3D Scanning and 3D Printing for Prototypes, Models, and Replacement Parts
Turn ideas into successful products quickly, build tools, reproduce classic car replacement parts, or create models for architecture and art: Rapid prototyping with 3D printing offers you nearly unlimited possibilities to print objects from a wide variety of materials—easily and cost-effectively.
We create high-precision 3D scans of your objects for digital processing and 3D printing—using state-of-the-art measurement technology, our own measurement room for reliable results, and a team of experienced engineers. You’ll benefit from over 20 years of measurement experience as well as our practical know-how gained from measurement projects across a wide range of industries. In addition, we have mobile measurement equipment that allows us to measure essential objects and components right at your location. And: Upon request, we can then directly handle the production of your 3D-printed prototype for you in collaboration with our professional rapid prototyping service provider.
In all projects, your goals are our top priority: Together with you, we gather your specific requirements for the measurement process as well as for your 3D-printed prototype. This enables us to identify potential problems and challenges right away and provide you with comprehensive advice on the best measurement technology, as well as the right printing material and process. The result is comprehensive 3D data for your digital post-processing, as well as fast and cost-effective 3D-printed prototypes.
We’ll find the optimal solution for each of your requirements!
Your benefits at a glance
3D SCANNING, 3D PRINTING & PROTOTYPING: OUR SERVICES
Scanning, printing, and delivery—in partnership with a professional rapid prototyping service provider, we offer you a full range of services to bring your 3D-printed prototypes to life. Your benefit: With sigma3D, you have a single point of contact who can optimally meet your requirements for scanning the original object and manufacturing your prototypes.
1. Scanning & 3D Data Creation:
You send us your object, and we scan it in our in-house measurement room. Based on the data collected, we create a 3D model of the entire object and send it directly to our rapid prototyping service provider.
2. 3D Printing Prototyping:
Our rapid prototyping service provider prints your object using the material of your choice and performs all necessary quality checks.
3. Delivery of the Model and Data:
We will send you the finished 3D-printed prototype as well as the original object, and provide you with all the 3D data we have created in the file format of your choice.
SCAN SERVICE FOR YOUR 3D PRINTING PROTOTYPING
Our experienced team of engineers creates comprehensive and precise 3D data of your object for 3D printing. This provides the best possible foundation for high-quality printed products in rapid prototyping and many other applications.
After we’ve discussed all the details of your scanning job together, we’ll schedule a measurement appointment. Once you’ve sent us your object, we’ll scan it and deliver the resulting 3D data to you—as cross-section data, STL files, or point clouds, depending on your requirements. This way, you benefit from an optimal data foundation for your 3D-printed prototypes.
Process:
Day 1: You pack the object and send it to us.
Day 2: The object arrives at our facility by 10:00 a.m. and is transferred to our measurement room for optical 3D scanning.
Day 3: You’ll receive your object back via a return shipment and we’ll provide you with the results of our 3D measurement.
RAPID PROTOTYPING & 3D PRINTING: POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
Models and Functional Prototypes in Record Time
When it comes to bringing new products to market as quickly as possible, the answer is rapid prototyping. 3D printing allows you to quickly and flexibly create prototypes all the way through to production readiness. This enables you to validate concepts, test functionality and fit, and significantly shorten your entire design and development cycle. In practical terms, this means you save weeks or even months of development time—and a great deal of money!
3D-printed prototypes are a fast and straightforward solution for making ideas tangible—in the truest sense of the word—in no time at all: In the early stages of development, simplified visual models and initial design samples help you gain valuable insights. And thanks to real objects instead of virtual concepts, you can convince stakeholders and gather immediate user feedback.
By using 3D-printed prototypes, your development process becomes more efficient and cost-effective, and you can bring your products to market faster than ever before. A real competitive advantage!
Replicas and Restoration of Art Objects
Exhibitions and museums benefit from the advantages of 3D-printed “prototypes” in a wide range of applications: Whether it’s a sculpture, piece of jewelry, or design object—we can easily capture valuable, delicate, and complex objects for you non-contact via our 3D scanner. This allows you to reproduce them as often as you like at a low cost, exhibit them multiple times, or make them accessible for visitors to touch.
In addition, 3D-printed prototyping is ideal for the documentation and restoration of art objects. We can scan damaged works of art for you to create replicas of damaged parts for testing or to print and install replacement parts directly.
Replacement Parts for Classic and Modern Cars
When automobiles are no longer manufactured, the availability of replacement parts becomes increasingly difficult and costly over time. This is where we can help you with rapid prototyping: 3D printing using a wide variety of materials, such as metal or plastic, makes it possible to precisely reproduce individual parts of your classic or modern classic car.
This applies to wear-and-tear parts as well as to more extensive restorations: For example, damaged parts can first be fully scanned and then reconstructed as a virtual 3D model on the computer. The finished printed replacement part is in no way inferior to the original in terms of design and functionality and can be easily installed.
Another potential application is rapid tooling: 3D printing can be used to manufacture specialized tools that enable the production of very small batches of automotive parts that are no longer available.
Rapid Tooling: 3D Printing of Tools
Conventional toolmaking is time-consuming and only economically viable for high production volumes. Rapid tooling offers an alternative here: 3D printing is the perfect technology for quickly and easily manufacturing a wide variety of tools and tool components.
Simple and complex tools for industry and production can thus be newly developed and reproduced at any time. The range extends from deep-drawing tools to injection molding tools, as well as pressing and stamping tools. Here, you benefit in particular from the sigma3D team’s extensive experience in the precise measurement of a wide variety of tools and industrial machines.
Rapid tooling 3D printing significantly reduces the production time for your tools, helping you produce faster, thereby saving costs and freeing up resources for your business development.
Architectural Models
Spaces, buildings, or entire neighborhoods—3D-printed prototypes are a valuable asset for architects and civil engineers. One of the main advantages here is speed: We can use our rapid prototyping service provider to quickly transform 3D drawings and plans created on a computer into vivid physical models for you. You can use these to optimize your planning process and make communication with clients and partners more transparent and successful. Time-consuming and labor-intensive model-building methods are now a thing of the past.