Just curious if any of you guys outsource CAD modeling or engineering related work. I really want to start a part-time consulting company doing CAD modeling, and engineering related analysis. I thought it might be interesting to get feedback from some of you. I know most of you either don't bother with it or do it yourself, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

I have dabbled with this a bit. It is sometimes difficult finding actual work. I had a position with a license and was allowed use it for some similar jobs on my own. If you can get your foot in the door with a company or shop or two then you may be able to make some cash but for me I only ever ended up with odd jobs here and there.

 

CAD drawings aren't difficult. Companies that can afford to spend money on them have the resources in house, and companies that dont have the resources in house are usually too small to really pay. CAD programs are cheap and fast to get anywhere so why should they go to you? FEA and Fluid Dynamics (meshing-iteration) is where companies usually need help in. Software where very few are trained in and excel in is where you can find yourself useful in consulting. Problem with that is that companies that need FEA or Fluids help usually have a lot of money tied up and invested in projects and they wont go just to anyone. So unless you are extraordinary good at what you do or have a huge company with a lot of good engineers, that is when they will come to you. The other option is to help quality engineers with their bullshit ISO crap where they might need protocol signs/labels put in with the right part. In my case I would rather shoot myself in the face cause I hate ISO crap.

If you really want to pursue this, I would say go to a local firm that does this kind of work and see if they would outsource some of their work to you for a little less money. This way you get the experience and meet new potential costumers when you go on your own.

 

I wouldn't suggest it. You really would have to make a name for yourself in the engineering field to get started because it sounds like you want to do consulting which a lot of engineers do but they also do analysis on failures for companies so you would have to be pretty versatile to compete.

Good thing i'm a mech. engineering senior =] Got to learn FEA and CAD and that stuff is awsome and helps for projects.

 

Realistically a company searching for this kind of work is gonna look for an established source they can trust w/ a confidentiality and liabilty agreement to protect their best interest.

 

This is almost exclusively what my company (seamlessdm.com) does. The problem is that there are a lot of cad monkeys but very few good designers. We found our niche in tooling and prototype development. Tool and die departments can get backlogged pretty quick (especially in aerospace where we focus) so we offer the flexibility of contract design work. We do get some basic CAD work from time to time but are picky about our clients after being burnt in the past.

The prototyping stuff doesn't typically pay as well up front but for development we take a portion of the patent and in some cases manufacture it. These are the really fun projects, since they can be almost anything

We have been actively looking for another designer for the past few months and haven't been having much luck. Like I said lots of guys can fumble something together in Solidworks or produce passable drawings but that doesn't make them a designer or an Engineer. The point to that is a good designer is rare and if you are one the work will find you.

Something to consider is, purchasing a seat of software makes this kind of business very difficult to justify economically. At around 7k in capital costs you really need to have a lot of work lined up just to cover your software

Some advice I can give is if you want to offer strictly CAD work just buy a seat of autoCAD and focus strictly on 2d drafting. I have seen a lot guys keeping busy with this kind of work. You can bid on large scale drafting jobs, offer services for homeowners looking to do renovations, ect. It has a larger market than 3d models. As mentioned most fab type guys can fumble something together. Anyone requiring actual FEA a would have significant resources (enough to purchase very expensive ANSYS).

Anyways that's my take on it from what I've seen up here. Market might be different where you are. Hope that helps

 

Thanks for all the input guys. I actually graduated with a degree in Mechanical engineering from a top university here in the states. I am eventually hoping to specialize in FEA, as I know there is a high demand for Stress engineers. I am currently taking some specialized courses in this area. I am also working on a portfolio to showcase my work to potential employers. I have some contacts with an old employer I had so that may help as far as establishment. I have a full time job so this would just be something that I plan to do in my spare time.

Thanks again

 

Yes I am mechanical engineer from india living in US. One of my friend has reached in US he has a project management company in India. So we are looking to outsource cad drawings by starting a company here. So we would like to know more about your interests so we can work together. Kindly reply to my email. mathewshiju7@gmail.com