Hexagon’s new REcreate software to streamline reverse engineering
February 22, 2021
Software company Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, based in Cobham, Surrey, UK, has unveiled REcreate, a flexible new software solution to make it simpler and faster to reverse engineer parts from metrology scans.
Reverse engineering is routinely utilised throughout manufacturing and maintenance processes – these processes can, however, require complex digital workflows to account for incompatible data types and technologies, impeding productivity while opening the results up to error. Previous workflows also require significant experience and access to a variety of tools, something which can bottleneck the process. In order to better streamline this workflow to enable high-quality, manufacturing-ready results as routine, Hexagon brought its metrology and production experts together to build REcreate.
Designed to remove complexity, REcreate offers a single working environment from inital scan to manufacturable CAD model. Users can also prepare CAD models and drawings from any point; the fully-featured tool suite allows users to create complete, manufacturable CAD models as well as 2D drawings. The analysis tools also enable users to interrogate 3D models and validate their manufacturability before exporting as CAD or STL for Additive Manufacturing.
“We believe that by making reverse engineering software versatile and easy-to-use, REcreate gives design, production and inspection teams greater confidence in their reverse engineering processes,” stated Ken Woodbine, REcreate Product Manager.
“With the laser scanning technologies available today, there’s no reason why most use cases can’t be addressed by anyone who needs them provided they have access to the data and tools required – be that ensuring a precise fit for replacement components, repairing legacy parts or updating design files with adjusted geometries following prototype creation or production optimisations.”
Though the software is designed to slot into a customer’s existing processes, REcreate also offers benefits to users with other Hexagon technologies throughout their workflow. Hexagon’s production software tools used to plan, optimise and program machining processes have been tested with the new software. Sites that use the company’s portable arms for inspection may reduce training needs by allowing operators to read inspection data directly from the device, allowing for reverse engineering using a single solution.
