Mechanical steering rack

Can you scan a long, thin, shiny object with repetitive, accordion-like patterns? Absolutely. The proof is right here: an ultra-detailed digital twin of a mechanical steering rack, captured with Artec Leo and Artec Spider II.

Leo is a fully wireless, AI-driven 3D scanner equipped with an inbuilt touchscreen and onboard processor, ideal for capturing medium-sized and large objects in minimal time. Spider II, in turn, is designed for projects where utmost precision and minute detail are critical. The combination of Leo’s flashlight speed and Spider II’s pinpoint accuracy makes this duo a robust setup for hybrid scanning workflows.

In this case, Leo was used to make a quick scan of the entire body of the rack, with the scanner’s 3D resolution set at 0.5 mm. Spider II then focused on the fine elements and the part of the rack that had traces of mechanical damage. These areas were scanned with a sharp 0.1 mm resolution, revealing minute surface imperfections invisible to most scanners.

Prior to scanning, the rack was sprayed with matting powder, making its reflective surface easier to capture in one go. To ensure stable tracking, the rack was placed against a textured background: blank sheets of paper with random marks drawn on them. In total, the preparations and scanning the rack with Leo in three positions took about 15 minutes, while the Spider II job was complete in a swift 2 minutes. The result is a perfect 3D model, ready for use in automotive quality control and reverse engineering pipelines.