Pay an engineer for one hour

Before the first real order, a mechanical engineer reviews your files. It is the cheapest insurance you will buy.

A model can pass its own audit and still miss things a working engineer sees in minutes: stress concentrations, awkward assembly order, a material that corrodes in your environment.

Book one hour on a freelance marketplace such as Upwork. Send the spec, the STEP or DXF files and the prototype photos. Ask for a written list of changes rather than a call only.

Budget roughly $50 to $150. Against a metal order that can cost several times that, the review pays for itself the first time it catches a mistake.

Checklist

• Spec, files and prototype photos sent together
• Written feedback requested
• Changes fed back into the code, not patched in the export