Model-free subtractive manufacturing from computed tomography data

Great effort has been put into simplifying model reconstruction and tool path planning for machining in traditional reverse engineering with laser scanning. This paper proposes an alternative to reverse engineering using computed tomography (CT) scanning and voxel models. The new approach eliminates common issues faced in traditional reverse engineering, such as the need for parametric surface reconstruction in order to create toolpaths for a computer numerical control (CNC) machine tool. Successful duplication of a machined part with this new method demonstrates great potential for voxel models generated from CT data in reverse engineering applications.