MechForge

Drag-drop manufacturing templates to CAD – instant designs for students.

Score: 7.7/10IndiaMedium BuildReady to Spawn
Brand Colors

The Opportunity

Problem

Students in manufacturing courses struggle to find affordable, user-friendly CAD software for product design that avoids steep learning curves and high costs.

Solution

MechForge offers a library of 100+ pre-built manufacturing components (gears, fixtures) that students assemble like Lego into full designs. Auto-generates dimensions and assemblies, exporting ready-to-print files. Solves high costs and curves by providing coursework-ready starters at low price.

Target Audience

Students enrolled in manufacturing or engineering courses needing CAD for product design coursework

Differentiator

Curated template library for manufacturing syllabi with parametric resizing.

Brand Voice

supportive

Features

Template Library

must-have15h

Browse/search 100+ manufacturing parts.

Assembly Canvas

must-have20h

Drag templates to canvas, snap together.

Parametric Edit

must-have12h

Resize/scale parts with live previews.

Bill of Materials

must-have8h

Auto-generate parts list.

Export BOM + CAD

must-have10h

DXF + CSV export.

Favorites

must-have5h

Save custom templates.

Search/Filter

nice-to-have8h

By course/topic.

Custom Upload

nice-to-have10h

Add own shapes.

Share Links

nice-to-have6h

Public design links.

Total Build Time: 94 hours

Database Schema

users

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
emailtextNo
nametextYes
created_attimestampNo

projects

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
user_iduuidNo
nametextNo
assembly_datajsonbNo
created_attimestampNo

Relationships:

  • user_id references users(id)

templates

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
nametextNo
svg_datajsonbNo
categorytextNo
paramsjsonbYes

API Endpoints

GET
/api/templates

Search templates

POST
/api/projects

Create assembly project

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/projects/:id/bom

Generate BOM

🔒 Auth Required
POST
/api/export/:projectId

Export assembly + BOM

🔒 Auth Required

Tech Stack

Frontend
Next.js 14 + React Flow + Tailwind
Backend
Next.js API routes
Database
Supabase Postgres
Auth
Supabase Auth
Payments
Stripe
Hosting
Vercel
Additional Tools
Resend (emails)

Build Timeline

Week 1: DB + Templates seed

20h
  • User auth
  • Template CRUD

Week 2: Library UI

25h
  • Search
  • Drag-drop

Week 3: Assembly + BOM

20h
  • Canvas logic
  • BOM gen

Week 4: Exports + Paywall

15h
  • Exports
  • Stripe

Week 5: Enhancements

15h
  • Favorites
  • Filters

Week 6: Testing/Launch prep

10h
  • Landing
  • SEO
Total Timeline: 6 weeks • 140 hours

Pricing Tiers

Free

$0/mo

Basic exports

  • 50 templates
  • 3 projects

Pro

$20/mo
  • All templates
  • Unlimited projects
  • BOM exports

Unlimited

$39/mo
  • Pro + Custom uploads
  • API access

Revenue Projections

MonthUsersConversionMRRARR
Month 11501.5%$45$540
Month 61,2004%$960$11,520

Unit Economics

$10
CAC
$300
LTV
4%
Churn
90%
Margin
LTV:CAC Ratio: 30.0xExcellent!

Landing Page Copy

Manufacturing Designs in Minutes

MechForge's templates turn students into designers fast.

Feature Highlights

100+ parts library
Auto BOM
Parametric edits
Course-ready exports

Social Proof (Placeholders)

"'Saved hours on assemblies!' – Jordan, Eng Student"
"'Perfect match for my syllabus.' – Prof. Lee"

First Three Customers

Seed 50 templates from public domain manufacturing designs. Offer free Pro to first 10 responders in engineering student Facebook groups. Email manufacturing course syllabi contacts with demo links.

Launch Channels

Product Huntr/manufacturingIndie HackersLinkedIn Engineering Groups

SEO Keywords

manufacturing CAD templates studentsfree CAD parts library onlinestudent mechanical design templatesdrag drop CAD for engineering

Competitive Analysis

Free
Strength

Large library

Weakness

Complex downloads, no editor

Our Advantage

In-browser assembly + exports

$20+/mo
Strength

Pro features

Weakness

Steep curve

Our Advantage

Template-first simplicity

🏰 Moat Strategy

Growing proprietary template library from user contributions and course data.

⏰ Why Now?

Shift to project-based learning in manufacturing courses demands ready starters.

Risks & Mitigation

executionmedium severity

Template creation time

Mitigation

Start with SVG imports

legallow severity

IP on templates

Mitigation

Public domain only

Validation Roadmap

pre-build5 days

Template usage poll

Success: 80% want library

mvp21 days

20 beta assemblies

Success: Export usage >70%

Pivot Options

  • Pro maker library
  • 3D template extension
  • School licensing

Quick Stats

Build Time
140h
Target MRR (6 mo)
$1,000
Market Size
$4.0M
Features
9
Database Tables
3
API Endpoints
4