Engineering Insights

Notes From the Design Desk

Practical writing on design for manufacturing, prototyping, reverse engineering, and the CAD workflows we use day to day — written by the engineers doing the work, not a marketing team.

3 articles

Design Engineering

Design for Manufacturing: A Practical Checklist Before You Release a Part

Most cost overruns are locked in long before a part reaches the shop floor. Here is the DFM review we run on every model before it leaves our desk.

June 24, 20266 min read

Rapid Prototyping

FDM, SLA, or SLM: Choosing the Right 3D Printing Process

Three processes, three very different jobs. A straightforward guide to picking the one that matches your prototype — and knowing when printing is the wrong answer entirely.

May 18, 20267 min read

Reverse Engineering

Reverse Engineering a Legacy Part When the Drawings Are Gone

A supplier disappears, the original drawings never existed, and the machine is still running. Here is how a physical component becomes a manufacturable CAD model.

April 9, 20266 min read