AXOM MechDesign LLC is a mechanical design studio in Layton, Utah that turns raw mechanism sketches into drawings a fabricator can trust. We work from a small shop at 2538 E 3750 N, Layton - 84040-8484, United States (US), where a short drawing review often saves a whole week of machining. Read how the six design services connect before you pick a starting point.
Start a Design ReviewEvery engagement starts with a mechanism that already exists in someone head, a stack of sketches, or a rough model that refuses to assemble. We take that starting point and turn it into a clean design package. The six stations below are the services we run most often for machine builders, product teams, and small manufacturers across northern Utah.
A gear train layout fixes center distances, ratios, backlash, and phase before anyone cuts a tooth. We build the train in drafting space, check contact at the operating center distance, and deliver a layout sheet that names every gear, bore, and keyway. If the train has to fit inside a housing that already exists, we measure the real envelope and lay the train to it.
A bracket package is more than a bent plate. We group every mounting bracket for an assembly into one coordinated set with shared datum references, consistent fastener callouts, and clearance checks against the parts that sit beside them. The result is a package a sheet metal shop can nest, cut, and form without a single phone call about which hole is the reference.
Tolerance stack studies answer the question that keeps prototypes from assembling: will the parts actually fit at the worst case. We build explicit 1D and 2D stacks, separate the contributors into machining, coating, and assembly groups, and show which dimension to tighten and which to loosen. The study ships as a working spreadsheet plus a one page verdict for the review meeting.
Shaft alignment checks cover the geometry between a driver, a coupling, and the driven member. We calculate the allowable offset and angular misalignment, define shim and corrected foot positions, and document the cold and hot targets in a setup sheet. For a shop that cannot afford a failed first run, this is often the cheapest insurance on the whole build.
A prototype fit week is a scheduled window where the first article meets the drawing under controlled conditions. We bring gauges, a checklist, and a photography routine, record every interference, and label the parts for revision. Teams leave the week knowing exactly what changed and what must be remade rather than re-guessed.
Drawing revision rounds keep a released package honest after the first build. We reconcile redlines, fold in the lessons from the fit week, reissue with a clear revision block, and keep a short change log next to each print. The aim is a drawing set where the newest sheet is obvious and the history is short enough to read in one sitting.
Most design problems are not born in the beautiful assembly view. They are born where a bolt head meets a weld bead, where a bearing shoulder runs out of room, or where a chain of tolerances quietly eats the clearance that the concept sketch assumed. AXOM MechDesign LLC was built around that observation. We are a computer systems design and engineering services company, and the work we sell is clarity: drawings, stacks, layouts, and checks that hold together when the parts are real.
Our principals have spent years on both sides of the print. That means we write notes the way a machinist reads them, we choose datum features the inspector can actually reach, and we avoid calling out a geometry that cannot be produced at the price the program expects. The shop at 2538 E 3750 N in Layton is a working studio, not a showroom. Prints are pinned, parts are labeled, and the first question on any new job is always the same: what is the mechanism supposed to do when it works.
Many of our clients are small and medium machine builders who need a design partner for a single mechanism rather than a full engineering department. They come with a housing, a motor, a constraint, and a deadline. We join the project at whatever level is useful, from a single gear train layout to a full bracket package with tolerance studies attached. When the project needs field support, we come to the bench.
Because the studio is deliberately small, every deliverable passes across the same handful of hands. That continuity is the point. A gear train layout and the tolerance study that protects it are written by people who have already argued about the same interference, so the documents agree with one another without a reconciliation meeting. Clients get fewer files and more confidence.
We call our working method the gear bay. It is a simple sequence: cut the teeth, throw the crank, seat the shaft. In plain language, we first define the geometry that carries load, then we define the motion, then we define the interfaces that must hold everything in place. A project that follows the sequence rarely backtracks, because the hard decisions are made while the drawing is still cheap to change.
The vocabulary is deliberate. Cutting the teeth means settling the gear train before any packaging. Throwing the crank means checking the motion envelope and the alignment of the rotating members. Seating the shaft means locking down the bearings, shoulders, and fits that make the assembly repeatable. Only after those three passes do we decorate a drawing with detail that a fabricator will trust.
The winter prototype fit window is now scheduled at the Layton studio, and teams that bring a first article and a marked print leave with a revision list instead of a list of guesses. Reserve a bench slot for the window.
We do not treat the six services as a menu of unrelated tasks. They are stations on one line, and most projects pass through the same three passes before they are released.
Gear trains and bracket packages establish the bones of the mechanism. Center distances, mounting planes, and envelopes are settled before tolerance work can mean anything. If the geometry is wrong, no amount of precision will rescue the build.
Tolerance stacks and shaft alignment checks predict what the hardware will do at the limits. This pass produces the numbers that let a team decide which clearance to protect and which dimension can be relaxed for cost. It is where most surprises are caught.
Prototype fit weeks and drawing revision rounds take the hypothesis to the bench. Parts are measured, interferences are recorded, and the print set is reissued with a change log. The project ends with a drawing that matches the part in hand.
Design work is a service business, and the difference between a good studio and a forgettable one is rarely the modeling software. It is whether the person writing the note remembers the last time that note failed.
The gear train layout and the tolerance study that protects it are produced by the same small team, so the documents agree without a reconciliation round. Clients spend their review time on decisions, not on catching contradictions.
We write callouts in the order a machinist works: material, stock, datum, feature, finish. Notes are short, stacked, and placed where the eye lands. A print that needs a phone call to interpret is a print we consider unfinished.
Every recommendation carries a number or a range behind it. When a clearance is tight, we say so with the stack that proves it. When a design is fine, we say that too and send the team back to build rather than to another review.
Clients who need a fit week can drive to the studio, bring the parts, and stand at the bench while the gauges come out. That proximity shortens arguments and makes the revision list a shared document rather than a remote report.
A first meeting with AXOM MechDesign LLC is not a sales call. It is a working session. We ask to see the mechanism, the constraint, and the drawing that currently exists, even if that drawing is a napkin. From there we talk through the three passes and mark which of the six services the project will actually need. Most engagements use three or four of the services, not all six.
If the project is early, the meeting often ends with a recommendation to start with a gear train layout and a single tolerance study, then return for a bracket package once the motion envelope is fixed. If the project is late, the meeting usually ends with a fit week date and a list of parts that must be at the bench. Both outcomes are useful, and both are written down before anyone leaves.
We do not require a large program to take a job. A single bracket set with a stack study is a perfectly reasonable engagement, and it is often the best way to test how a new studio works before committing to a longer program. The goal is always the same: a mechanism that assembles on the first try and a drawing that explains why.
Bring a mechanism, a sketch, or a stubborn interference to the Layton bench, and we will put it under the light before you spend another week machining around a guess. Tell us what you are building.