Scanning of objects for inspection or reverse engineering purposes has now been made even easier, with the introduction of a fully programmable rotary table by Leicestershire-based three-dimensional white light measurement specialist Phase Vision.

Designed for use with Phase Vision's acclaimed Quartz range of white light scanners and available exclusively from Phase Vision in three diameters from 8" through to 24", the table can be programmed to turn through a set number of degrees between scans, enabling a complete all-round scan of the object to be taken in just a few minutes.

Phase Vision's highly innovative software automatically aligns each scan with the previous one to provide an accurate virtual representation of the object.

The rotary table has been extensively tested on a variety of automotive wheels, where scans have been rapidly produced for reverse engineering purposes.

Ralph Weir of Phase Vision commented: "Accurately measuring an object all the way round has posed a problem for measurement technologists over many decades. It's clearly impossible to scan the whole object simultaneously - unless several scanners are used, a financial impossibility for most companies - so until now moving either the scanner or the object manually has been required, with all the inaccuracies that can potentially create. However, this has entailed significant time in 'patching' scans together afterwards - a tricky task on objects which are regular in appearance and design, such as wheels.

"The new Phase Vision rotary table simply bypasses these problems by automatically rotating by the required amount based on operator preference. Because the system knows exactly how far the table has been rotated, it can rapidly detect where the next scanning 'patch' should be aligned - even on very regular objects - meaning the operator does not need to spend time on this task.

"The result is a guaranteed, highly accurate virtual representation of the object, suitable for reverse engineering or comparison against CAD."