University of Chicago, Illinois - Rockefeller Chapel

History 

Portions of the stone tracery about the windows of the Rockefeller Chapel were in need of replacement.  This icon of the University required exact duplication of its stone tracery so as to not diminish its grandeur.  The project included providing accurate 3-D surface models for the stone manufacturer.  Once created, these models were used to program a computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine.  Collecting this data and programming the machine using the traditional method would have required weeks to complete.

Project Process

Six pieces of stone tracery were removed from the chapel and brought to the manufacturer.  Using 3-D laser scanning technology allowed us to capture all the surface data from the individual pieces.  This data was then processed into files compatible with the manufacturer's CNC milling machine.

Benefits

Laser scanning documentation has the ability to quickly provide data to the client.  The scanning took approximately 3 hours.  The data was processed and delivered in 5 days.  The milling of the stone tracery began the day after delivery of the igs files and was completed within 2 weeks.

Scanning the stone tracery from the windows of Rockefeller Chapel