Mechanical Design

Whether you are a single innovator or a larger well established company we can help you to take your design or product improvements from initial requirements through to a fully approved set of manufacturing drawings ready for production. For details of our Product Improvement services please refer to the Improvement Projects page.

Concept Design

We know that good concept design is the essential foundation for a successful product.

We use SolidWorks 3D CAD to develop concepts to a virtual prototype. Using the SolidWorks analysis tools we can then conduct material and structural (i.e. finite element) analysis on each component within each assembly. We can also conduct ease of manufacture and ease of assembly checks plus clearance checks for dynamic assemblies.

This reduces the number of design iterations required and means that you can have a much higher level of assurance before you build your first prototype.

Prototyping

We can advise on the most appropriate method of prototyping/ rapid prototyping your product and we will organise the procurement of prototypes for you.

Design for Manufacture

Our broad range of industry experience and extensive knowledge of manufacturing processes places us in a strong position to develop your proven concept into a cost effective production product. See below for a list of the manufacturing processes with which we have experience.

Manufacturing Drawing Packages

Because of our knowledge of the requirements of the drawing end user, whether they are external manufacturers, operators, quality personnel or operators, we will produce clear and unambiguous drawing packages with all the information necessary to ensure that requirements are met economically. We will judge the appropriate level and type of tolerancing, including geometric tolerancing, required to achieve the functional, quality and process requirements.

Note on Bills of Material

We regard the Bill of Material (BOM) as an inherent part of the design package and, at your request, we will prepare all related BOMs; or if you prefer we will provide information in a structured manner for the task to be completed by your own staff.

Drawing Modifications

Even in the best run in-house design offices, non-critical drawing change requests from manufacturing tend to be incorporated into the drawing package as a low priority. A significant backlog can result in manufacturing inefficiencies. We can take this chore off your hands and we will structure the work and our pricing to best suit your methods of working.

Manufacturing Processes

Designing for Manufacture requires a thorough knowledge of manufacturing processes and their strengths and limitations. Listed below are some of the processes with which we have significant design for manufacture experience.

  • Moulding of Plastics & Elastomers: Injection moulding, vacuum forming
  • Rapid Prototyping Techniques: Stereolithography (SLA), Vacuum Casting, Reaction Injection Moulding (RIM). The following processes may also be called upon as appropriate: SLM, SLS, FDM, LOM & Thermojet.
  • Casting: Investment Casting, Pressure Die Casting, Gravity Die Casting, Sand Casting
  • Forging: Hot forging of aluminium alloys, cold and warm forging of alloy steels
  • Machining: Milling, turning, drilling, gun drilling, reaming, CNC multi-axis machining, 6 & 8 spindle automatic lathes, Grinding
  • Finishing Operations: Honing, Lapping
  • Gear Manufacturing Operations
  • Sheet Metal and Press Work
  • Welding
  • Electro-discharge machining (EDM)
  • Plating and painting
  • Metrology: All equipment found in a well-equipped Standards Room up to and including the Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM)
  • Mechanical and electronic assembly: from small batch to automatic assembly