Engineered by F-CAD®Delivered through SixGate™
F-CAD® is an engineering design company in Glasgow, founded in 2010. Book our engineers for a part, a drawing pack or an analysis, or bring a whole product through SixGate™, our design-to-manufacture process.
Engineering services
Help with a part, a drawing or an analysis
Start from something that already exists: a part, a scan, a box of old drawings or a model that needs checking. Book a defined job, or have our engineers join your team and work in your CAD system.
- You send
- A part, a scan, a PDF, a sketch or a box of old drawings
- You get back
- Native Inventor or SolidWorks models, STEP files and drawings to BS and ISO standards
Design to manufacture
A whole product to develop
SixGate™ is the design-to-manufacture process of F-CAD®. Our engineers run it for you, from the first specification to production, starting at the stage your product has reached.
- 01Specification
- 02Concept
- 03Detail & Simulation
- 04Engineering Pack
- 05Prototype & Test
- 06Production
What we do
Book one service or combine several on the same job. Every model we build is set up for its next use, whether that is analysis, a drawing pack or the machine shop.
Capture existing parts and drawings
Design and detail
Analyse
Show and make
Buildings and structures
Recent work
Engineering projects by F-CAD®, and whole products developed through SixGate™. More than 100 clients have worked with us since 2010.
- Oil and gas
Offshore wellhead decommissioning
More than 15 critical interface and legacy-data uncertainties resolved before the removal tooling was made
Reverse engineering, 3D CAD, tooling design - Consumer products
High-end fishing reels
More than 15% lighter with no loss of durability, and design cycle time cut by more than 30%
SixGate™, stages 02 to 05
Mechanism design, 3D CAD, FEA, rendering - Leisure
Lazy river at a large water park
Pipe and pump layout optimised with CFD for even flow, lower pump energy and better safety
Computational fluid dynamics - Construction
Bulk and construction material handling
More than 50% more material throughput on high-rise construction sites
SixGate™, stages 02 to 04
3D CAD, FEA, DEM, electrical design
What to expect from our files
The same standards apply whichever service you book.
| CAD systems | Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks, with Revit and Navisworks for BIM |
|---|---|
| Exchange formats | STEP, IGES and Parasolid for models. DWG, DXF and PDF for drawings. IFC for BIM |
| Drawing standards | BS and ISO, or your own company standard, with GD&T, surface finishes and bills of materials where needed |
| Scan accuracy | Typically within ±0.05 mm from high-resolution scan or CMM data, confirmed by a model-to-scan deviation report |
| Analysis | FEA and CFD in SimScale. Every FEA study is checked for mesh convergence and against hand calculations, and comes with a formal report |
| Confidentiality | An NDA before any files are shared, and the design and CAD we produce are yours once the work is paid for |
Industries
Most of our work is for companies that design, make or maintain equipment.
Oil and gas
Reverse engineering of legacy equipment, replacement parts, tooling and decommissioning support.
Materials handling
Low-dust chutes, conveyors, hoppers, lifting equipment and ATEX designs, with simulation where flow matters.
Construction
BIM, fabrication drawings and the equipment used on site.
Medical devices
Handheld and monitoring devices, test systems and rehabilitation equipment.
Rail and transport
Vehicle conversions and retrofits, from scanning the chassis to routing the new systems.
Energy
Frames, pipework and process equipment, from early concept to fabrication drawings.
Guides
Practical guides for product teams, written by the F-CAD® engineering team and published on sixgate.co.uk.
- Writing a product specificationWhat to put in a specification so a design can be checked against it.
- Design for manufactureRules of thumb that make parts cheaper and easier to make.
- Manufacturing drawings and tolerancesWhat a drawing needs before suppliers can quote and make from it.
- What is FEA?How finite element analysis works and what it can tell you about a design.
Tell us about the job
An engineer reads every enquiry and replies by e-mail.
- Freephone
- 0800 246 1012
- enquiries@f-cad.co.uk
- Office
- 220 St Vincent Street
Glasgow G2 5SG
Your designs are treated in confidence, with an NDA in place before any files are shared, and the design and CAD we produce are yours once the work is paid for. Confidentiality and ownership