Reverse Engineering & 3D Scan-to-CAD Services for Plants and Machine Shops

Reverse engineering services for obsolete, worn and undocumented parts

Most reverse engineering requests start the same way: a pump has been down twice this year, the manufacturer no longer supports the model, and the plant has one worn impeller left. We scan the part, rebuild the geometry as it was designed rather than as it has worn, and deliver CAD a machine shop or foundry can quote from. The same process covers legacy equipment brackets and housings, valve bodies, conveyor and crusher components, molds and patterns, and any part whose drawings were lost in a plant sale.

Reverse engineering a part you own for your own use is routine in industry; where a part carries a patent or a licensed design, that is a question for your counsel, not something the scan changes.

3D scan to CAD: STEP, IGES, SolidWorks and 2D drawings with GD&T

A scan produces a mesh — millions of triangles that describe the surface but that no machinist can program from. Scan-to-CAD is the modeling step that turns the mesh into a parametric solid with design intent: true cylinders, planes, fillets, and patterns, with the worn surfaces restored to their nominal form. We deliver the solid as STEP or IGES by default, as a Parasolid or native SolidWorks file when your shop specifies it, and as a 2D drawing with dimensions and GD&T when the part will be sent out for quotes. The mesh itself (STL or OBJ) is included for 3D printing a check fit or a pattern.

Impellers, castings, brackets, molds and pump parts we scan every week

Impellers and volutes are the classic case: compound-curved vanes that are impractical to measure by hand and expensive to get wrong. Castings and forgings with draft and parting lines, machined brackets with bolt patterns that must land on existing holes, sheet-metal guards, injection molds and foundry patterns, and gear and sprocket profiles are all within the scanner's range. Small parts are scanned on a turntable in the office; parts up to about two meters are scanned on the shop floor or in the plant.

On-site 3D scanning services in Houston plants — or ship us the part

Parts that cannot leave the plant — still bolted in, too heavy, or under a work order — are scanned where they are. The Leo is wireless and self-contained, so a scan in a pump house or a pipe rack needs an escort and a permit, not a power cord. Parts that can move are shipped or dropped at our Sugar Land office and returned with the files; most are scanned the day they arrive. Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Beaumont, and Corpus Christi are covered from Houston; other states through our 27 regional hubs.

3D scanning cost per part and turnaround

A reverse engineering quote has two parts: capture, which is a fixed amount for a part that fits on a bench and a half-day or day rate on site; and modeling, which depends on the part's complexity and the deliverable — a mesh is included, a surface model is quick, a fully parametric solid with a drawing takes the longest. A simple bracket is a few hours of modeling; an impeller is a day or two. Rush turnaround is available when a unit is down. Send photos and the part's rough size for a written quote.

Scan-to-CAD accuracy, deviation reports and inspection checks

Every CAD model ships with a color deviation map comparing the model to the original scan, so you can see where the model follows the worn part and where it was restored to nominal. The scanner is rated at 3D point accuracy up to 0.1 mm; the report states the accuracy achieved on that part. For parts that will be made from the model, we can scan the first article from the shop and report it against the same CAD — see our dimensional inspection service.

Reverse engineering for refineries, petrochemical plants and machine shops across Texas

Plant reliability and rotating-equipment engineers use us to get spares made locally instead of waiting on an overseas OEM; machine shops and pump repair shops use us as their scanning department when a customer walks in with a worn part and no print; fabricators use us to capture an existing interface so a new skid bolts up the first time. NDAs are signed before the part is scanned, and the files belong to you.