Bad early decisions don’t disappear — CAD just makes them look tidy.

When materials, loads, tolerances, and assembly order are locked down early, modelling is fast and boring (in a good way).

That’s the thinking behind 3DM Design Ltd — engineering problems solved early, not disguised neatly.

Most product failures don’t happen in CAD.
They’re just revealed there.
They actually start earlier:
• a vague brief
• assumptions instead of numbers
• suppliers chosen too soon
• “we’ll fix it later” optimism
Then CAD gets blamed when:
– the part can’t be manufactured
– tolerances quietly stack up
– costs double once quotes arrive

After 20+ years working on products that actually get built, one pattern is hard to ignore.

Good engineering is about decisions, not drawings.

What’s the cleanest CAD model you’ve seen hide the biggest real-world problem?