Physical Parts → Editable CAD → Validated Production
Reverse engineering, metrology & product development.
Space Elevators Incorporated is a small engineering practice in St. Louis, Missouri. We measure existing parts, rebuild them as clean parametric models, check the models against the originals, and carry them through to prototypes and production-ready drawings.
Most of our work begins with an object someone hands us: a discontinued component, a worn casting, a fixture with no drawing, a part whose documentation was lost decades ago. We are equally interested in the other direction, taking a rough idea to a part that can be made, measured, and made again.
Existing parts captured and reconstructed as native, feature-based CAD you can edit, not a mesh wrapped in a STEP file.
Measurement chosen to match the question: 3D scanning for form, probing and gauges for the dimensions that matter.
From model to object: printed and machined prototypes, fit checks, drawings with GD&T, and process selection with your shop or ours.
3D scanning for surfaces, probing and hand gauges for critical features, photographs and notes for everything else.
Output point cloud, reference measurements, photo record
Which surfaces are functional and which are cosmetic. What was machined and what was cast. What the part mates to and what tolerances it actually needs.
Output feature map, datum scheme, tolerance plan
The part is rebuilt as a parametric model with a real feature tree, in the CAD system you already use. Dimensions are rationalized to design intent, not copied from a worn sample.
Output native CAD, STEP, feature tree
The model is compared to the scan with a color-mapped deviation analysis, then to the real world with a fit check on a printed or machined prototype.
Output deviation report, fit-check record, revisions
Drawings with GD&T, process and material recommendations, and coordination with your shop or a partner until parts arrive and fit.
Output drawing package, first articles, inspection
Project write-ups are being documented. The entries below show the format with placeholder imagery: a real part, a real scan, a real model, and the measured difference between them.
A bracket with no drawing, scanned and rebuilt as a feature-based model, checked against the scan, then fit-checked in its fixture before a first article was machined.
An obsolete housing rebuilt from a single worn sample, with bore positions rationalized to a datum scheme and verified on a machined replacement.
A forged rod captured and modeled with the bearing bores as datums, delivered with a deviation report showing where the forging varies from nominal.
Describe the object, what you need to do with it, and roughly how many you need. Photographs help, even bad ones. We will reply with questions, a rough scope, and a price.
hello@elevatorsinc.spaceSt. Louis, Missouri
Parts by mail, courier, or drop-off