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Legacy 2D to 3D Conversion

Professional Outsourced Legacy 2D to 3D Conversion Services

In today’s age, you can’t do much fabrication without professional 3D CAD files. This becomes a big problem for companies that rely on legacy 2D drawings in a backroom. It becomes much harder to get parts made, share designs with customers, and modify any drawing. 

To fix this problem, many companies have turned to professional outsourced legacy 2D to 3D conversion services, like the ones offered at CAD/CAM Services. We’ll transform your existing engineering drawings into high-quality 3D CAD files that you can adjust, share, and fabricate more easily.

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Legacy 2D to 3D Conversion

What Are Legacy 2D to 3D Conversion Services?

Legacy 2D to 3D conversion services will take all of your old, hand-drawn Mylar engineering drawings and translate them into professional 3D CAD models. At CAD/CAM Services, we’ll start by taking a clean 2D scan of your existing blueprints, plans, drawings, or site maps. From there, we’ll start modeling the drawing from scratch in your 3D CAD program of choice.

Since we are an outsourced engineering company, you don’t have to worry about doing anything. Our professional experts and draftsmen will redraw every line of your drawing, then we’ll translate it into a high-quality 3D model.

Why Legacy 2D to 3D Conversion Services Matters

With low-quality outsourced companies, you can expect to get poorly made drawings back. Their teams tend to cut corners, take shortcuts, and sacrifice the quality of your 3D CAD files as a result. Many companies are just looking to get a quick payday, so they’ll rush through a project before demanding payment from you.

We don’t think outsourcing your work should come with these added headaches and pains. At CAD/CAM Services, we have a reputation for sending high-quality work to our clients at affordable rates, and we never waste time on our end. This translates to faster results at better prices than our competitors.

Choosing CAD/CAM Services is the only way to get CAD Perfect CAD Conversions®. How do we know that? Because we’re the only company in the country that can legally claim that, thanks to our trademarks. 

With us, your legacy drawings will be brought into the modern era. You can start adjusting existing designs, share details with vendors, and improve your fabrication workflow.

Picking CAD/CAM Services for your next legacy 2D to 3D conversion project comes with a lot of benefits:

Faster turnarounds.

Our engineers work on staggered shifts so that we can operate 24/7. With more working hours a day, you can expect even faster delivery.

More functionality with each model.

We take time to add material properties and full model trees to each of our 3D CAD files, giving you more functionality for future use.

Affordable pricing.

You’ll find that our pricing is affordable, especially with how high-quality our work is.

More services under one roof.

We offer dozens of standard services, and even more custom services at CAD/CAM Services. By doing more under one roof, you can enjoy even faster project completion and lower prices.

Update your legacy designs.

The best way to update your legacy designs is to start with a new 3D CAD file, which our team can handle for you.

Optimize your fabrication workflow.

Manufacturing your legacy parts has never been easier, thanks to our legacy 2D to 3D conversion services.

What Goes into Legacy 2D to 3D Conversion Services from CAD/CAM Services?

Our legacy 2D to 3D conversion services largely revolve around your legacy drawing. We can tackle massive projects, and we regularly convert hundreds of drawings from 2D to 3D for any given client. With that said, our process begins with a consultation with you.

You’ll tell our experts how many drawings you have, your estimated timeline, your native CAD program of choice, and any additional specifics. From there, we’ll get to work. We usually start by 2D scanning all of your existing legacy drawings to speed up the process.

After that, we’ll open your CAD program of choice and start making models from scratch, using your scanned legacy drawings as references. Whether you have 1 drawing or 1,000 drawings, we’ll follow this same workflow until every drawing is professionally made in 3D CAD.

Each file goes through a series of quality checks to ensure we didn’t make any mistakes before sending you anything. This is another way we can commit to CAD Perfect® drawings in such short periods of time.

All final files are yours to keep, and we’ll send them digitally using a file sharing platform that the DoD uses as well. Let us know if you spot any issues, and we’ll clean them up and resend the files.

Our Legacy 2D to 3D Conversion Services Include:

  • Mylar to CAD conversion
  • 2D and 3D CAD Modeling
  • Additional Engineering, Designing, and Drafting
  • 2D Small-Format and Large-Format Scanning
  • Reverse Engineering, As Needed
  • Document Digitization
  • And Much More (Including Custom Services)

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At CAD/CAM Services, it doesn’t matter how big and complicated your legacy 2D to 3D conversion project is — our team can handle your work, and our goal is to exceed your expectations. We have over 100 engineers and draftsmen who work around the clock, and we’ve been successfully completing projects for over 35 years. Start getting CAD Perfect CAD Conversion® drawings today by getting a free quote.

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FAQ's

CAD Conversion FAQs
What do you need to provide me with an accurate quote?

We need to know source CAD and target CAD software. Since large quantity orders can be discounted by us you can provide us with the number of parts you need to be converted.

If you tell us the desired purpose of the conversion we can offer you some conversion options. We can also convert your files into vendor-neutral file types (.STEP, .STL, etc,).

Please email us even cell phone photos, and the rough size of what you wish scanned and converted [email protected].

What do I get?

You get native Cad Perfect™ files with the full-featured model tree (where applicable, since some file types have no trees), and features can be fully parametric. It all depends on your goals.  We prefer to not translate any files. Our goal is to deliver to you a file that you do not have to touch. Our work is exactly as if you had reproduced that work in-house.

Which CAD file formats do you work with?

All the CAD file formats are listed on this page but bear in mind that we also work with exotic and legacy CAD systems.  After 31 years of providing CAD Services, we have run into almost any CAD file format.


Which CAD systems do you work with?

We support all the modern CAD systems including SolidWorks, Catia, Siemens NX, PTC Creo, Inventor, Revit, AutoCAD, and many others.

I have some weird CAD files from the previous century, can you help me?

Yes, absolutely. We can perform legacy CAD conversions.  Just send us some example files, and what CAD system we need to wind up in, and let us design the best solution for you.We have worked with old Computer Vision tapes, Anvil, and many other 1980’s systems.

General CAD Questions
How do I send a sample, in order to get a quote?

Fill out our quote form, attach your files, or simply send us an email. Tell everything about your project, like the model purpose.

For smaller files < 15 MB you can simply email them to us.  For something larger, just drop them in any number of drop boxes like Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and others.  Or if you would like, just contact us for a private, hardened link.

It is fine to use most any time of compression such as  *.zip, *.rar, *.tar, *.7z, *.arc, *.LBR, and even *.iso images.

A direct email is [email protected]

We also use a hardened OwnCloud web file sharing platform for unlimited file transfers. We provide unique and very private Web Storage Portals, this also supports file syncing for extreme convenience for you. Because so much of our work is DOD or weapons design work, Security – and confidentiality is very important to us.

Will CAD / CAM Services Sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)?

Yes. NDAs are a common part of our business. All data is yours – not ours, and treated as proprietary data and not for public consumption or use. Probably 70% of our work is under NDA agreements. We can generally get these signed within the day.

What is the estimated delivery time?

It depends on the scope of work:

  • 2D drawings – small quantity, normally 48 hours.  We have several customers where they contract to us, keeping 4-8 drafters busy full time.
  • 3D models – complexity dependent, but smaller jobs in 2-3 days. Some models we have spent months on.  Again, we have several customers where they contract to us, keeping 6-10 3D CAD designers busy full time.

Simple jobs have a lead time of 48 hours. Larger projects are delivered and invoiced weekly.

Did you really own the trademark Cad Perfect™, Cad Perfect CAD Conversions™ and Cad / Cam Services™?

Yes, we did back in 2008. We started using Cad Perfect™ back in the early 1990s because all of our customers wanted only real Cad Perfect™ work. Back then the buzz words were terms like machine ready, or DXF Traceover and others.

The problem is, nobody wanted that. They all wanted drawings and models that they did not have to touch. Everybody wanted drawings just as if they hand redrew the work themselves.

Thus, Cad / Cam Services™ was the first company to start offering ONLY Cad Perfect™ work.

Do you support the PPD-21 Directive?

Yes we do, and have now for several years. In addition, we also support the industry specific plans as well.

3D Modeling FAQs
How do you bill 3D CAD services tasks?

Per hour. Hourly rate depends on what CAD software used and typically starts at $75 per hour.  In general, to make this process safer for you, we often provide you a fixed not to exceed the cost as well.  That way, you are protected from an open-ended PO. However, the reality is our fees are based on time. In addition, services in say Catia or NX are more expensive than say Solidworks. Or, simulation services are commonly done by real engineers.

What do you need to give me accurate pricing?

First of all, we need to know the target CAD system and whether you have an existing  template, or set of CAD standards for this project.

The main question is the overall complexity. As each part and assembly consists of different features and elements the best way is to provide us with an example.  Again, a picture is worth a thousand words.

If you already have a model and need us to improve it or update it in any way we need to know which dimensions and features are critical and which can be modified to achieve your desired result.  Even a before and after example works very well. We started with x, and got to this CAD file.

We can also offer you better options if you provide us with the purpose of your project (demonstration, 3D printing, FEA Simulation, CNC manufacturing, etc.).  This helps us better refine the task.

How do you check your models?

We create 2D drawings from our 3D models for QC purposes. We follow aerospace standards and deliver ±.005” accuracy models for all projects.  All of our QC is done by a different person than the designer. On Catia work, we often use Q-Checker for Airbus.

What is the minimum price for your 3D modeling services?

We have a minimum order fee $150.

Digitizing FAQs
What is the average raster to vector (R2V) 2-D conversion price?

The typical AEC D & E size sheet is $135. There are possible discounts depending on the job size. The more you convert the less you pay.  The bulk of the files we produce are for AutoCAD.

Creating models and drawings over scanned analog documents seem so easy – why such a low price?

In order to make an accurate representation, you have to calibrate the original drawing, which may have deformed during its storage period. Non-dimensioned mediums need to be thoroughly calibrated before digitizing.

Parts of scanned data may be lost due to time and other factors. Because it is important to recreate the design intent,  we need to recreate lost data.

You ONLY receive  Cad Perfect™ files – as if you had drawn these by hand.

Do you support BIM modeling?

Using Revit, yes we do.  Think of BIM as an intelligent 3D model of your building.  We know exactly where all of the HVAC is, IT cabling, electrical, the cost of doors and windows, when mechanical systems need to be serviced, all the way to a room number with a phone number and IP in that room. In addition to our Ray Tracing technology to support some very life-like photo renderings.


What is DHS – Critical Infrastructure Products

The Department of Homeland Security protocol  PPD-21 requirement has deemed that sixteen (16) industries and services are critical to our US Nations security.

These industries  require additional security protocols when creating CAD files. CAD / CAM Services follows all of these requirements. Think of industries and info structures such as power, water, along with fourteen (14) other industries.  For a full list please see Critical Infrastructure Products.

What is a “Calibrated” Mylar image?

Mylar films can be stored in climate-controlled facilities. However, films get skewed and change sizes over time – ironically not linear. So what changes on one end, does not apply to what is in the middle, or the other end.  We have seen ‘J’ size Aerospace Mylars (about 48×180”), vary by a full inch.

CAD/CAM Services utilizes a proprietary process to make Mylar raster images dead on a 5” or 10” grid. Our process was developed in conjunction with, and approved by Boeing engineers.