Aerospace Company Offers New Full-Plane 3D Scans With Z Corporation's ZScanner 700 PX

Aerospace Company Offers New Full-Plane 3D Scans With Z Corporation's ZScanner
700 PX
Portable 3D Laser Scanner Instrumental in Providing M7 Aerospace and its
Customers With Precision Engineering Data for Repair, Modification and
Reverse-Engineering

BURLINGTON, Mass., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- When a 30-year-old aircraft arrives
in the hangar for retrofitting or repair, the more information engineers have
the better.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040630/ZCORPLOGO )

That's why Texas-based aviation services company M7 Aerospace is now offering
a new service to create precise, three-dimensional portraits of entire planes
down to one-thousandth of an inch. To execute the job, M7 purchased a Z
Corporation ZScanner® 700 PX, the world's only handheld laser scanner that
precision-scans large objects such as aircraft and automobiles -- items that
previously have been too big to capture by hand.

M7 recently used the ZScanner to precisely capture the entire surface of a
Fairchild Metroliner in a resolution of 0.1mm, in just three days. The
Fairchild Metroliner is a 19-seat commuter class, turboprop aircraft with a
57-foot wingspan. The same job would have taken weeks, months or years, if
attempted at all, with other scanning technology.

"There's a growing need for both our government and commercial customers to
keep their older aircraft flying and productive," said Joe Furnish, M7
Aerospace vice president of engineering services. "This new scanning
capability from Z Corporation helps us do that. By automatically capturing
deep engineering data, we can more quickly and efficiently reverse-engineer
aircraft and components that were originally designed in the 2D era -- before
3D computer-aided design was readily available."

ZScanners are the world's first handheld, self-positioning 3D scanners. Most
scanning technology requires jigs, fixtures, tripods or mechanical arms. The
ZScanner's advantage is that it's uniquely handheld and self-referencing; it
automatically determines its location in space without the need for external
orienting devices. The user simply sweeps the scanner over the target surface
and "paints" it with complete freedom of movement around aircraft,
automobiles, boats or other large objects. As the user paints with the
scanner, the digitized object appears on a laptop screen, eliminating costly
and time-consuming post-processing.

The ZScanner 700 PX's breakthrough in scale stems from built-in AICON(TM)
photogrammetric software, previously available only in fixed-position 3D
scanners that lack the handheld's mobility, speed and convenience. This
photogrammetry capability, which provides high accuracy on very large objects,
is uniquely combined in the ZScanner 700 PX with laser scanning for fine data
capture at high resolution.

M7 Aerospace's engineering team worked closely with AGS 3D, Inc.
(www.ags-3d.com), of Austin, Texas, to adapt the ZScanner to the specialized
needs of an aviation engineering department. AGS 3D, Inc. is a distributor of
Z Corporation 3D printers and 3D scanners.

The value of engineering data
In addition to civilian aircraft, M7 Aerospace maintains and modifies legacy
aircraft for the US military and foreign governments. Older but still viable
aircraft are sometimes called upon to perform more modern roles and require
modification such as ballistic blankets, avionics upgrades, and external
sensor installations for missile defense systems.

These modifications can be time-consuming and expensive without precise data,
which is often lacking due to the absence of original paper design documents
or because of variations in a given craft. Variations in an aircraft can
result from manufacturing conditions, modification, and wear and tear.

With the addition of the ZScanner, M7 Aerospace's Engineering team can create
CAD-ready 3D models of an entire aircraft, making the integration of these
modern defense systems easier and more cost effective. After ZScanning, both
M7 Aerospace and the plane owner have the precise engineering data they need
to efficiently repair, modify or retrofit any plane they encounter. They also
have a detailed design template for any plane based on the same design.

"There's an increasing demand for large-scale scanning capability in aviation,
as well as other industries that engage in reverse engineering, inspection, 3D
archiving, measurement, damage assessment and similar uses," said Richard
Honey, president of AGS 3D. "The ZScanner's speed, accuracy, and ease of use
translate into cost savings, new revenue and increased quality."

About M7 Aerospace
M7 Aerospace began operations in 2003 after acquiring the assets of Fairchild
Aircraft. M7 remains the OEM for the fleet of Fairchild-built Metro, Merlin,
Expediter and C-26 aircraft, but has transformed itself into a leading
provider of aerospace and defense services. M7 operates from its 405,000 sq.
ft. facility located on 22 acres at the San Antonio International Airport and
employs nearly 500 people worldwide. To learn more about M7 Aerospace, please
visit the company's Web site at http://www.m7aerospace.com.

About Z Corporation
Z Corporation makes products that enable users to capture, edit, and print 3D
data with unprecedented speed, ease, versatility and affordability. These
products include the world's fastest high-definition 3D printers -- machines
that produce physical 3D models from digital data in multiple colors -- and
uniquely portable 3D scanners -- handheld machines that digitize 3D surfaces
in real time. Z Corp. technology is enabling a wide range of applications in
manufacturing, architecture, civil engineering, reverse engineering,
geographic information systems (GIS), medicine and entertainment. For the
latest news and information from Z Corp., visit www.zcorp.com.

CONTACT: JULIE REECE
Z CORPORATION
+1 781-852-5058
JREECE@ZCORP.COM
WWW.ZCORP.COM

ED MARSHALL
BEAUPRE & CO. PUBLIC RELATIONS
+1 603-559-5816
EMARSHALL@BEAUPRE.COM
WWW.BEAUPRE.COM

SOURCE Z Corporation

Julie Reece of Z Corporation, +1-781-852-5058, jreece@zcorp.com; or Ed
Marshall of Beaupre & Co. Public Relations, +1-603-559-5816,
emarshall@Beaupre.com, for Z Corporation