3D Engineering Solutions, a provider of digital laser scanning services, has used Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) best practices, structured light scanning and 3D laser scanning to rebuild military aircraft parts that are recently sold to the U.S. by Britain.
3D Engineering Solutions reverse engineered parts for Britain’s Harrier Jump Jets
As the prints and CAD models for these parts are unavailable, 3D Engineering Solutions digitized each part, assessed the materials, coatings and finishes and produced new CAD models and prints. These models and prints will be employed by government suppliers to recreate each component for military aircraft, including Harrier jump jets and large helicopters. The company utilized structured light scanning to digitize the smaller components and 3D laser scanning to capture the larger components. Totally, 3D Engineering Solutions created more than 200 prints for the Harrier and helicopter projects.
Rob Glassburn, 3D Engineering Solutions’ VP of Operations, remarked that the major difficulty in such large projects is the determination of the original design plan of the aircraft component. To overcome the difficulty, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T) and proper dimensioning are applied that are suitable for the design plan and to decrease the total end cost of the parts, added Glassburn. The company finishes the prints of the wear item components during the growth of Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) that is related to military aircraft.