CINCINNATI — Exact Metrology hosted a tech event in Cincinnati with partner company, 3DVision Technologies at both companies' offices.

The event was cleverly titled “Lunch, Learn & Luck,” and had a “March Madness” theme with basketball games playing on multiple widescreen televisions. The event was attended by over 100 people from local area industries, including automotive, aerospace and consumer goods.

Co-Hosted by Steve Young, Exact Metrology co-founder and president, and Todd Majeski, president of 3DVision Technologies, the day included presentations and product demonstrations of the newest products transforming the manufacturing industry in 3-D printing and 3-D scanning. The informative event provided insight and hands-on experience, while displaying the newest technology that is reshaping the traditional manufacturing process.

The day began at 3D Vision Technologies office, (a provider of engineering solutions and 3-D printing for manufacturing companies), with a presentation by Todd Majeski. Majeski discussed the company’s long-term partnership with Exact Metrology, and how both companies work together to improve processes, increase quality, and get their customer’s products to market faster through 3-D scanning and reverse engineering. After several presentations and a question-and-answer session, attendees were welcomed into a showcase of 3-D printer demonstrations and product displays of printed samples from miniature to lifesize versions, including a skateboard, helmet and an automotive front grill.

The second part of the tech event was held at Exact Metrology’s office, conveniently located just a short walk away. Participants walked together and, after a St. Patrick’s Day themed lunch, began the afternoon session with a presentation by Steve Young. Young discussed the newest technology in CT (computed tomography) scanning systems, which allows users to not only scan the outside of a part, but to actually see inside of it without taking it apart, or damaging the item. Until recently, this technology was used primarily in the medical field but is creating much excitement within a variety of industrial markets now, as it enables manufacturers to check for defects, internal contact points after assembly, porosity and dimensional accuracy, comparing actual scans to point cloud data, CAD files etc. According to Young, this type of 3D scanning has been a “huge success” for his company, which he co-founded with Dean Solberg, who runs the company’s facility in the Milwaukee area.

Products displayed at the event included the P40 Leica Scanner, a long-range scanner, which, according to presenter Jacob Wallace, processing engineer at Exact, can be set up and ready to scan in 30 seconds. The scanner has a 150-meter range and will show everything in the surrounding area. Wallace recently scanned an entire office to make an accurate 3-D model, complete with windows, doors, ceiling and wall thickness. Other uses of these long-range scanners include collecting topography of roadways (without stopping traffic) and large buildings of 500,000 square ft. or more, to collect information inside and outside of the building, all within a reasonable timeframe.

Josh Schradin, QA manager, demonstrated the GE Vtomex M CT Scanner with a full rendering of a videogame controller he had previously scanned. Attendees were able to see internal components, including the smallest features on the circuit board. He explained how the scan could also be used to find defects or to process for reverse engineering.

Other products displayed and discussed at the expo were the Romer Absolute 77, an Articulated Arm with a Laser Line Scanner, the Atos Triple Scan, the Artec EVA Handheld Portable Scanner and the NDI ScanTrak Large Volume Laser Scanner.

Exact Metrology ended the afternoon with a St. Patrick’s Day raffle, with two lucky attendees winning a 48” high-def television and a MakerBot 3-D printer.

Exact Metrology offers a complete line of portable scanning and measurement technologies as well as contract measurement for 3-D laser scanning services, reverse engineering services, non-contact inspection, metrology services, 3D digitizing and training.

For more information, visit www.exactmetrology.com or www.artec3d.com.