Q07 — TECHNICAL ANSWER
How to Send a Drawing for Quotation
Send a drawing, an approved sample, or a specification — any of the three is enough to start. What decides how quickly a useful quotation comes back is whether the material, the quantity and the position the part runs in came with it.
What to send with the geometry
The drawing gives us the shape. Three things that are usually not on it decide the rest: the material or grade, the quantity, and the application — where the part sits and what it works against. Without those, a quotation is either a guess or a question, and the second costs a day.
Quantity matters more on polymer parts than people expect, because it can change the process. A formed shape wanted once is usually machined; the same shape wanted in repeat batches is better moulded, and the two are quoted differently.
Tell us if the part is a replacement rather than a new design. A replacement has to fit something already installed, which promotes features like a bolt-hole pitch, a keyed bore or a belt punching from ordinary dimensions to critical ones.
If you have no drawing
Many replacement enquiries start from a worn component rather than a drawing, and that is workable. Send the sample with photographs, the material if known, and the position it runs in. We confirm the critical features with you before anything is produced.
Photographs are more useful than they sound, because they show wear. Where a part has worn tells us what it was working against, and that often settles the material question faster than measuring the part does.
For elevator buckets specifically, the belt punching detail is the single most useful thing to send — the twin bolt holes have to match your existing belt so a changeover is bolt-off, bolt-on rather than a re-drilling job on a stopped line.
What happens after you send it
We review the requirement, confirm manufacturability, material and process, and manufacture the finished component to it. Where a drawing leaves a material or a finish open, we raise it before cutting rather than assume — that question is cheaper before production than after.
An NDA can be arranged before any detailed technical exchange, and is worth asking for before sending anything you would not want circulated.
For repeat supply, batch references mean an approved component is re-produced to the same drawing revision and the same inspection requirements each time, so a part ordered a year later is made against the approved revision rather than a re-measured sample.
Sending a drawing — related questions
- What file formats do you accept?
- Send what you have. A drawing, an approved sample, or a written specification are all workable starting points, and photographs help in every case.
- Can you quote without a drawing?
- Usually yes, from a sample with dimensions and photographs. Tell us the material if known and the position the part runs in, and we confirm the critical features before producing anything.
- Will you sign an NDA first?
- Yes. An NDA can be arranged before any detailed technical exchange.
- What if our drawing does not specify a material?
- We raise it before cutting rather than substitute. Tell us the application and the environment and that usually settles it — the position decides the material more often than the product does.
Send your drawing, sample or specification with the material, quantity and application. If you are replacing an existing part and have no drawing, a sample with dimensions and photographs is a workable starting point. An NDA can be arranged before any detailed technical exchange.