Funded founders
You have the funding and a concept you've tested
You need it engineered and made by people who have done it before. We take it from the first drawings through to the factory that makes it, and we’re with you the whole way.
Cast Iron CAD · Brighton & Hove · Plus X Innovation
The missing piece between a good idea and a great product.
We bring the engineering, manufacturing and guidance to get yours made, working alongside you the whole way. 280+ products developed in 15 years.
Product DesignEngineeringManufactureSpecialist Advisory
Who we work with.
Crowdfunding creators
Your specification is written and backers are waiting
Crowdfunded products are part of the 280+ we’ve developed. We’ll tell you plainly what it takes to make yours, ideally before you commit to a price or a delivery date.
Manufacturers
You make things, and want a product of your own
We design and engineer it for manufacture, from the first concept through to production drawings and prototypes you can test.
Everything your idea needs next.
Concept, design, engineering and manufacture in one team, with specialist help where a project needs it.
Product Design
Concepts, 3D CAD, renders and packaging, so you can see how the product looks and works before anything is tooled.
Engineering
The analysis, prototypes and testing that get a design to drawings a factory can quote from and build.
Manufacture
Production methods, quality control, packaging and supply through to launch, with our UK and overseas manufacturing partners.
Specialist Advisory
CE and UKCA technical files, risk analysis (FMEA), stress analysis (FEA), production planning systems (MRP) and funding applications, on their own or inside a project.
We've taken hundreds of products down this exact path.
You don’t need a pitch. You need someone who reads where your product actually is, tells you straight, and owns the route to manufacture.
That’s the whole job: real engineering, the drawings a factory builds from, and the handover managed end-to-end.
- 280+
- Products developed across consumer, industrial and specialist categories.
- 15
- Years as Cast Iron CAD, engineer-led from Plus X Innovation Brighton.
- 25+
- Years in engineering, nuclear, oil & gas, food & beverage.
The journey we take products on.
Every product goes through ten stages, from the first idea to delivery. We work the second half.
- Idea
- Discover
- Innovate
- Evaluate
- Define
- Design
- Engineer
- Develop
- Manufacture
- Deliver
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01 · Talk
Talk to us
A 30 to 45 minute conversation, at Plus X Innovation Brighton or by video, about where your project is and what it needs next.
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02 · Scope
Get a written agreement
Agreed scope and route forward, with a cost band where the work allows. Not a sales pitch.
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03 · Build
We engineer it and get it made
Drawings a factory can build from, and we own the handover.
We reply within 2 working days, and there’s no fee for the scoping conversation. We’re happy to sign a mutual NDA before you share any details, ours or yours, and you keep our written view of where your project stands whether or not we work together.
Products we've taken to market.
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Consumer · medical-adjacent
TabTime
Concept, CAD and design for manufacture through to manufacturing handover, with an 8% reduction in fulfilment costs.
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Access control
Control Freq
From concept through to manufacture, including choosing and engaging the manufacturing partners.
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Archive storage
CmdShiftR
Lightweight eight-drawer units for a recording artist's tape archive, made to sit in the top of each flight case without tipping it. All eight fitted first time.
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Toys · educational
Numbuko
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3D CAD model
Solid model
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CAD render
Glass housing frame
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Toys
Train track
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Lighting
Light bulb
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Vehicles · sports
Teardrop trailer
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Sports · FEA
Elliptical trainer
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Furniture
Bulb Pod
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Environment
Water recycling
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Access control
Fusion range
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Medical
Vial printer
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Medical
Medication tipper
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Medical · consumer
TabTime
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Industrial · machining
INO 2000
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Access control
Intercom
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Drawing pack
Engineering drawing
References.
It has been a privilege to collaborate with Dave on several projects at my company, TabTime. His comprehensive skill set covers the entire product design process, from initial ideation through to the creation of detailed drawings for manufacturers. What sets Dave apart is not just his ability to design exceptional products, but also his proactive engagement with manufacturers to refine and optimize designs. His efforts have not only elevated the quality of our products but have also resulted in a remarkable 8% reduction in fulfilment costs. Dave is the complete package as a product designer.
Aziz, CEO of TabTime We went along with a rough prototype of what we needed and Dave was amazing. He listened, understood what was required, then suggested improvements and alternatives. ... He made further prototypes, stress tested them, improved the economics for the operator and now we have a product used in the medical and home personal user world that we feel is perfect.
We have worked with Dave on two projects from conception to commercial sales offering. We wouldn't have been able to get either off the ground without his vast experience, collaborative working style and dedication to support.
Dave is priceless. You give a design problem to Dave, and he solves it, which is perfect for me because I have loads of ideas and Dave's great at putting them in perspective
Noel, CEO of Control Freq What we don't take on.
Scope exclusions
- Ideas that haven't been tested with customers yet. We'll say so plainly and point you to the right first step, so nothing is spent on engineering too early.
- Pure styling jobs with no engineering. We lead with engineering; industrial design attaches to it.
Questions we're often asked.
How do I know if my idea is ready for you?
You don’t need to know before we talk, because working that out is part of the scoping conversation. As a rough guide, if you’ve tested the idea with the people who’d buy it and you know what the product has to do, it’s probably ready for design and engineering. If it’s earlier than that we’ll say so, and point you to the right first step, which is often our supporting practice Innovate Engineer, so nothing is spent on engineering too early.
Plenty of studios offer a first meeting. What's different about yours?
There’s no fee for ours either. You leave it with a written view of where your project sits on the ten stages, from idea through to delivery, what it needs next and a cost band where the work allows, and that’s yours to keep whether or not we work together. Because we’re engineer-led, the conversation also covers how the product will be made and certified, not just how it looks.
Will I be working with Dave directly?
Yes. Dave leads every project himself, from the scoping conversation through to manufacture, and he’s your point of contact throughout. On larger projects he brings in contract engineers for extra capacity, and specialist partners for electronics, firmware and certification where a product needs them.
Why an engineering practice rather than a design agency?
If a product only has to look right, a good design agency may be all you need. Most products also have to be made at a sensible cost, pass their testing and certification and survive being shipped, and those are engineering questions. We start from the engineering and bring the industrial design in alongside it, so the drawings you get from us are ones a factory can quote from and build.
Why Cast Iron CAD rather than a large consultancy?
Large consultancies are set up for large programmes, and they do that well. Most of the people we work with are founders, smaller manufacturers and crowdfunding creators who want a senior engineer on the project from the first conversation, and costs sized to the product. Dave scopes your project himself and leads the engineering, and after 280+ products over 15 years we’ve probably met a problem like yours before.
What's the connection with Innovate Engineer?
Innovate Engineer is our supporting practice for earlier-stage ideas, and Dave runs both. It offers fixed-price first steps that take an idea through to a written specification, and one of them ends with a Cast Iron CAD project estimate. When the idea is ready for design and engineering the project moves across to us, and the work done at Innovate Engineer comes with it, so nothing is started again. See how that works
Start a project
Building a product? Start a conversation.
A 30 to 45 minute scoping conversation, with no fee, produces a written project estimate. We reply within 2 working days, we're happy to sign a mutual NDA first, and you decide what happens next.
+44 (0)1273 252523 · Studio 01, Plus X Innovation Brighton, BN2 4GL