HandySCAN (stories)

Product: HandySCAN
Industry: Automotive and Transportation

“The Creaform solution is highly accurate, easy to use and well-suited to a production line environment. Having the system ready at hand gives us the flexibility and response time we need to quickly investigate measurement and quality issues as they arise.”

Swedish design and visionary technical solutions: that’s the way Koenigsegg works.

The Swedish company Koenigsegg Automotive AB is the market leader within the elite hypercar market, developing and hand-building advanced artisan vehicles since 1994.

The journey of Koenigsegg, since its inception, is truly incredible. It all started on August 12, 1994 when a young man, aged 22, set out to realize his childhood dream. He was a young man fuelled by passion, ingenuity and mind-bending will. Christian von Koenigsegg had just made up his mind to live his dream and start his own car company. The odds were stacked against him. It was a now or never moment. His idea was to create a sports car that he felt did not currently exist and one which he believed would be desired—two essential necessities for success, Christian felt.

The concept: A lightweight mid-engine car with a detachable, storable hardtop. The car would also feature a wrap-around screen for good visibility and aerodynamics as well as short overhangs with two large intercooler intakes on the side of the car, located behind the mass centre to aid high-speed stability. The car would look and feel good with the top up or as a roadster—transformed in minutes with the hard top neatly tucked away inside the car. Christian envisioned a car with a timeless appearance that aged like good wine. This was a mid-engine car concept that did not exist at the time.

Every Koenigsegg created since then now includes this simple, but effective, DNA attuned to Christian’s original vision.

Five production models with as many Guinness production car records later, Koenigsegg has exploded onto the international scene and is here to stay. When Christian is asked what his greatest achievement is, he says without hesitation: “Living the dream!”

Measurement tasks and equipment

The day Koenigsegg got in touch with Creaform, the company was using rental services for measurement tasks. A four-meter Romer Arm with scan and probe heads or a Leica Tracker together with PolyWorks were employed. The measurement and scanning systems were primarily used for root cause analysis on the production line, comparing physical parts to nominal CAD as well as for fixture set-up, commissioning and reverse engineering tasks in which handmade parts were replaced by and CAD data produced using Catia V5R19 for production tooling and manufacturing.

Frequent functional downsides of the rental equipment, substantial expenses and time constraints as well as the goal to have in-house 3D measurement skills, brought Koenigsegg to start looking for alternatives on the market. Creaform’s Swedish reseller, MLT Maskin & Laserteknik AB, went to Koenigsegg for an on-site demonstration of Creaform’s 3D measurement technologies.

“After benchmarking all available measurement systems, we felt that Creaform products and solutions fitted best with our demanding requirements and environment. Being less sensitive to movements during scanning and probing, the Creaform’s solutions are better-suited to a production line environment,” explained Jon Gunner, Technical Director at Koenigsegg. “We decided to invest in the HandySCAN 3D scanner and portable optical CMM HandyPROBE from Creaform and the CAD and inspection software called PolyWorks.”

HandySCAN 3D metrology-grade scanners can capture up to 480,000 measurements/s with an accuracy of up to 0.030 mm.

The handheld HandySCAN 3D laser scanners provide breakthrough accuracy and resolution as well as significantly high measurement rates—all in a single, portable device. They can be used in all phases of the product life cycle: from conception, through design, manufacturing up to documentation, maintenance and repair purposes.

Free of any rigid measurement setup, HandyPROBE offers unmatched flexibility and a wider measurement volume than other portable CMMs.

The HandyPROBE portable CMM arm-free measurement system is the alternative to traditional measurement arms. The HandyPROBE is a wireless, triangulation–based CMM that offers complete freedom of movement and can be used for single or repeated measurements of various parts. The CMM is tracked by C-Track optical tracker. C-Track sensors also ensure the exact position of the HandyPROBE, perform continuous image acquisition and transmission, provide lighting of reflectors, manage exchanges with the computer, and store sensor parameters.

Both systems benefit from the integrated TRUaccuracy technology, which ensures highly accurate measurements when operating under real working conditions—regardless of vibrations, instabilities or thermal differences in the work environment.

How Creaform technologies intervene

The HandySCAN 3D scanner and the portable CMM HandyPROBE are now primarily used at the Swedish company for automotive quality control, measuring assemblies and components, and validating them to CAD as well as for root cause problem solving, reverse engineering and jig calibration. For jig calibration, Koenigsegg uses, for example, the probing system HandyPROBE to accurately adjust the nominal hard points. Then, users scan with the HandySCAN 3D scanner the parts once they are held by the jig as a validation process against the CAD data. This allows the company to trim the jig if a nominal offset should be required.

For quality control or engineering projects, HandySCAN 3D enables users to reduce turnaround times and increase profitability. Shown above scanning the body of a Koenigsegg Regera.

Jon Gunner is happy with the in the Creaform systems: “Already six months after the purchase, I estimated that we were halfway to gaining a return on our investment based on third-party rental fees and improvements to production quality. Creaform’s solutions are highly accurate, easy to use and ideal for a production line environment. Having the system ready at hand gives us the flexibility and response time we need to quickly investigate measurement and quality issues as they arise.”

Product: HandySCAN
Industry: Automotive and Transportation

How Hyundai Design North America uses HandySCAN 3D for improving real-time design workflows

Opened in January 2003 and located in Irvine, California, Hyundai Design North America’s design and technical center is a 90,000 square foot, $30 million state-of-the-art facility where automobile designers, engineers, model makers and other experts create new vehicles. The team offers alternative designs for its parent company based in South Korea.

As is the case with the vast majority of automotive manufacturers, clay sculpting plays a vital role in the design process in Hyundai Design North America’s studios in order to fine-tune concepts based on scale models and full-size clay vehicles. Clay modelling to design vehicles is still a very common practice with today’s automotive manufacturers to assess design quality and get feedback from reflection-based surfacing.

However, with today’s amplified competition for consumers as well as manufacturers’ accelerated time-to-market development and production schedules, design teams are under increasing pressure to create concepts faster than ever before. Digital modeling using 3D measurement technologies, such as portable 3D scanners, has become a vital solution in order to speed up design workflows.

Legacy 3D scanners no longer fitted the performance bill

For a long time, Hyundai Design North America, which is an early adopter of new technologies, used 3D scanners as a complement to its clay modeling and design processes. Unfortunately, at one point, the team realized it was time for a major equipment upgrade.

“The scanners that we were previously using were too bulky and difficult to manage. The scanning process and post-processing times were long and required most modelers to step away from working on the clay,” explained Rob Homer, Operations Modeling Manager at Hyundai Design North America. “This led to crucial time loss, especially when deliverables had hard target dates.”

Rob and his team began checking out available 3D scanners that fit their requirements. “We wanted a 3D scanner that was compact, easily portable, fast and accurate. It also had to be compatible with our CAD software.”

HandySCAN 3D: A clear front-runner in 3D scanning for designing vehicles in the automotive industry

“After looking into the various 3D measurement technologies out there, Creaform came on top for me with its HandySCAN 3D. It is a very good and reliable product at a very good price point,” Rob added. He was equally impressed with its ease of use and speed.

Hyundai Design North America was able to seamlessly implement HandySCAN 3D into its existing design workflows for real-time development. Training users on the software was completed in a day. “The experience from purchasing the scanner to training was incredibly pleasant and professional.”

Once the 2D sketch is settled, digital modelers get to work on the 3D clay models and mill it out for verifications and fine-tuning. Changes are performed by hand on the clay model, which is then 3D scanned to acquire the digital representation of the modifications.

“The scanning process is quick and easy. We are able to scan selected areas of the model without disturbing anyone working around it,” he said. “We can relay information to the digital team within minutes after finishing the scan.” This quick turnaround time of the scan data to the digital modeler means that affected areas can be fixed quickly to mill the model again before final reviews.

Richard Gillespie, Senior Digital Modeling Manager, says that the 3D measurements enable the modelers and design team to know exactly where the clay models are landed in comparison with design criteria and styling boundaries. They can quickly identify and correct discrepancies. Designers can come to decisions faster thanks to the efficiency and accuracy HandySCAN 3D offers.

One of Rob’s favourite aspects is HandySCAN 3D’s simplicity. “My modeling team can use it independently without having to wait for another expert to do the scans for them. That makes our services a true one stop shop.”

Hyundai Design North America will continue to improve their clay modeling workflows using 3D scanning in order to allow more time for the design process and refinement. We look forward to seeing the new designs hit the market!

Product: HandySCAN 3D
Industry: Automotive and Transportation

Aftermarket: 3D scanning as a preliminary step in the production of prototypes and samples of accessories for custom bikes

ABM Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH has been developing high-quality accessories for motorcycles of all the established brands with passion for over 30 years. Their focus is on ergonomics, modern technology and German safety standards. At ABM, unsurpassed quality meets striking design for ergonomic driving fun. Under the umbrella of ABM Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH, the WUNDERKIND custom brand develops premium accessories for custom bikes – such as motorcycles by Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Indian, Victory and others.

Rear fender conversion of a BMW R18

A complete conversion was required for the rear of the newly launched BMW R18. Instead of the original rear fender, a narrow, tight-fitting fender, which can be mounted on the rear wheel swing arm using retaining struts, was required. The original seat was removed and replaced by a free-standing seat.

In order to attach the license plate, an adapter also had to be designed to make it possible for a license plate holder frame to be mounted on the side of the swing arm. To this end, the motorcycle was first scanned completely and then without the original parts with the Creaform HandySCAN 3D scanner. Particular attention was paid to the exact position of the attachment points on the frame and the swing arm where the parts developed by ABM would later be mounted. Thread positions (M6 –M10) and hole spacing had to be captured with the utmost precision.

The scanned data could then be exported to the Solid Edge design program and used there as a basis for the design. The prefabricated fender was also scanned and placed in the assembly, concentric to the wheel. The struts and adapters could be designed directly on the model and then printed to be checked.

The position of the free-standing seat could be moved in the model and optimally aligned without the need for multiple mounting and dismounting of the individual parts. After the printed parts had been checked, production of the prototype and sample could begin immediately.

Process improvement

Before scanners were used, it often took a long time to record all the data and to measure and document components, which meant the customer’s vehicle had to stay on site for a long time. With the Creaform scanning system, data is quickly recorded and documented. Components can often be prepared and printed digitally. All that is required is to have the vehicle in-house again for assembly and testing of the printed or manufactured parts. There are no unnecessary journeys between the workshop and the design office. By and large, the development process up to the finished product is significantly shortened, which saves time and money.

Another advantage is that the archived data can be used for further developments at any time without the vehicle having to be physically present.

Before the HandySCAN 3D scanner was acquired, measurements were made manually at ABM using calipers, measuring rods and measuring tapes. The procedure was extremely lengthy and the measurement results inaccurate, so that subsequent work on the model had to be performed repeatedly and 3D printing had to be carried out several times.

With this initial yet common measurement method, the project described above could have been implemented, but it would have been very cumbersome and several time-consuming and costly printouts would have been necessary due to trial & error. In addition, customer vehicles would have had to be available for a long time to implement the development.

ABM fully appreciates the advantages of HandySCAN 3D: highly accurate and reliable measurement results, small measurement distance (helpful in tight spaces), hardly any scan spray required (there is no need for laborious removal after scanning), easy handling of the scanner and software.