E47 FoundationE47 FOUNDATION
CAD — Parametric Design & Analysis
COURSE 01 · ONE-MONTH MODULE

Parametric CAD — from an idea to a part you can hold

One month turning sketches into dimensioned, stress-tested 3D models — and walking out with a part you designed, simulated, and printed yourself.

1 monthSolidWorks / Fusion3D printingNo prior CAD needed
PROGRAM DETAILS

What thismonthcovers.

CAD is the first course in the E47 pathway and the foundation everything else builds on. Students learn parametric modelling, engineering drawing, material selection, and first-pass stress analysis, then design a real part, run it through simulation, and 3D-print it.

1 month (~20 sessions) — the first of three modules in a student's journey

DURATION

Weekday evening labs + full-day weekend build sessions, ~15 students per section

FORMAT

School-level maths; no CAD or design background required

PREREQUISITES

One student-designed part — modelled, simulation-checked, printed, and documented

DELIVERABLE

Modelling checkpoints, a drawing set, an FEA report, and a final printed-part review

ASSESSMENT

Laptop, CAD licence, and shared 3D-printer time for every student

PROVIDED

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

By month'send, astudent can…

  1. CLO1Build a fully parametric part and assembly, driven by a clean sketch and feature tree that survives dimension changes.
  2. CLO2Produce a manufacturing-ready engineering drawing with correct views, dimensions, tolerances, and a title block.
  3. CLO3Choose a material and a wall / rib strategy from basic load, weight, and cost trade-offs.
  4. CLO4Set up and read a first-pass finite-element stress and displacement study, and act on what it shows.
  5. CLO5Prepare a model for 3D printing — orientation, wall thickness, supports, tolerances — and slice it.
  6. CLO6Diagnose why a print or a model failed, and revise the design to fix it.
PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES

Advancingthe wholepathway.

A graduate of E47’s three-month engineering pathway can do all six of the outcomes below. This one-month module carries the highlighted ones.

PLO1ADVANCED HERE
Design & model
Produce a dimensioned, analysis-backed engineering model of a part or assembly using industry-standard CAD.
PLO2LATER
Build & integrate
Assemble, wire, and program a working electro-mechanical system from a written specification.
PLO3ADVANCED HERE
Iterate
Run a disciplined design → build → test → improve loop, using data from each test to justify the next change.
PLO4LATER
Compute with modern tools
Use AI and computational tools the way practising engineers do — to draft, debug, analyse, and accelerate real work.
PLO5ADVANCED HERE
Communicate & ship
Present technical work to a non-specialist audience and hand over a tangible, demonstrable output.
PLO6ADVANCED HERE
Engineer for the valley
Make design choices that meet global standards while staying low-waste, locally sourced, and locally repairable.
HOW IT FITS E47's VISION

Where thiscoursesits.

E47's promise is that a student leaves with a habit of mind, not a certificate: look at a broken thing and see a fixable thing. CAD is where that starts — the first time a student's own idea becomes a measured, testable object.

It is Course 01 of five and Month 1 of a three-month journey. Every later course assumes CAD fluency: electronics students enclose their circuits in printed housings, STEM Racing runs on aerodynamic CAD, and the mechatronic capstone is modelled before it is built.

It carries E47's Excel and Elevate values directly — students work on the same tools industry uses, and design from the start for low-waste, locally-printable parts.

Five-course pathway

Each course is one month. A student’s journey with E47 is 3 months — three one-month modules that hand off to each other and finish on the mechatronic capstone.

SOFTWARE & TOOLS

Tools thestudentwill use.

SolidWorks (or Autodesk Fusion)

Parametric modelling, assemblies, and engineering drawings

SolidWorks / Fusion Simulation

First-pass FEA — stress, displacement, factor of safety

Cura / PrusaSlicer

Preparing and slicing a model for 3D printing

Entry-level FDM 3D printers

Turning models into physical parts

Digital callipers & basic metrology

Checking a printed part against its drawing
COST TO TEACH ONE STUDENT

One student,onemonth.

Planning estimate in USD for Cohort 1 in Hunza, covering this one-month module for a single student on the free track.

Instructor + teaching-assistant time (per-student share)$34
CAD software licence (education)$9
3D-printing filament + failed-print allowance$16
Laptop & workstation depreciation$14
Space, power, internet$18
Assessment, documentation & printed-part showcase$7
Total — per student, 1 month$98
THE 3-MONTH JOURNEY
$98
this module, 1 month
~$350
blended full journey, 3 months

About $98 of a roughly $350 blended three-month cost per student. A student's full E47 journey is three one-month modules.

KEEP GOING
GET INVOLVED

Fund a student through the CAD month.

Sponsoring this module covers instructor time, materials, software and equipment for one student — about $98 for the month.