Abstract
Reverse engineering (RE) is a design technique where a computer aided design (CAD) model can be obtained from an existing part. It consists of capturing 3D point clouds of an existing part and generating its CAD model. There might be a degradation in the resulting accuracy of the digitized shape due to non-uniform scanning speed coupled with non-stable movement around the scanning object, when the 3D laser scanners operated manually. In the present work, a CAD model of a car roof is obtained using automatic scanning. A five-axis CNC machine is used to guide a non-contact 3D laser scanner in capturing the digitized shape of the car roof. This chapter demonstrates the differences in accuracy of the digitized shape considering scanning speed, laser power, resolution and shutter time.