makes it accessible for a much larger audience which means there are more people to use and develop ideas.

As a result there has been a boom in weird and wonderful applications of this fast maturing technology. Some are purely for art such as the sun powered 3D printer that uses sand to make glass items. Others are trying to solve big issues that are affecting humanity such as housing shortages for people in disaster-stricken regions, and hence a 3D printer that is capable of printing houses (10 of them in a day) or even towns in a number of weeks has been developed. (Come to think of it, we could do with a few of those in Britain at the moment…)

3D printed folly by Andrey Rudenko

And if a mass produced house is not for you, and you prefer something more unique, your wishes can be accommodated; for example this folly made in America is definitely unique! Could it be that Kevin McCloud would not have to visit a building site in ‘Grand Designs’ but instead just visit a factory to see the building being printed, casting judgement on it before it has even been assembled on site?How does this all fit in with stilettos and spaceships? Well there is a company already using this technology to manufacture bespoke shoes that can be made to order (the lead time is 3 weeks currently) and there may even be scope for anyone with a 3D printer to become their own designer at some point in the near future!

The next astronaut shoe?
A 3D Printed stilleto.
Made by Continuum Fashion

This comes in the same year as a 3D printer being sent to the ISS as part of an experiment to see how the process is affected by microgravity. This started in November 2014 and is continuing until March 2015. The ISS does already have a 3D printer installed on it and has printed 21 items so far. Of these items, 20 were designed on the surface and then sent to the printer orbiting 431 km above the surface to be manufactured. This is truly a revolution in terms of sending parts to the station itself, a very expensive and difficult process, and to enable the rapid manufacturing of parts up on the ISS as required by the astronauts. The process works so well that a member of ground support overheard the mission commander complaining about the lack of a tool and sent up the programme for the on board printer to print it.

So, in the near future there may well be a broadcast sent back from the ISS where the astronauts have found the files for some fancy footwear and, while they are probably not considered mission critical, they can make themselves a pair if they wish.

Inaugural Event – Public engagement workshop with Dr Suze Kundu

Tags

Student Forum, Suze Kundu, University of Surrey, West Surrey Materials Society

IOM³ Student Forum – EngD newsletter

The IoM³ Student Forum commenced at Surrey with its inaugural event before the WSMS (West Surrey Materials Society) evening talk on the 7th October. The purpose of the Student Forum is to provide a bridge between students interested in, and working on, materials based subjects and the IoM³. We plan to do this by providing a series of talks, presentations and events that can give an understanding of materials engineering and how it interacts with other disciplines and professions. All done alongside pizza!

The first event was a public engagement master class held by Dr Suze Kundu, of Imperial College Materials Department, where she discussed her profession and how interacting with the public has become a large part (through many types of media and activities). This was followed by a workshop where groups of the audience were asked to discuss factors they would have to consider when setting up an activity, such as a school visit to their place of work or setting up an online presence. This led to a discussion about the potential advantages and pitfalls of different methods of engaging with the public with Dr Kundu contributing with anecdotes and advice along the way.

The evening demonstrated the wide array of public engagement that is available to engineers and scientists, which can be used to get knowledge of their work out into the public domain. It also encourages students and young people into the STEM subjects, something seen as highly important on a countrywide scale. This is also a requirement for the EngD course.

Events lined up for the coming months include a workshop evening based on subjects that will be useful for EngD students both starting out and coming towards the end of their courses. Furthermore, a panel discussion with people inside and outside industry, and a member of the press who reports on the activities of both, is another possible event to be planned. We are constantly open for event suggestions if you think a particular topic/session would be beneficial to you and likewise please get in touch if you would like to get involved with the running and organisation of the Forum.

First Post

Welcome to the blog of the West Surrey Materials Society Student Forum. We look forward to posting interesting materials science and engineering related content. Check back soon!