Based in Darlaston. Samples by post, drawings by email, clients across the Black Country, Birmingham and the wider UK.
Midlands Precision Drafting — service specification
Pricing
Fixed-price / Hourly
Professional indemnity
Covered (£1M)
Software
Solidworks / Fusion / AutoCAD
Drawing standard
BS 8888 / ISO G&DT
Drawn by
Brian Bate
Revision
Included as standard
Public liability
Covered (£5M)
Deliverables
PDF, STEP, DXF, SLDDRW
General tolerance
±0.05mm Typical
Location
WS10, West Midlands
Reverse Engineering & CAD Drafting for West Midlands Manufacturers
Physical parts, worn tooling and paper drawings turned into accurate, manufacturable CAD. Measured by hand, modelled in SolidWorks, drawn to BS 8888, and delivered as STEP and PDF you can send straight to a machine shop or toolmaker.
50%
More parts per storage tray, same footprint
~70%
Fewer false faliures on optical CMM inspection
6×
Faster fuel pump disassembly, zero housing damage
<£5
Material cost for a fixture that replaced a two-part workaround
What MPD does
Five things, done properly. Every job ends with drawings a machinist can work from without ringing you to ask what you meant.
Most requested
Reverse engineering from physical parts
You have the part but no drawings, an obsolete component, a worn tool, a supplier that no longer exists. MPD measures the sample, rebuilds it as a parametric 3D model and produces a manufacturing drawing with materials, tolerances and every functional feature captured, not just the outline.
- Calibrated calipers, micrometers and radius gauges, not scanning guesswork
- Draft angles, ribs, seal geometry and mould features identified and annotated
- Clarifying questions asked before modelling, not assumptions made after
Drafting
Technical CAD drafting to BS 8888
Component and assembly drawings for machining, fabrication, moulding and inspection. Correct projection, sensible datums, tolerances that reflect how the part is actually made, and a title block that carries revision control from day one.
- 2D drawings from your 3D models, or full 3D from your sketches and specs
- BS 8888 and ISO conventions, first-angle projection
- Revision-controlled drawing numbering so nothing is ever ambiguous
Legacy
Legacy drawing digitisation
Paper archives, faded blueprints and scanned PDFs converted into native parametric CAD. Not a traced picture of a drawing — a model that can be edited, revised and reused.
- Hand-drawn and microfilm-era drawings rebuilt as SolidWorks or Inventor models
- Dimensions checked for internal consistency and flagged where the original is unclear
- Delivered as STEP, PDF and native format
Tooling
Fixture, jig and tooling design
Inspection fixtures, assembly jigs, disassembly tools and masking aids designed around the actual constraint on your shop floor. Machinist background means these are built to be made, with cutter-radius relief, sensible material choices and cost in mind.
- CNC-machinable and 3D-printable designs, specified for the method that fits
- Full drawing pack and bill of materials
- Often under £10 in material for a fixture that removes a recurring problem
Review
Design for manufacture review
A second pair of eyes on a design before it reaches the toolmaker or machine shop. Where a feature will be hard to make, where a tolerance is tighter than it needs to be, and where a small change saves real cost.
- Reviewed by someone who has stood at the machine, not only the screen
- Marked-up drawings and a short written summary
- Priced hourly, minimum two hours
The MPD Workflow
How a reverse engineering job runs
The same five steps every time, so you know what is happening and when. A typical ten-part job is complete in under two weeks from samples arriving.
01
Scope agreed
Part count, deliverables and a fixed price confirmed in writing before anything starts.
02
Samples received
One of each part by tracked post, or a short site visit if that is easier for you.
03
Measured and modelled
Every dimension taken by hand, then rebuilt as a parametric SolidWorks model. Questions raised early, not after delivery.
04
Drawings issued
Fully dimensioned BS 8888 drawings with material, tolerances and functional notes. STEP and PDF delivered by email.
05
Revision and return
One round of revisions included. Samples returned by tracked post once you have signed off.
Case Studies
Recent work
Process improvements and tooling for a UK fuel-systems remanufacturer, all measured against the problem they were built to solve.
Storage density
Kardex storage tray redesign
Complete redesign of the tray ecosystem inside an automated storage system. New pocket geometry, opposing part orientation for weight balance, a double-rib base to stop flex, and slots that let the tray carry assembly parts alongside the components, removing a repacking step entirely.
50%
more camshafts per section
80%
more rail camshafts per section
Disassembly tooling
Fuel pump front-plate puller
The existing method hooked a bearing puller into a shallow seal groove and marred the housing every time. New tool applies load through the pump's own bolt holes and hub via a three-leg laser-cut plate and a centre drive screw, straight, square and damage-free.
6:45 – <1:00
disassembly time
0
housings damaged since
Reverse engineering
Obsolete gear and shaft assembly
No original drawings existed for this assembly, the only reference was two worn physical parts. Measured, modelled from scratch and rebuilt into a single production-ready drawing, preserving fit and function on components no longer supported by any original supplier.
0
original drawings to work from
3
production drawings delivered
Traceability
Data-plate masking shield
Waterjet surface treatment was erasing riveted data plates on obsolete pump housings, losing traceability on units worth tens of thousands. A reusable TPU 95A shield with counter-bored rivet reliefs seals the plate and takes the abrasive load instead.
<£1
per unit, reusable
Reusable
across blast cycles
MPD is run by Brian Bate, a machinist & engineering technician by trade, with over 6 years of CAD experience, and the person who measures, models and draws every job personally. No drawing goes out that could not be made.
Background
Shop-floor machining and CMM inspection in the manufacturing industry
Standards
BS 8888, ISO drawing conventions
Software
SolidWorks / Fusion / AutoCAD
Insurance
PI £1,000,000 · PL £5,000,000 (AXA)
Location
Darlaston, West Midlands — Black Country based, UK-wide by post
Drawn by someone who has stood at the machine
Questions manufacturers usually ask first
Get in Touch
Send the part, the sketch, or the problem
Most quotes go back the same working day once the scope is clear. Email is easiest, it comes straight to Brian, not a shared inbox.
brian@midlandsprecisiondrafting.co.uk
Darlaston, WS10, West Midlands
A quote comes back faster if you can include
- How many parts, and whether any are variants of the same thing
- Whether physical samples are available, or drawings, or both
- What the drawings are for - machining, moulding, a supplier change, compliance
- Any deadline that matters
- Whether you need STEP files as well as drawings