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CADCraft
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About

CAD that has already been through the lab.

CADCraft is a one-principal practice in Albuquerque. You get a date and a number before work starts — then models and drawings a shop can actually run.

If you already know the flange, the bench, or the GD&T you need, you should not have to explain it to an account manager. You send the sketch, the photo, the PDF, or the CAD you have. I model it, detail it, and send files back in the formats you need.

The work is mechanical CAD first: parts, assemblies, housings, weldments, and project layouts, with ASME Y14.5-2018 drawings a shop can inspect to. Optical CAD when the layout has to drive the metal — beam paths, benches, viewports, feedthroughs, and the packaging around a laser or vacuum system. Proposal and scientific illustration is part of the same job, not a separate art pass.

I have 30+ years of aerospace CAD — optical, mechanical, and electronic — that became real hardware. Mid-IR lidar, fiber lasers, HEL field support, and current optical/mechanical work on AFRL programs at Kirtland. That is why a full project assembly is not a mystery here. The product on this site is still CAD.

Files stay in the United States. I do not name programs or publish client work. If the job is export-controlled, we set the handoff before anything moves.

Work is quoted with a date. If the calendar is full, the quote says so. Revisions stay with the same principal who started the job.

Work surface with calipers, a kinematic mount, a fiber collimator, and a drawing
Practice
Professional CAD expert
Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Hours
Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm Mountain
CAD
Mechanical CAD · Optical CAD
  • Parts
  • Assemblies
  • Drawings
  • Layouts
  • Packaging
  • Structures
  • Illustration

Selected background

Thirty years of aerospace experience. CAD that became hardware.

Optical, mechanical, and electronic CAD on programs that had to work — models that became real hardware, and projects that worked in the field. That is the experience this practice draws on.

  1. 2025 – present

    Optical / mechanical engineering, AFRL programs

    Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque

    High-energy laser and high-power microwave research support: integration, alignment, troubleshooting, and verification in lab and prototype environments.

  2. 2019 – 2023

    Technical lead, fiber laser group

    Albuquerque

    Ultra-short-pulse and high-power fiber laser systems. Hands-on optical, mechanical, and electronic support. Led a team of five engineers and technicians.

  3. 2018 – 2019

    Wind-sensing lidar

    Boulder, CO

    Free-space alignment, beam delivery, and electro-optic support on high-resolution lidar systems. Proposal and technical-illustration support.

  4. 2016 – 2018

    High-energy laser field support

    White Sands Missile Range

    On-site optical, mechanical, and electronic support for HEL prototype testing, refurbishment, and alignment under field reliability requirements.

  5. 2006 – 2016

    Mid-IR lidar and laser development

    Las Cruces, NM

    Led optical and mechanical design of fiber-laser-pumped, frequency-agile mid-infrared DIAL systems for standoff chemical sensing. Sensor packaging, beam delivery, OPOs, and airborne/ground optomechanics.

  6. 1993 – 2006

    Laser development and research

    New Mexico and Colorado

    Solid-state lasers, optical transceivers, and wind-sensing lidar. Cavity design, OPO development, and laboratory testing of pulsed and CW systems (Yb:YAG, Yb:YLF, Tm:YAG, Ti:sapphire).

Selected publications

  • Compact wavelength monitor for remote sensing applications…

    SPIE Vol. 8720 (2013). Co-author.

  • Bright Onyx: A tunable, mid-IR, DIAL for airborne chemical sensing

    SPIE Europe (2008). Co-author.

  • Passively Q-switched, eyesafe, Yb:Er:Glass laser

    SPIE Vol. 5332 (2004). Co-author.

  • Single-frequency, diode-pumped Yb:YAG and Yb:YLF lasers

    OSA Advanced Solid-State Lasers (2002). Co-author.

How a job runs

  1. 1. You send a sketch, a PDF, existing CAD, or a photo of the part.
  2. 2. I reply within one business day with a quote and a date.
  3. 3. NDA first if you need it. Controlled files by arrangement.
  4. 4. First draft in CAD. You mark it up.
  5. 5. Agreed revisions, then files in the formats you need.

Company and laboratory packages use the Advanced or Product tiers. DIY prints stay on the DIY rate so they do not share a queue with a controlled drawing set.

What you can send

  • A sketch or a photo
  • A PDF or a scan
  • Existing CAD
  • A physical part or measurement

What you get back

  • Mechanical CAD models and Y14.5 drawings
  • Optical layouts and bench packaging when the job needs them
  • Printable files when the job is a print
  • Figures for papers, patents, and proposals
  • Exact formats confirmed on the quote
Start with a quote