Laser scanners work the same way as pen type readers except that they use a laser beam as the light source and typically employ either a reciprocating mirror or a rotating prism to scan the laser beam back and forth across the bar code. As with the pen type reader, a photodiode is used to measure the intensity of the light reflected back from the bar code. In both pen readers and laser scanners, the light emitted by the reader is tuned to a specific frequency and the photodiode is designed to detect only this modulated light of the same frequency.

Using a laser scanner instead of a digitizer mounted on a machining center for reverse engineering (RE) has helped a mold builder attract new business and increase the proportion of time that machine tools can be used for their intended purpose. RE is a major task and revenue opportunity for nearly every mold and pattern builder because customers often ask them to build a mold from a part or a mold for which a current CAD file doesn’t exist.

At Nielsen Enterprises—a mold, pattern, prototype and impeller manufacturer in St. Paul, MN—the biggest problem with using a probe was that the need to collect large numbers of points in order to accurately define part geometry tied up machines for twelve to twenty-four hours.

Dave Nielsen, president of the company, heard about laser scanning, a new technology capable of scanning parts to a much higher level of resolution than is possible with a digital probe, producing a surface model ready for machining. "Our SURVEYOR PS-1100 laser scanner from Laser Design (Minneapolis, MN) provides a much more accurate geometric model in about one-tenth the time required with a digitizer probe," Nielsen says. "We have attracted more RE work, which often leads to machining jobs, and freeing up our machine tools to focus on cutting chips."

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