Raster to Vector Conversion for Mechanical Engineering Drawings

May 31, 2010

Wikipedia defines mechanical engineering as “an engineering discipline that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems.”  Mechanical engineers use engineering drawings to explore the principles and depict the systems they design.  Before the days of Computer Aided Design (CAD) draftsmen hand-drew mechanical engineering drawings.  Those original hand-drawn mechanical drawings are legacy drawings that trace a company’s engineering advances over the years.  Most firms want to preserve these legacy engineering drawings. 

One simple way to preserve legacy  paper engineering drawings is by scanning them , then,  using a process called raster to vector conversion, the mechanical engineering drawings can be converted into o CAD files that can be accessed by whatever CAD system the engineering firm uses. 

CAD / CAM Services, Inc.  provides outsource services for scanning and raster to vector conversion of mechanical engineering drawings.    

One of the main advantages of CAD outsourcing is to get the job done by experienced professionals, who understand how important your mechanical engineering legacy drawings are to you. CAD/CAM Services has been awarded with the AS9100 and GSA certificates and we are one of the few authorized CAD Conversion companies certified by the Department of Defense CAD Conversion work. We are proud to offer you .005″ accuracy for raster to vector conversion of your mechanical engineering drawings, or other CAD outsourcing projects.

I f you do not want to sustain the costs of hiring a full-time draftsman and prefer to eliminate the cost of a full time employee and to pay for the work only when you need it CAD/CAM raster to vector conversion of mechanical engineering drawings outsourcing services are for you!

We are glad to offer you our two registered trademarks Cad Perfect™ and Cad Perfect CAD Conversions™ for any of your raster to vector conversion mechanical engineering drawing projects. For our CAD outsourcing services we use the latest professional software (AutoCAD; Revit; Navisworks; MicroStation; VectorWorks; SolidWorks; Catia V5; ArcInfo (GIS & Data Conversion ; BIM Services; PI & D; Aero Space; Architecture Services; Structural Engineering; MEP Services ; Visio; etc) together with our own software and programs we have written to convert your engineering drawings and then our professionals spend hours and hours for hand redrawn to produce Cad Perfect™ mechanical engineering drawings for your CAD system..

Do you have any doubts about your CAD outsourcing?

To find out more about our CAD outsourcing services contact us on 800-938-SCAN (7226)

  • Cad Perfect™ cad conversion work is a registered trademark of CAD / CAM SERVICES, Inc.
  • Cad Perfect cad conversion™ work is a registered trademark of CAD / CAM SERVICES, Inc.

CAD CAM Services (CCS) has over 20 years experience in providing CAD Conversion Services, CAD Drafting Services and raster to vector conversion, both on and off-site, including analyzing conversion needs and requirements.  CCS offers unique services such as translation of files created in one CAD system into files for a different CAD system and secure digital archiving of files.

Based in Dallas (Celina), Texas USA, CCS is a small, woman-owned business and is Dunn & Bradstreet rated.  CCS is one of only six (6) firms in the entire US that is qualified and certified for Department of Defense scanning and CAD conversion work. Our staff includes P.E. engineers, architects and CAD technicians with Autodesk, Microstation and Catia certifications.  For more information call toll free at 800-938-SCAN (7226).


Raster to Vector Conversion for Construction Drawings

May 31, 2010

Many construction companies have stacks or rolls of old paper construction drawings that are stored in basement storage rooms, or off-site storage facilities. In most instances these old construction drawings are hand drawn records of construction projects that pre-date the development of Computer Aided Design (CAD).

One simple way to eliminate the need for maintaining these old paper construction drawings is by scanning them, and, using a process called raster to vector conversion, turning them into CAD files that can be accessed by whatever CAD system the construction company uses.

CAD / CAM Services, Inc. offers both software for raster to vector conversion of construction drawings and also raster to vector conversion services for construction drawings.
CadCam R2V Software converts your scanned construction drawings to CAD compatible file formats for full editing capability. CadCam R2V software can provide converted files that can be brought into your AutoCAD or Microstation CAD programs.
CadCam R2V is a highly manageable and professional document raster to vector converter that automatically converts scanned construction drawings into files that are easily editable in any PC CAD, CNC, GIS or any other mapping program. Its chief features are:
 Vectorizes construction documents quickly and easily into CAD files
 All construction drawing sizes are available without any specification to size.
 Convert all standard raster files like TIFF, BMP, CALS, PNG and JPG etc.
 Produces raster files in binary i.e. black & white images.
 Both raster and vector construction drawing editing tools available for hybrid editing.
 Competitive price.
 Optional printed manual and free technical support.
 Can function with any PC (Windows 7 and most other Windows versions supported).

We use our two registered trademarks CAD Perfect™ & Cad Perfect CAD conversions™ to describe our raster to vector construction drawing conversion service process. CAD Perfect™ & Cad Perfect CAD conversions™ provide perfect CAD construction drawings with real lines, arcs, circles and text as text, produced at minimum with 3-7 layers (levels) and colors. As per your choice we use your in-house layering scheme or any scheme suitable for raster to vector that you designate at no extra charge. All of the raster to vector converted construction document files are delivered in your native CAD file format.
Do you have any doubts about your CAD outsourcing?
To find out more about our CAD outsourcing services contact us on 800-938-SCAN (7226)
• Cad Perfect™ cad conversion work is a registered trademark of CAD / CAM SERVICES, Inc.
• Cad Perfect cad conversion™ work is a registered trademark of CAD / CAM SERVICES, Inc.
CAD CAM Services (CCS) has over 20 years experience in providing CAD Conversion Services, CAD Drafting Services and raster to vector conversion, both on and off-site, including analyzing conversion needs and requirements. CCS offers unique services such as translation of files created in one CAD system into files for a different CAD system and secure digital archiving of files.
Based in Dallas (Celina), Texas USA, CCS is a small, woman-owned business and is Dunn & Bradstreet rated. CCS is one of only six (6) firms in the entire US that is qualified and certified for Department of Defense scanning and CAD conversion work. Our staff includes P.E. engineers, architects and CAD technicians with Autodesk, Microstation and Catia certifications. For more information call toll free at 800-938-SCAN (7226).


Contex’s New XD2490 Large Format Scanner Redefines AEC Market

November 7, 2009

I’m absolutely blown away by Contex’s new XD2490 Scanner.  This large format scanner absolutely redefines the AEC scanner market.  It’s efficient.  It’s fast.  And, it’s priced to sell!  

The XD2490 is the first professional wide-format scanner with a suggested retail price under $4,000 USD, excluding freight and local taxes.   Yes, I said under $4,000!  That’s a price that’s unheard of in the industry.  Now architects, engineers and construction personnel have an affordable way to scan and communicate drawing changes directly from the field.  This can improve efficiency and reduce costly delays and mistakes.   With the Contex XD2490, users can mark-up drawings, then Scan-to-Email to communicate the drawing change with other team members.  Or, users can copy drawings for distribution to team members in the field or archive to a file server.  

This 24-inch sheet-feed scanner is rugged enough for the construction site, and small enough to transport between locations.  Contex’s advanced CIS technology ensures scanner stability during transport.   The XD2490 comes standard with Nextimage SCAN, and is upgradeable to Nextimage SCAN+COPY.  The XD2490 provides precise, accurate images with high 1200 dpi optical resolution.   It scans at up to 250 A1/D size drawings per hour in color and up to 539 drawings per hour in monochrome.  It saves file space with intelligent 8-bit index color scanning, as well as accurately capturing full 48-bit color and 16-bit grayscale image data, making it ideal for archiving applications.  

Cad / Cam Services is the nation’s largest Contex scanner dealer, month after month, so contact us if you want a best-price quote on the XD2490, or any other Contex scanner.


CAD / CAM Wins Bid to Provide High-Accuracy CAD Scanning Services to Tinker Air Force Base

October 12, 2009

Proprietary Electronic Calibration Method Provides Digital Files

 with Boeing-Certifiable Tolerance for Aircraft Drawings

We’ve been very busy here at CAD / CAM Services, Inc.  As one of only a few companies in the world who is certified for Department of Defense  large format scanning and CAD conversion work, we were  recently awarded a $1,400,000 contract by Tinker Air Force Base to scan 45,000 aircraft drawings dating from the 1950’s to the present day.  We started the project in September and we expect to deliver 2,000 calibrated images each month via a secure FTP site.  A local scanning office that is close to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma will be doing the scanning  

The Tinker Air Force project requires a tolerance of +/-.005” accuracy over any five- or ten-inch area for the digital scanned files.   The drawings are on Mylar, which is a plastic sheeting material that may be affected over the years by changes in temperature.  This means that the older drawings may have stretched or otherwise changed in size, affecting the accuracy of the drawing itself. 

CadCam Services has a proprietary method that electronically compensates for error within each five- or ten-inches to restore original drawing accuracy.  This is a Boeing and Lockheed certifiable tolerance for aircraft drawings.   We’re one of only a few firms world-wide who is able to generate calibrated digital files of this accuracy.   Our approach is unique and it enables us to specialize in tough jobs like this. “

Frank Maschino, Engineering Data Manager, at Tinker Air Force Base told us that, “The accuracy of the final digital file is of paramount importance to us.  These digital files are stored in Tinker Air Force Base’s electronic repository as a permanent archive for all of our drawings.   If we need to refer to these digital drawings, or print out a new paper drawing, it is essential that the measurements be as accurate as, if not better than the original Mylar drawing when it was new.”

We beat our competition with this unique process, which is not only more accurate, but also one-half of the cost of other methods. 

If you have a backfile conversion project, contact us for a price quote.


Converting Paper Drawings to CAD Files

July 21, 2009

We have lots of large format scanning and file conversion jobs going on in our cad conversion shop this week and as usual our scanning and raster to vector conversion experts are going full steam ahead.  One of our more interesting jobs this week is the scanning of hundreds of old construction drawings to bring into a CAD system for update.  It occurred to me that it would an interesting topic to discuss just how we here at Cad/Cam perform the scanning and cad conversion process.

Scanning

The process starts with a high quality scan. The only large format scanners we use to scan work for raster to vector jobs are 4-camera scanners. Image quality is everything here. If two lines are muddied up and appear as a single line how can our drafters know they should be separate? All of our R/V scanners sell for ~ $28-30,000. Once we have the best scanned raster image possible, we rectify the image to make sure it is aligned correctly, scaled correctly, and rectified to make sure it measures correctly on all axes points.

Cad Conversion

We use several different methods to convert drawings into CAD. Sometimes we use heads up digitizing, sometimes we use commercial R/V software, or sometimes we use our own custom written CAD conversion scripts and software. We use the method that provides the best end result CAD conversion for our customers.  We’ve spent years refining this process. Again, one process does not fit all. If you need 100 drawings converted, we might do 30 one way, 30 another, and 40 a third way. There is a learned art to this CAD conversion process. On large ongoing projects we even set up dedicated teams who work only on one project throughout the entire year.

Quality Control

All work is checked by a different member of our drafting department. Our staff shifts to keep the drafters and checkers fresh. All are experienced with a minimum of 3 years of CAD work.  We guarantee our work to be 100% correct, 100% of the time.  No exceptions.  No excuses.

Request Information about CAD Conversion