Nobody makes this part anymore. And the one you have is worn.

The scan is the starting point, not the answer

A 3D scan captures what the part looks like today. A surface that has worn down. A hole that has gone oval. An edge that has taken a knock. The scan records all of it, the same way it records everything else.

So the scan doesn't go straight to tooling. The geometry gets rebuilt first, and that step is judgment rather than measurement.

What stays the same, and what changes

Two separate decisions, and they get made before any steel is cut.

• What has to stay. Mounting points, threads, sealing faces, anything that has to match a part you already own.
• What may need to change. You may already know about a problem. It doesn't sit right against the mating part. Assembly is awkward. One dimension needs more clearance.

You supply the problem, because you're the one who has fitted these. I work out whether the change can be tooled and cast, and what it does to the rest of the part.

A dimensional change should have a reason you can name. Fit, assembly, clearance. Not redesign for its own sake.

Why you keep hearing the order is too small

Changing a mold takes time. Setting the line up takes time. On a short run, that setup is still being paid back when your parts are already finished. A scheduler also has to fit you between jobs much larger than yours, and the person quoting you knows how long your questions will take to answer.

None of that is a judgment about your part. It's a line built for a volume you don't have.

Where 1,000 pieces comes from

A thousand pieces isn't a bar you have to clear here. It's the size this network was put together for. The shops behind it already run mixed short batches, so a mold change is normal work rather than an exception someone has to approve.

There is still a point where this stops working, and it's worth saying out loud: below a certain quantity the tooling cost spread across each part gets too high to justify. That's a problem for you, not for me, and you'll hear it before you spend anything.

The logo on the surface

Design patents expire. Trademarks don't, and a logo cast into the surface is a trademark.

That has a practical effect on the tool. If the original carries a raised badge, the feature has to come off, and removing it changes the surface around it. Better settled before the tool is cut than after.

I run castings, not a law firm. For anything close to the line, get an opinion in your own market, because the rules differ by country. What I can tell you is what it does to the mold.

How long it takes

These are the real numbers, phase by phase:

• Reverse engineering — 3–4 weeks
• DFM review — Varies
• 3D print check — Varies
• Mold fabrication — 60–90 days
• Post-trial correction — 3–4 weeks
• Surface finishing — 1–2 weeks
• Mass production — Varies

Tooling is the long one, so that's the phase to watch. DFM time and production time both depend on the part and the size of the order. There's no fixed number for either, and I'd rather say so than hand you one that falls apart later.

What this doesn't cover

• Rubber, plastic, and pressed sheet parts. Aluminum casting is what I do. Other shops handle those better and cheaper.
• One-offs and restoration singles. Tooling only makes sense across a run.
• Telling you what to sell. You know your community. I don't.