Projects · Cast Iron CAD · 2010 to 2026
Real engineering work, named clients, products that went to volume. The portfolio is the differentiator.
Consumer · medical-adjacent
−8% fulfilment cost
Concept, CAD, DFM, manufacturing handover, FAI. The judgement call was injection-moulding partner selection for medical-adjacent compliance.
“A remarkable 8% reduction in fulfilment costs.” Aziz, CEO, TabTime.
Archive storage
Fitted first time
A recording artist’s tape archive was going into storage flight cases, and the top section of each case needed cassette and document storage that fitted the opening exactly and stayed light, so a full case wouldn’t tip. The flight case maker couldn’t take it on. We took CmdShiftR through a design brief and a few options, which they discussed with their client, and the choice was eight aluminium drawers in a lightweight wood and aluminium frame. The drawers were laser-cut, folded, welded and powder-coated by a fabricator we sourced, and the frame panels were laser-cut and assembled in the Plus X Innovation workshop. All eight units fitted first time. James’s write-up on LinkedIn
“Faultless from beginning to end.” James, Director of CmdShiftR (Google review).
Consumer · tech
Concept to factory
From concept through manufacture. Concept, CAD, DFM, manufacturing-partner engagement. The judgement was supplier-shortlist depth versus campaign timeline.
“You give a design problem to Dave, and he solves it.” Noel, CEO of Control Freq.
NDAs are a fantastic way to protect intellectual property, but they may limit what we can share with you. Feel free to get in touch and see if we have the specific expertise you’re looking for, or look through the sectors below for the product types we have worked on.
Toys · educational
Numbuko™ teaches children about numbers through play rather than books or screens, using magnetic, luminous blocks that change colour to keep hold of a child's natural curiosity.
Access control
An aluminium and stainless steel housing that builds the client's existing 4G electronics into a hard-wearing access intercom for high-end applications, with a complete MRP system behind it so stock keeps pace with forecast sales.
Vehicles · sports
A new type of sports trailer based on the caravan, lighter, cheaper and more adaptable, which makes it a good fit for carrying sporting equipment, and small enough to go in a garage over winter when it is not in use. It is still at the concept stage.
Access control
Control Freq's access control pillar for residential and commercial car parks, managed remotely over GSM and programmed from a mobile app, with a number pad, barcode reader and speaker built into a durable post that is quick to set up.
Specialist · structural analysis
A design check on a connecting rod in finite element analysis, plotting the factor of safety across the part against maximum von Mises stress, with the lowest value anywhere on the rod at 1.5.
Medical
A working prototype of an automatic printer for medical laboratories: load a cartridge of vials or slips and the machine orients each one and prints a QR code straight onto it.
Furniture
A coworking meeting table in steam-formed plywood, shaped after a flower bulb, with a rounded, organic form meant to bring a team together around it for meetings and shared work.
Medical · consumer
The TabTime metal pill cutter, a compact tool in durable metal that splits a tablet cleanly every time, for anyone who needs an accurate dose.
Medical
The tipper inside an automatic rotary pill dispenser that helps people with conditions such as dementia remember their medication; after each dose it drops the pills and resets to its starting position.
Access control · electronics
A quick-dial GSM phone for Control Freq: we modelled the off-the-shelf handset, designed the vacuum-formed base to fit it and carry the electronics that connect to the GSM network, and worked through the moulding and assembly with the manufacturer.
Heritage · conservation · Pall
From Dave's years at Pall (2006 to 2009), before Cast Iron CAD. This artefact submersion tank was developed for the Mary Rose Trust, the UK organisation that conserves and displays the Mary Rose, a Tudor ship that sank in 1545. The brief called for a fully insulated tank, 2 m by 2 m, with a submersion heater to hold its working temperature, large enough to treat smaller weapons and large pieces of furniture. The tank held heated glycol, which replaced the seawater in the waterlogged artefacts and left them with a preserved finish that will last a very long time. The photo shows artefacts it treated, now on display at the Mary Rose Museum, rather than the tank itself. Shown for the experience it brought, not as a Cast Iron CAD product.
Industrial · survey
For a major UK explosion protection engineering company, a refinery in Lithuania covering over 500,000 m² was scanned with a Leica ScanStation and brought into AutoCAD, where our drafting team drew plan, side and section views from the scan. They then marked over 600 explosive risk areas on the drawings as zones, and the drawings became the basis of the site's safety procedure.
Drawing packs
Our drawings are produced to BS 8888, so the design passes cleanly into manufacture, and they come from parametric 3D models, which keeps development time down when the design changes.
Food & beverage · Pall
From Dave's years at Pall (2006 to 2009), before Cast Iron CAD. This project was created for the food and beverage sector with the need for adaptability to cater to various capacities and operational pressures. A novel sealing mechanism was integrated and subsequently endorsed by 3A, an independent organisation setting sanitary standards for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. Shown for the experience it brought, not as a Cast Iron CAD product.
Environment
A water segregation tipper for highway sweepers: water separated from the waste they collect is treated and reused to clean more roads, and the aggregate is tipped and recycled.
Environment · energy
An off-grid wind turbine designed to be easy to transport: the body is inflatable, filled with lighter-than-air gas to keep it aloft when the wind drops, and tethered to a winch on the ground. We took it for our client from the first concept through the 3D model, patent drawings and generator and cable-weight calculations to a patent application.
Industrial · mechanisms
A triangular slip gear mechanism for the medical printer prototype, which lifts, shifts and shuttles each item into place, three motions from a single motor.
Product design
Hand sketches of the teardrop trailer at concept stage, six side-on views working through its profile and the shape of the body.
Toys
A parametric library of Lego-compatible train track for 3D printing, modelled to Lego's own dimensions, with 90° and 60° curves, three-way and four-way junctions and sloped sections, exported as STL files.
Sports · FEA
Finite element analysis of the unstable supports on an elliptical trainer, comparing three bracket designs for reinforcing the structure, as a guide ahead of field testing.
Oil & gas · ATEX · Pyroban
From Dave's years at Pyroban (2009 to 2010), before Cast Iron CAD. Applications engineering for ATEX-rated equipment used in potentially explosive environments, including documentation for CAT (USA). Shown for the experience it brought, not as a Cast Iron CAD product.
Design, engineering and production techniques: Cast Iron CAD works with all industrial manufacturing techniques.
Advanced polymer product development.
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A scoping conversation reads where your project sits, agrees the scope, and produces a written agreement.
