CASE STUDY · MINING MAINTENANCE
UP TO 50% LESS INSPECTION TIME
Talleres Artificio brought tracked metrology 3D scanning into the field to capture ball-mill geometry that conventional tools could not fully reach. According to Shining 3D, the FreeScan Trak Nova workflow reduced inspection time by up to 50% while improving the completeness of data used for alignment, wear, and engineering decisions.
The 0.02 mm accuracy and 2.6 × 2.2 m field of view are current system specifications, not measurements of this project’s outcome.
Based in Nogales, Chile, Talleres Artificio is a mechanical engineering company serving mining, heavy industry, and advanced manufacturing. Its team designs, engineers, manufactures, and assembles industrial solutions—work that often requires dimensional evidence from equipment too large or too inconvenient to move into a controlled inspection room.
A ball mill is a demanding measurement subject. The machine is large, access is constrained, and the features that matter are distributed across shafts, bearing housings, and broad circular geometry. Maintenance teams need more than isolated dimensions: they need enough spatial context to judge cylindricity, relative alignment, concentricity, wear, and deformation.
Before adopting industrial 3D scanning, Talleres Artificio relied on conventional manual instruments. That approach created several practical limits:
The core problem was not simply speed. It was coverage. When an inspection captures only the points a tool can physically reach, engineers may be forced to interpret machine condition from an incomplete geometric record.
The team first encountered industrial 3D scanning at exhibitions in Chile. When it evaluated a system for large equipment, Talleres Artificio selected the Shining 3D FreeScan Trak Nova for a combination of large-area dynamic tracking, metrology capability, and value. A local distributor provided training and onboarding.
The system pairs a tracker with a detachable handheld scanner. In tracked mode, it can capture large parts dynamically without attaching coded targets across most surfaces. For professional buyers, that matters because inspection setup is part of the total job time; reducing target placement can make repeated field work more practical. Surface size, geometry, finish, and line-of-sight still determine the best setup.
Instead of moving the measurement problem into a metrology room, the team brought the measurement system to the mill. The scanner captured dense point-cloud data from accessible machine surfaces, creating a digital record that could support engineering analysis, reverse engineering, maintenance planning, and quality control.
Manual instruments captured individual measurements and were limited by physical access.
Tracked 3D scanning captured broad surface geometry and the spatial relationship between features.
The inspection produced faster, more complete data for maintenance and engineering decisions.
This workflow did not remove the need for engineering judgment. It improved the evidence available to that judgment. The value of a scan comes from selecting suitable reference geometry, controlling line-of-sight, validating the capture, and translating the resulting dataset into the inspection question that matters.
Shining 3D reports that Talleres Artificio used the captured data to evaluate three difficult conditions:
According to the source case study, the FreeScan Trak Nova workflow reduced ball-mill inspection time by up to 50%. The article does not publish a detailed timing methodology, so the percentage should be understood as Talleres Artificio’s reported project outcome—not a guaranteed result for every inspection.
The broader operational gain was a more complete digital record. Faster capture helps reduce equipment downtime and field labor, but data completeness is what supports better decisions about alignment, repair scope, wear, and maintenance planning.
Practical takeaway: For large industrial parts, scanner accuracy is only one selection criterion. Tracking volume, field of view, line-of-sight, setup time, surface condition, and the required inspection output can have equal or greater influence on the real workflow.
A tracked metrology scanner can be a strong fit when the part is large, difficult to move, or requires relationships between separated features. Before choosing a system, define the job around these questions:
