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Overview

Design for X (DfX) is a family of design practices applied early in the process to find and fix problems before the design is locked. The most common variants are:
  • DfM — Design for Manufacturability
  • DfA — Design for Assembly
  • DfS — Design for Sustainability
  • DfR — Design for Reliability
Nexus can run these analyses directly on your CAD models, highlight problem areas, and suggest specific geometry changes — all without leaving your modelling environment. What normally takes hours of manual review can be done in a single prompt.

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What Nexus can help with

  • DfM — Identify features that will be difficult or expensive to manufacture: undercuts, thin walls, sharp internal corners, non-standard tool sizes, insufficient draft angles.
  • DfA — Flag components that are hard to access during assembly, have no clear insertion direction, or require special tooling.
  • DfS — Estimate material usage, identify overbuilt sections that can be lightweighted, and flag high embodied-carbon materials.
  • Design reviews — Summarise the design against a requirement set, generate a list of open questions, and flag areas that may not meet specification.

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Example prompts

Analyse the active part for CNC machineability. Flag any undercuts, wall thickness below 1.5mm, and internal corner radii smaller than R3. List each issue with its location and a suggested fix.

Check the current part for injection moulding issues. The draw direction is +Z. Flag any undercuts, draft angles below 1°, wall thickness outside 2–4mm, and sink risk areas. Prioritise by severity.

Review the assembly at C:/Projects/Pump_Housing/pump_asm_v2.SLDASM for assembly difficulty. Identify any components that cannot be inserted without first removing another part, and list them in order of severity.

Identify regions in the bracket where material can be removed without significantly reducing stiffness. Suggest topology changes and estimate the mass reduction for each.

Review this part against the following requirements: max weight 250g, material PA66-GF30, wall thickness 2.5–4mm, no undercuts, all radii ≥ R2. List every feature that does not comply and explain why.

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Tips for DfX prompts

  • Name the process — The rules for CNC differ from injection moulding, casting, or 3D printing. Always state the manufacturing process so Nexus applies the right checks.
  • Specify standards — Include tolerancing standards (ISO 2768, GD&T) or internal guidelines if relevant.
  • Ask for a prioritised list — Nexus can rank issues by severity, cost impact, or ease of fix.
  • Apply the fixes — After reviewing the list, prompt “apply the highest-priority fixes” and Nexus will make the geometry changes directly.