Talking Points

The National Institute for Aviation Research operates a reverse engineering and virtual reality lab in Wichita, KS. The Wichita Eagle recently reported on how the lab is using reverse engineering and virtual reality techniques to help re-create legacy aircraft parts for which there are no original drawings, or only 2D blueprints available.  A key part of the lab's equipment is their ROMER Absolute Arm with laser scanner.  This device allows them to create 3D point clouds of millions of data poin...

Northwestern Formula Racing is an extracurricular student organization at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering dedicated to hands-on automotive engineering excellence through experiental learning. The all-volunteer team was founded in September 2006 to compete in the annual Formula SAE competition, which features student-built vehicles from around the world competing in a number of real-world based categories including research, design, testing, marketing and finan...

Sometimes a customer walks in with an part that defies most normal conventions of our business. That's what happened when a gentlemen dropped by the Elgin precision center and asked if we would do a 3D scan of a pasty for him.  The first reaction was: "scan a what?"  What is a pasty anyway?  And why would you scan one? If you're interested in the fascinating history of the pasty, there's always wikipedia. However, suffice it to say that it's basically a meat and potato filled pas...

How do you laser scan something REALLY BIG, like, say, the heads on Mt. Rushmore?  With Leica C10 High Definition Scanners, rock climbing gear,  and a considerable amount of chutzpah.  For several months in 2010, a team working on the Scottish 10 project, a collaboration between Historic Scotland, the Glasgow School of Art Digital Design Studio, and CyArk to digitally preserve 10 significant heritage sites.  The National Park Service has embarked on a 5 ye...

It's November 18, 2011, and today, we debut a new feature on Hexagon Metrology's North American website, a blog we're calling Talking Points.  It's our objective to offer a roundup of information on products, services, and other industry news and information in a more informal, conversational format which offers you an up to date view of what's going on with Hexagon Metrology. The launch of the "New GM" on the New York Stock exchange today marks a new chapter in this storied company's hist...