Schutt Sports Transforms 2D Files into 3D
As times change and technology advances, it’s common for companies to update their products accordingly. But when current designs are stored in old, static 2D files, updating existing product lines can be a challenge. That was the situation at Schutt Sports (schuttsports.com), a company that develops football helmets for every level of the game, from peewee to the NFL. “We needed a straightforward way to get our existing, older designs into a 3D format so we could update them,” explains Schutt design engineer Tony VanHoutin. “We could not compromise on precision because we needed a perfect fit of all helmet components, including shells, padding, faceguards, and fasteners across our full range of child and adult sizes.”
To accomplish the transformation, engineers used a desktop coordinate measuring machine (CMM) from FARO Technologies (faro.com) to capture point cloud data of physical Schutt helmets. But instead of letting a standard IGES translator convert the data into 3D files, it used ReverseEngineering.com, which integrates directly into SolidWorks CAD software. This allowed engineers to quickly convert point cloud data into native parametric CAD files without the risk of data corruption or conversion errors.
“We’re eliminating time, cost and risk at every step,” says VanHoutin. “We’re capturing data quickly, we’re avoiding the errors of translation and we’re verifying, from the earliest possible moment, that what we make is actually what we designed. That’s good for our business and, most importantly, good for our athletes.”
