Harvest Technologies, based in Belton, Texas, provides rapid prototyping and manufacturing for a wide range of industries – including oil and gas, automotive, medical, consumer goods, power tools, and aerospace. With over 30 years of engineering experience, Harvest has been leading the way in rapid prototyping for over ten years – having developed several proprietary techniques of post-processing and finishing rapid prototypes.
Rapid prototyping (RP) uses a technological process to produce complex 3D objects in a short period of time, usually days rather than weeks. Tight tolerances are a must and capturing contour measurements of various prototypes creates difficulties. When working with complex measurements, traditional measurement tools such as calipers don’t work, create guesswork, human error, and inconsistent results. Harvest needed a better solution to answer their customers’ needs.
Thanks to one of these customers, Harvest chose the advanced technology of the FARO Laser ScanArm®. The ScanArm’s ability to capture high end surface measurements and its ability to take fine point measurements for use in stereolithography (STL) files was key. The ScanArm allows Harvest to scan complex contours and place them into a CAD model using Geomagic software. Tolerances are verified when the scanned prototypes are compared to an original 3D model, providing first article and CAD-to-part inspection capability.
What used to take days, now takes only hours with the ScanArm. Products are created in less time, more cost effectively, and without the waste caused by human error. Any deviations are caught with the very first part, not after creating piles of scrap during a faulty production run. More importantly, deviations a caught before a part is ever sent to a customer.
“It’s a great tool – well worth its weight in gold,” says Jason Morgan, Stereolithography Production Manager at Harvest.
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