Machine Design Roadmap
From engineering theory and DFM to professional CAD, large assemblies, and production drawings.
Theory
Machine design fundamentals & calculations
Materials, failure theories, and the hand-calculations behind shafts, bearings, gears, fasteners and springs — the engineering math your CAD package assumes.
Manufacturability
Design for Manufacturing & Assembly (DFM/DFA)
Process-driven design across machining, casting, molding, sheet metal and additive — geometry the shop floor can actually make at target cost.
CAD foundation
SOLIDWORKS Essentials (CSWA)
Sketching discipline, part modeling habits, and your first assembly — aligned to the CSWA exam.
Advanced modeling
Multi-body, configurations & surfacing (CSWP)
Master-model strategies, design tables, and surfacing as a problem-solving tool — the CSWP exam blueprint.
Assemblies
Top-down design & large assemblies
Skeleton sketches, in-context references, and the discipline that keeps a 500+ component assembly editable.
Fabrication
Sheet metal & weldments
Flat patterns, K-factors, structural members, gussets, and cut lists your fabricator can actually use.
Delivery
Production drawings & detailing
Manufacturing-ready drawings: views, sections, GD&T, BOMs, and revision-controlled templates.
