OBSOLETE PART · PEEK · REVERSE ENGINEERED
No drawing, no OEM support: rebuilding a feed-through housing.
An obsolete insulator housing, a worn sample, and a production line waiting on a part nobody stocks. Here is how a replacement gets rebuilt.
- Material
- PEEK body + 316L sleeve
- Source
- Worn sample, no drawing
- Tolerance
- ±0.02 mm
- Finish
- Machined, Ra 1.6
- Process
- 3D scan → model → 5-axis
- Inspection
- CMM vs model + fit check
- Typical lead time
- 2–3 weeks
- Typical quantity
- 1–10 pcs
Representative program — figures are typical for this part class, not a specific customer record. Machined at a partner shop we manage; we don't own the machines.
THE PROBLEM
The part exists. The drawing doesn't.
The equipment was out of support, the OEM had no stock and a lead time measured in months, and the only sample was worn at the sealing face. Measuring the worn part directly would have copied the wear into every replacement.
- Sealing face worn by about 0.15 mm — unusable as a reference
- PEEK burrs and melts if it is cut like aluminium
- 316L sleeve is a press fit inside the PEEK body
| Overall envelope | Ø58 × 74 mm |
|---|---|
| Seal face | Reconstructed from the mating part |
| Insert fit | 316L sleeve, interference fit |
| Material | PEEK natural, 316L bar |
| Typical quantity | 1–10 pcs |
WHAT WE DID
Scan, decide what not to copy, then cut.
Reverse engineering is mostly judgement: which surfaces are design intent, and which are wear, damage or the result of a bad original. The scan is just the starting point.
- 1
Scan the sample
3D scan the housing, then separate design surfaces from wear using the mating part as the reference.
- 2
Rebuild the model
Solid model with a proper tolerance stack, including the interference fit for the 316L sleeve.
- 3
Machine PEEK properly
Sharp PCD tooling, air blast instead of flood coolant, and annealed blanks to avoid stress cracking.
- 4
Turn and press the sleeve
316L sleeve turned to the interference calculated from the model, pressed and checked for squareness.
- 5
Fit-check on the real part
Assembled against the customer's mating component before shipping — not just measured on a CMM.
INSPECTION & DOCUMENTATION
Compared to the model, then to the machine.
A CMM report proves the part matches the model. A fit check proves the model was right. We do both, because the customer's problem was never the drawing.
- CMM report against the reconstructed model
- Fit check with the customer's mating part
- PEEK and 316L material certificates
- Dimensional drawing issued with the first batch, for future orders
WHAT THIS ROUTE GIVES YOU
From worn sample to drawing in three weeks.
Scan, model and first article typically take two to three weeks. The reconstructed drawing ships with the batch, so the next replacement is a purchase order rather than another reverse-engineering project.
- Fit checked against the customer's mating part
- Drawing handed over with the first batch
- Spares quoted up front for consumable parts
Got an obsolete part and no drawing?
Send a photo and the mating component. We'll tell you whether it can be rebuilt, and what to measure first.