Scan to CAD modeling

Scan to CAD modeling turns measured data into a working CAD model. Scan data records a shape; a model is something you can dimension, change and build from.

The starting point does not have to be a scan. A CAD file you already hold, a set of drawings, photographs, a physical part, or a concept that exists only as an idea are all somewhere to begin.

What comes out is proper geometry rather than a traced surface. That difference shows up later. A model built properly can be altered and reused for the next revision, where a copied shape has to be redone from scratch every time something moves.

Models are built with manufacturing in mind, so the file is one the machines can work from rather than one that has to be rebuilt before anything can be cut.

Each model is checked back against the original before it is released. A model that is close but not right pays for its mistake twice, once in material and once in the time spent working out why the finished part does not fit.

Because the modeling and the fabrication happen under the same roof, a change is a change to a file rather than a negotiation with a separate supplier, and revisions are handled without the work leaving the building.

Scan to CAD modeling sits between the capture and the machines. It usually follows 3D scanning, and what it releases goes on to tube chassis design, CNC tube bending or sheet metal cutting and forming.

Scan to CAD modeling is also where a part with no history gets one. Scan to CAD modeling is, in that sense, a records job as much as a design one. A component that was made once and never written down becomes a file that can be reissued, altered or handed on, which is worth as much to a maintenance department as it is to a race team.

Recent modeling and fabrication work is posted on the Infinity Fabrication Instagram. To start a job, request a quote and send the scan, the drawing, the photographs or the part itself.