IMARC, designer of office chair components and mechanisms, installs a Kreon measuring arm in the heart of its engineering and design department

For fast product design, IMARC design engineers produce large numbers of prototypes using traditional techniques of manual modelling, but even more often relying on 3D printing. The parts designed, be it armrests, backrests, seats, legs or mechanisms, can vary greatly in their materials and dimensions. Some soft parts, like seat foams, can only be digitized accurately using contactless techniques.

With high acquisition speed and accuracy, the Zephyr II Blue 3D scanner can quickly scan any part in minute detail. A typical application is designing ring-shaped backrests which are composed of two pieces (front and back) that must align perfectly. The back piece is known to deform during manufacture (deformations due to the open shape, identical over the entire series of injected parts), hence it is scanned after production. The CAD model of the front piece is then adjusted to the actual, scanned shape of the back piece. That way, despite deformation in the back piece, no defects are visible after assembly.

Tripod-mounted and compact, the measuring arm fits easily into the limited space of the engineering and design offices. It may also be moved to the metrology room from time to time.