Engineering and digitisation
Digitise a drawing archive: paper becomes CAD data
Thirty years of design work sit in the archive — as paper, as microfilm, as PDF from a CAD system that no longer exists. Every time a spare part is needed, someone goes looking for the folder. We turn the archive back into usable CAD data: organised, consistent, in the system you work with today.
Digitising drawings does not mean scanning them. A scan is an image and stays one — you can neither measure in it nor change it. A drawing is only digitised once its geometry exists as CAD data: as an editable 2D drawing or as a 3D model with a derived drawing. We do this for single sheets just as for entire archives — with layer and naming conventions to your specification, so the data is not just there afterwards but findable.
Scan and file away — or rebuild as CAD geometry?
Most archives have already been digitised once: someone scanned the drawings and saved them as PDF. That saves the paper but not the content. As soon as a dimension is to be changed, a part manufactured or an assembly put together, the work starts over — on the image.
| File the scan as PDF | Rebuild as CAD data | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | An image of the drawing, pixel by pixel | Geometry with dimensional reference: lines, arcs, dimensions as data |
| Dimensions | Only readable, as well as the scan allows — not measurable | Set to the dimensioned values, cross-checked, measurable |
| Changes | Only by redrawing | Change a dimension, save, done |
| Manufacturing | Detour via manual redrawing, again for every part | Straight into CAM, laser, router or lathe |
| Findability | By file name — often just a scan number | By part number, designation, material, assembly |
| Ageing | The PDF lasts, the content stays as unusable as before | STEP and DXF are open formats and will still be read in decades |
Not every drawing in the archive deserves the full rebuild. An archive of two thousand sheets may contain three hundred that are still needed — the parts of a machine that is still running, the tooling that gets remade. That is why every project begins with a review: what is needed as a CAD model, what as a clean 2D drawing, what is fine as a scan in the archive.
What you get
- Editable 2D drawings as DXF or DWG — with layers, dimensions and title block to your specification.
- Where wanted, 3D models as STEP or in the native format of your system, with a drawing derived from them.
- Consistent file names by part number and designation, so the archive becomes searchable.
- An overview list of the archive: what was digitised how, what deliberately stayed a scan.
- A query log: every point where the source was contradictory is documented — not silently decided.
What we need
At first only an impression of the archive. The sources themselves come as scans, as a parcel, or we review them on site.
- A rough number: how many sheets, and in which formats do they exist — paper, microfilm, PDF, old CAD files.
- Two or three typical examples as photo or scan, so we can assess drawing quality and age.
- The target system: which CAD do you use today, and are there specifications for layers, title block or file names.
- The priority: which parts are actively used, which are archive.
- If available, a parts list or part-number list — it becomes the structure of the result.
How it works
Four steps from archive to CAD library. No costs arise until you approve the quote — and with large archives we start with a pilot batch.
Enquiry with examples
You describe the archive and send two or three sample sheets — via the form or in reply to our confirmation email.
Review and classification
We review scope and quality, classify — CAD model, 2D drawing or scan — and agree conventions for layers and file names with you.
Quote, with a pilot batch if needed
You receive a fixed-price quote. With large archives first for a pilot batch, so both sides know the result before the rest is commissioned.
Delivery in batches
The archive arrives in agreed tranches — the urgent parts first. Every batch includes the overview list and the query log.
What does it cost?
With an archive, the price per sheet counts — and that depends on what the sheet is to become. A dimensioned single-part drawing as a clean 2D DXF is considerably cheaper than the same sheet as a 3D model with a derived drawing. That is why classification comes first, and only then the quote — with per-sheet prices per category that you can extrapolate to the rest of the archive.
- Target format per sheet: scan in the archive, 2D drawing, or 3D model with drawing.
- Condition of the source: a clean plot is captured faster than a yellowed blueprint with handwritten changes.
- Complexity: number of views, sections and features per sheet.
- Quantity: from a few dozen sheets the price per sheet drops noticeably, because conventions and title block are set up only once.
- On-site review, if the archive may not leave the building.
Enquiry, review and classification are free. The quoted price is a fixed price per batch; billing by prepayment, invoice with VAT shown separately.
Enquire about a projectFrequently asked questions
We have already scanned our drawings. Is that not digitised already?
Rescued, yes. Digitised in the sense of usable, no. A scan is an image: you can look at it and print it, but neither measure in it nor change a dimension nor manufacture from it. Only once the geometry exists as CAD data can you work with the drawing. The scan is a good source for that — the paper does not have to come out of the archive again.
How is the price formed for several hundred sheets?
Through per-sheet prices per category. After the review we know which share of the archive needs to be built as a 3D model, which as a 2D drawing, and which not at all. For each category there is a price per sheet that decreases with quantity. With large archives we first do a pilot batch at a fixed price — then you know quality and cost before you release the rest.
What happens to the originals?
They remain your originals. Paper that is sent in comes back insured, in the state it arrived. If the archive may not or should not leave the building, we review and scan on site. Digital sources — PDF, old CAD files — we delete after the end of the project unless you wish otherwise.
Can you adopt our layer, title-block and naming conventions?
Yes, and that is the most important part of the project. An archive that sits in your system by your rules gets used; one by foreign rules sits next to it and is soon not found again. We set up layer structure, title block and file names by part number and designation once and apply them to every sheet. If there is no convention yet, we propose one.
Can we start with part of the archive?
That is actually the recommended route. A pilot batch of ten to twenty sheets shows how the result looks in your system, how queries run and whether the conventions fit. Only then is the quote for the rest worthwhile — and the rest can be staggered by urgency: the parts of the running machine first, the archive later.
Related
Single sheets are to become 3D models? That is the next step. And for the basics to read up on: