How to Pick the Right Outsourced Reverse Engineer

Outsourcing your reverse engineering work is one of the best ways to save money and expedite the full process. Trusting a team of professionals to tackle the project on your behalf can yield better results than trying to do it in-house. The only issue is, how do I know which outsourced reverse engineering company to choose?

In this expert guide, we’ll explain how to pick the right outsourced reverse engineering company for your project, regardless of how big or small the project is. We’ll give you tips to get the best results.

What Is Reverse Engineering

In its simplest form, reverse engineering is taking a part and creating a new, identical part. For example, you could take a bracket, measure it, model it in 3D, create 2D manufacturing drawings, then have a machine shop create an identical copy of that part.

Reverse engineering is really common in old parts or replacement parts from legacy components. As companies go out of business and simply stop making certain parts, you can’t get a replacement part unless you reverse engineer your own.

A great example of reverse engineering is the market of aftermarket parts for cars. If you want a non-OEM part, you’re likely getting something that is at least partially reverse-engineered.

What Is an Outsourced Reverse Engineer

So, what is the “outsourced” portion of outsourced reverse engineering? Outsourcing is when you pay a third-party company to handle the engineering and design work for you. In this case, you would get full reverse engineering services from a company that specializes in it.

You can also outsource standard engineering work, and it works the same way: you pay a company to come in and do your engineering work for you.

This could be as small as creating a new 2D drawing, reverse engineering a single part, or as large as creating a full 3D model of your facility. When it comes to outsourcing your reverse engineering, it’s a lot simpler than you might think.

7 Tips for Picking the Perfect Outsourced Reverse Engineering Company

Even though outsourcing your reverse engineering project is simple, it comes with some homework. Before you pick a company to perform the outsourced work, you should consider these 7 tips. We’ll help you pick the perfect outsourced reverse engineering company.

Their Pricing Should be Transparent

The biggest red flag to us is a company that doesn’t share their pricing or keeps it under wraps throughout the project. At CAD/CAM Services, we give an itemized quote before we start doing any work. You know exactly what you’re paying for before signing anything.

Other companies can try to trick and scam you out of money. They might charge an insane hidden fee without telling you what it’s for. For a smaller reverse engineering project, it might be easy to overlook this, but the problem gets a lot bigger as the project grows.

Ensure You Aren’t Overpaying

Reverse engineering is certainly an involved process, but that doesn’t mean you need to overpay for it. We always recommend getting quotes from a few different companies and comparing them.

You never want to overpay for reverse engineering. Most of our clients outsource their reverse engineering work because they want to avoid headaches and avoid doing the work in-house. Why would we overcharge an engineering team that doesn’t have the ability to do the work themselves? We’re always fair with our pricing, and you’ll see that if you get a free quote from us.

Make Sure They Have the Right Tools

This is a very big part of picking the perfect outsourced reverse engineering company: make sure they have the right tools. What do we mean by that? Well, an engineer can dramatically expedite a reverse engineering project if they have a portable 3D scanner.

Our team relied heavily on 3D scanners whenever we tackle a reverse engineering project. These scanners can create incredibly accurate, detailed, high-precision 3D models of a part within a few minutes. It will capture every bolt hole, feature, curve, and surface of your part in a fraction of the time.

We can take that 3D model and quickly turn it into 2D manufacturing drawings so you can get quotes from machine shops and start production even sooner. Manually measuring a part takes much longer and has a lot of room for error.

If the engineer holds the calipers wrong, writes down the wrong number, or reads the number incorrectly as they’re modeling, you could receive a part that simply doesn’t work. We never want that to happen. Our goal at CAD/CAM Services is to deliver high-quality 3D models as soon as possible.

Only Choose Companies with Previous Experience

Another point that we want to stress is that you should never choose an outsourced engineering team that doesn’t have previous experience in reverse engineering. Sure, the process seems simple enough — but there are a lot of pitfalls and potential issues that can arise during any reverse engineering project.

These are issues that will slow you down, lead to a lot of headaches, and ruin your budget. When you pick a company that has previous experience, you’re choosing experts in that field. After all, would you go to a dentist who has never worked on teeth before?

At CAD/CAM Services, we’ve handled hundreds of reverse engineering projects over the past decades. We have a number of case studies available on our website, or you can ask us about our excellent track record with reverse engineering. We know what goes into a perfect reverse-engineered part, and you’ll notice the difference when you work with us.

Look At Their Previous Projects

Once you do find a company that has previous experience, it’s a good idea to look at their past work. A company’s project history can say a lot about their attention to detail, quality, and ability to perform professional-grade reverse engineering.

Closely examine the 3D models they made, and look for any glaring issues. These same issues can appear during your project, so it’s best to avoid a company that can’t deliver the quality that you deserve.

Prioritize Accuracy and Precision

In reverse engineering, two words should always drive the project: accuracy, and precision. Having a precise and highly accurate 3D model of your reverse-engineered part will give you the best results when you get the part manufactured.

You should never waste your time with a company that focuses on turnaround time or low quotes instead of accuracy. However, there’s nothing wrong with a company that can do all three (just as long as you definitely get great accuracy and precision on the parts).

Of course, our experts at CAD/CAM Services put accuracy above everything else. It definitely helps that we use metrology-grade 3D scanners to speed up the process and keep our quotes low.

Start with CAD/CAM Services

If you’re still lost, you should start with CAD/CAM Services. We’ve been performing reverse engineering for decades, and we’re one of the best options you’ll find on the market. We refuse to overcharge our clients, we focus highly on accuracy, and we have some exceptional (very expensive) 3D scanners that we can leverage during your project.

You’ll get the best results when you choose CAD/CAM Services today.

Conclusion

As you just learned, picking the best outsourced reverse engineering company comes with a lot of considerations and factors to think about. You want to make sure you’re getting a good deal and the company knows what they’re doing. As always, you can trust our engineering experts to deliver great results. If you want to learn more about CAD/CAM Services or get started, get a free quote today.