New Technology Makes Reverse Engineering Easier Than Ever

Technological innovations are almost always a good thing, and this concept paired with reverse engineering strategies is no exception. CAD packages are readily available to design engineers, and they can use the software on any existing physical part to make a 3D virtual model and tweak it to the specifications any client could wish for.

 

The lifecycle of the product from beginning development to end is incredibly important to an enterprise’s viability in the market, and getting the idea to design before your competitor, one of the first stages in development, is critical. One barrier that prevented many companies from doing this in rapid-fire succession was the daunting price of CAD software. Engineering companies, especially smaller organizations, need to keep production costs down and complete the development stage as quickly as possible. There’s reasons they are able to capitalize on doing this better and quicker now:

 

Reason # 1: Software is Less Expensive

 

A company’s software has to be thoroughly integrated with CAD, so that they have access to vital features needed via the CAD program. If you go back a few years, many designers got used to designing parts with software that companies paid thousands of dollars for. Now there are many programs out there are a lot cheaper than that, and the competition and advancements to the software has driven down costs. This results in fewer limitations to companies purchasing excellent software for new product development and allows for more companies to be able to do reverse engineering.

 

One of the first examples of this that come to mind, are two popular brands of 3D modeling applications used by designers today, ProE and Solidworks. Both are excellent 3D modeling software programs, with each having their own weaknesses and strengths. The winner hands down for cheaper cost is Solidworks, though. Google, who seem to have their hand in just about everything these days, is also offering up a new 3D CAD software named SketchUp, that is easy to use and powerful enough for veteran design engineers to use for duplicating their model and specifications. The professional version of SketchUpretails for about $500.

 

Reason #2: Hardware is Less Expensive

 

Another reason that reverse engineering has become easier and quicker to do, is that the price of scanners and other hardware that you use to input the product measurements has decreased. Manufacturers have also indicated that the hardware is becoming smaller and a lot easier to use. Reverse engineering is heavily dependent on both the software and hardware working together.

 

It is a perfect pairing between the two, and the hardware is then used to measure the object and later used to reconstruct it using 3D modeling software. Objects can also be measured with more advanced 3D scanning technologies, such as laser scanners, coordinate measuring machine, computed tomography, or a structured light digitizer.

 

There are many 3D CAD programs in place that takes what’s in your mind and converts it to reality, so that you can easily reverse engineer and design solid products in no time. The selections are increasing and becoming cheaper all the time, as well, for both software and hardware options that are vital to the reverse engineering process.

 

This process that was just limited to businesses that could pay the larger costs in the past is now spread out to more users because of better options and is leading to quicker design to market strategies for those that were shut out of this before. As technology advances, and competition becomes more fierce, the process may even become quicker in the near future.

For 3D CAD design services, contact Elite Tech Engineering.

Image courtesy of arztsamui / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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