Freelance CAD Engineer · Germany

CAD design:
by someone who sees more than just the part.

You need someone who translates your product into clean CAD: an enclosure for your electronics, complex mechanics or a new development? I do all of that and always focus on manufacturability, cost efficiency and the right manufacturing process. All of it with clear, transparent communication.

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Anton Steenken

Hardware, CAD & DFM Engineer

25+

Projects delivered

Years freelance

10+

Years ECAD ↔ MCAD

100%

IP retained by client

Profile

I turn your productredesignvisionideasketchdrawing
into clean CAD.

My work sits exactly where PCBs, mechanics, sealing, thermals and unit cost meet. Over the past six years I have delivered more than 25 projects, from maritime IoT to medical equipment to construction robotics. For hardware startups and industrial SMEs that need a product to survive reality: salt water, vibration, the shop floor.

Every project starts with an idea, sketches or your electronics. And every project ends with a manufacturing package you can send to any supplier worldwide, use to produce prototypes or win over investors. Your data. Your choice.

Tools & processes

Fusion 360
Inventor
Altium import
KiCad import
STEP AP242
IP67 concepts
Injection molding
Die casting
CNC
Sheet metal
Welded construction
FDM / SLA / SLS
Thermal management
DFM

Case studies

Selected work

Three of 25+, further references on request.

Case 01 / Maritime Safety · NorwayDimeq Eye-D SystemEnclosure design, ECAD integration and DFM for a body-worn safety device and its mesh router, built to survive a working ship and to be manufactured in series.

$2.34M Total Funding RaisedTechstarsIn series production

D-router mesh node: gasketed housing, sealed connectors

Prototype → series production.

Key contributions

01ECAD → MCAD: board outline, keep-outs and antenna clearance locked before the first surface was modelled
02Two enclosure architectures, wearable and wall router, sharing one design language
03Sealing concept for salt spray, wash-down and vibration, single sealed cable entry
04Thermal paths from PCB into housing, continuous radio operation stays within component limits
05DFM: wall thickness, draft, ribbing and parting lines tuned for tooling
06Clean handover: parametric CAD, STEP, drawings, BOM: Dimeq owns all data

„Given the critical importance of our mission 'no more lives lost at sea', we cannot compromise on our product. Anton demonstrated exceptional quality, delivering designs and 3D data that met our standards, we recommend his services anytime, no question."

Ronny BakkeCEO & Co-Founder, Dimeq AS

Case 02 / Construction Robotics · GermanyBARROB, autonomous bulk material transporter

Mechanical architecture for an autonomous tracked transporter that carries rubble out of demolition sites and tips it into a skip, no more wheelbarrow chains.

01Modular hardware: adaptive all-weather tracked chassis + tipping hopper, engineered from scratch
02Automated unloading: universal ramps for skips that are never quite the same height
03Simulation before the build: load cases and tipping kinematics verified in CAD

„Anton convinced us with his competence, reliability and innovation. Requirements were analysed precisely and optimal solutions proposed, all change requests were accommodated."

Büning Erdbau · Client review

BARROB CAD render: tracked transporter with tipping hopper and access ramp

Client: Büning Erdbau · buening-erdbau.de ↗

Case 03 / MedTech · Stainless Steel · GermanyStainless steel disinfection tunnel for hospital beds

Lead engineering for a medical-grade sheet metal machine: a walk-through tunnel that automates bed sanitisation, hygiene compliance and fabrication cost held in balance.

01Hygienic sheet metal architecture: smooth, ledge-free surfaces that are genuinely cleanable
02DFM under pressure: bend radii, weld preparation and part-count reduction against cost targets
03CAD to assembly: nozzle manifolds, media supply and door mechanics packaged inside the frame

„Thanks to effective communication the project ran smoothly. The excellent collaboration and the impressive CAD data contributed significantly to the great result."

Management, medical equipment manufacturer · Anonymised

Tunnel frame in the workshop: stainless steel sheet construction with protective film

Disinfection tunnel CAD render: stainless steel housing with sliding doors and access ramp

Manufacturing package

What does every project end with? The five deliverables

Clean, parametric CAD

included

Fully editable 3D models with a clean feature tree, matched to your ECAD (Altium/KiCad) including keep-out zones and thermal management.

Manufacturing drawings to standard

included

Standards-compliant 2D derivations with tolerances and surface specifications, ready for any manufacturer worldwide.

Assembly instructions

included

Step-by-step guides for error-free assembly of complex modules.

Bill of materials (custom parts)

included

Complete BOM of all custom-manufactured parts, full transparency on cost and origin.

Purchase-part list

included

Ready-to-order list of all standard and bought-in parts including technical specifications.

All documents delivered digitally in industry-standard formats: STEP, PDF, DXF, CSV: 100% of the IP rights are yours.

De-risking hardware

Own your data. Compare every supplier.

Up to 80% of your unit cost is decided in the design, not in the factory. If you let the manufacturer do the engineering, they keep your CAD data as leverage, and every price negotiation from then on runs against you. In a tech due diligence, the first hard question is who actually owns the CAD data.

01Independent

No manufacturer affiliation. The design serves your product and your margin, not a supplier's tooling shop.

02Investor-ready

Clean STEP files, standards-compliant drawings and BOMs prove to any VC that your product can scale.

03Direct contact

You talk to the engineer doing the work, usually an answer within a few hours, Mon–Fri.