Vintage Motorcycle Cam Cover Reverse Engineering

For this project, Diamond Design was commissioned to reverse engineer a vintage magnesium cam cover for a Yamaha motorcycle. The goal was to digitally reproduce the component for future manufacture, while preserving the accuracy and detail of the original casting.

We led the full scanning and modelling process, delivering a highly accurate 3D CAD model suitable for post-processing by the client’s internal CAD/CAM team.

For this project, we:

• Scanned the original cam cover that was sent to us using our MetraSCAN 3D scanner for high-resolution surface capture
• Refined and cleaned the mesh using VXelements modeller
• Generated key features from the scan data and imported them into SolidWorks to create the model
• Completed the full 3D parametric model for client use in CAM

The cam cover was an old magnesium casting with complex geometry and subtle warping from decades of use which presented an interesting challenge for our team. Our team combined precision scanning with cutting-edge digital surfacing techniques to recreate the part faithfully — ensuring it was ready for manufacture whilst preserving the vintage authenticity of the part. The model was completed on time and the client was more than satisfied with the results; a successful outcome for all involved.