We have a Creaform HandySCAN 700. It is a high end, handheld laser scanner. It is very quick at capturing large amount of scan data, at a specified accuracy of up to 0.030mm and to a resolution of 0.05mm. In some cases it can capture even higher accuracy.

This depends on the job. But there needs to be access around the component/machine/vehicle for a person to move. Everything not important to the scan should be removed. It should be clean and free from grease and oil, as we need to apply little sticky targets for the scanner to register.

No, not really. Scanning some shiny surfaces, especially so if the shiny surface is black in colour, or transparent, can be a challenge. But we have a spray on powder that takes the shine off, and allows us to scan no problems at all. Also, it is important to note that the scanner can only collect data by line of sight; so anything hidden from view cannot be scanned.

No, the spray on powder we use to take the shine off can be washed off easily with water or rubbing alcohol. In most cases, it just dusts off with a brush or cloth.

We can go either way! The scanner is so portable it packs up into a small case, and only takes a few minutes to set up. Otherwise, if your part or parts are quite small, we offer a pick up/drop off service or can organise a courier to collect. You are also welcome to deliver the part to us for processing.

It really is dependent on the size of the component, and the level of detail you wish to capture. You can attach a picture of the job you wish to scan on our enquiries page and we will call you to discuss your requirements.

Typically we supply the mesh in an STL or OBJ file format. But all of the following are available.

• - Binary STL (*.stl)
• - ASCII STL (*.stl)
• - 3D points text file (*.txt)
• - Wavefront (*.obj)
• - ZPrint file (*.zpr)
• - VRML 1.0 (*.wrl)
• - ASCII PLY (*.ply)
• - Binary PLY (*.ply)
• - GZip Compressed X3D (*.x3dz)
• - Maya (*.ma)
• - COLLADA (*.dae)
• - Binary Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)
• - ASCII Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)

Yes, we don’t currently have the comparison software, but have a third party we work with for this portion of the job. We can also supply scans for clients with their own comparison software.

Jobs can be very different, and it can be hard to quote, especially if the job hasn’t yet been viewed and discussed. That said, if you send us an image, and a good description of what you require, we can give you a very good indication to the time/costs involved, and go from there.

Absolutely. While we don’t get involved in pinching other people’s IP, we can model your product from the scan data, then compare it back again to make sure it is close enough to the original CAD data. Or, we often reverse engineer to make necessary improvements or modifications to OEM components.