Rick · Valley Packaging maint.
3x 13/32? qty 40
IMG_0912.jpg: bracket, need 40 by Fri
For metal fabricators & job shop estimators
Turn Steel Sketches into CAD Models and Quotes
LaunchAI converts sketch-only RFQs, dimensioned part photos and old prints into CAD models, flat patterns and fabrication drawings. It prepares the part and flat pattern from the supplied dimensions, flags unclear materials or callouts, and waits for your estimator or engineer to approve before release.
For estimators, quoting engineers and owners at job shops and general metal fabrication shops
Monday, 6:50. There's a photo of a work order in the RFQ inbox.
Most of the pile is easy. A STEP file, a PDF print with a title block and a rev letter: you drop those in Paperless Parts and they practically price themselves. It's the rest that eats your week. The maintenance lead at the packaging plant emailed a phone photo of a bracket sketched on the back of a work order, "3x 13/32?" in the margin and "need 40 by Fri" underneath. A farmer brought in the broken half of a hitch plate. Purchasing at a pump company sent an image of a 1994 print, faxed of course, where the tolerance block is a gray smear and the material just says "CRS".
So you become the drafting department. Open SolidWorks, sketch the profile, decide which way the flange bends, pick an inside radius your brake can actually hold in 1/4" plate, flatten it, check the holes aren't too close to the bend line, export the DXF. Back to the quote: material, laser time, brake hits, deburr, maybe zinc. Then the email asking what the holes are for, because 13/32 for a 3/8 bolt is a guess until somebody says so.
None of that is billable, and it's the same forty-five minutes whether the job is $300 or $30,000. So the sketch RFQs sink to the bottom of the pile, and by the time you get to them the customer bought it from the shop that answered Tuesday.
What the job looks like today
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Squint at the photo
Figure out what's a dimension, what's a note, and which side of the work order is up.
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Model it yourself
Profile, holes, bend, flat pattern, DXF: unbilled drafting for a quote you might not win.
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Guess the gaps
Bend direction, radius, material grade, whether that hole gets tapped.
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Price it
Material, laser time, brake hits, deburr, finish, quantity breaks.
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Email and wait
"What's the hole for?" goes out. The customer answers Thursday, if at all.
Where it goes wrong
The quote was right. The part was wrong.
Every one of these looked fine on the sketch. They turned into a remake, a credit memo, or a quote you lost because you padded it for the unknowns.
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Bend up or bend down
A flat sketch with "bend 90" across it doesn't say which way. Mirror it and every hole on the flange lands on the wrong side of the part. All forty of them.
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Outside or inside
The customer measured the old bracket with a tape over the outside of the bend. Your model dimensions to the inside. On 1/4" plate that's a quarter inch the flange grows, every part.
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The hole for a bolt nobody named
13/32 is clearance for a 3/8 bolt. Unless it's for a 3/8 dowel, or it was supposed to be tapped 1/2-13 and nobody wrote it down. Laser it the wrong size and the batch is scrap.
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Material by nickname
"CRS", "HR", "the stainless", "same as before". 304 or 316, A36 or 1018, P&O or black. It moves the price and the lead time, and the old print won't tell you which.
Why it's still manual
Where steel fabrication estimating still needs a CAD model
Job shops have bought quoting software, nesting software and an ERP. All of it starts after someone has a model.
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Your CAD and quoting software
Needs a defined part
CAD tools create the part model and flat pattern; estimating systems price the geometry and routing they receive. LaunchAI converts sketches and supplied specifications into CAD models, flat patterns and fabrication drawings for your estimator to review.
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Generic AI and OCR models
Needs source checks
Paste the photo into a chat model and it hands back tidy numbers: 13/32 becomes 13.32, "9 1/2" turns into 91/2, and the bend direction is whatever it guessed. It never says which values it made up, so you check every one anyway.
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Image-to-CAD converters
Needs dimensions and callouts
Raster-to-vector tools trace the pencil lines into a DXF. You get a wobbly outline at whatever scale the phone shot it, with no dimensions, no hole callouts, and the bend line drawn as a cut.
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Measuring apps and configurators
Needs quotable geometry
Instant-quote portals price STEP files beautifully. Send one a sketch or an image of a 2D print and it lands in manual review, which is a polite way of saying back on your desk.
Written on the paperGeneric OCR / AI modelLaunchAI agent
3x 13/32? 3 x 13.32 3X Ø0.406 THRU, flagged: bolt clearance? The fraction and the question mark are the whole callout.
9 1/2 91/2 → 45.5" 9.500" overall, flat One space is all that separates nine and a half from ninety-one halves.
bend 90 ↑ bend 90 Bend up 90°, IR 0.25", flange away from you The arrow is the bend direction. Text readers drop arrows.
How the agent does it
From sketch-only RFQs to CAD models and quote drafts
The agent reads the sketch and source notes, prepares the model in your existing CAD software and enters the quote information using your shop rules. Your estimator or engineer checks the flagged details before release.
Paperless PartsRFQ 2611 · Valley Packaging · mount bracket 
Agent working · your login · this PC
Agent working · your login · this PC GeneralDetailsPricingNotes
- MB-0912 mount bracket ← Email subject + sketch
- MB-0912.SLDPRT + flat DXF ← Built in SolidWorks
- 1/4" A36 HR plate ← Sketch note "1/4 A36"
- 9.500" x 5.500" ← Flat pattern
- 3X Ø0.406 thru + 1 slot ← Sketch callouts
- Laser · brake 1 hit · deburr ← Your routing rules
- 40 ← "qty 40" on sketch
- Fri 10/30 ← "need 40 by Fri"
Saved as draft. Nothing is sent until you approve.Send to review
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Reads what came in
Sketches, photos and old prints: every dimension, callout and note, each with a confidence score.
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Applies your shop rules
Your bend radii by thickness, hole-to-bend minimums, material defaults and routing.
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Models and flattens it
Builds the part in your SolidWorks or Inventor, flattens it and exports the DXF and STEP.
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Fills the quote
Loads Paperless Parts, JobBOSS² or E2 with material, operations and quantity.
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You approve
Confirm the flagged hole size, adjust the price if you want, and the quote goes out.
Caught at the desk
Check part dimensions and callouts before quoting
Today the order bounces when someone hits save. The agent runs the same checks first, fills what it can from a trusted source, and brings you only the one thing that needs a person.
Today
Cannot quote · no model, no flat, no routing
- No STEP or DXF to price from
- Material grade not specified
- Hole callouts not dimensioned
- Bend radius and direction unknown
Verify the following
- Hole size marked "?" by the customer
With the agent
- Pass
Profile closes
9.500" x 5.500" outline with the 2.750" step adds up on every side.
- Needs you
Hole size unclear
Written "3x 13/32?". Modeled Ø0.406 thru as 3/8" bolt clearance; confirm it isn't a tap or a dowel.
- Pass
Bend is makeable
1/4" A36 at 90° with a 0.25" inside radius: inside your brake tooling chart.
- Pass
Hole to bend distance
Every hole clears the bend line by more than your minimum for 1/4" plate.
- Pass
Slot matches callout
0.41" x 1.25" slot, positioned as sketched and clear of the edge.
- Pass
Quote filled
Material, laser time, one brake hit and deburr priced at qty 40.
Human review
You approve the drawing, not the typing
The paperwork on one side, the agent's drawing on the other, and every value it read in between, with the one it's unsure of called out.
Approval you asked for
Approve the Valley Packaging bracket Pending
The agent modeled the bracket from the phone photo, built the flat pattern and filled the quote. One hole callout needs confirmation.
Medium risk 1 of 43 in your queue Sketch to CAD · step 02.3 · Review part model
Agent suggests: Approve after confirming the 13/32" holes are 3/8" bolt clearance. Overall size, step, slot, bend and material match the sketch.
Source sketchIMG_0912.jpg
Mount bracket · flat patternOpen in SolidWorks
● Preview synced just now
Dimensions read from sketch
- Overall length“9 1/2"” 9.500"
- Overall height“5 1/2"” 5.500"
- Step height“2 3/4” 2.750"
- Material“1/4 A36 qty 40” 1/4" A36 PL · 40 pcs
- Bend“bend 90” Up 90° · IR 0.25"
- HolesLooks like “3x 13/32?” 3X Ø0.406 THRU
Inputs and outputs
Sketch RFQs in. CAD models, flat patterns and quotes out.
- Hand sketches and phone photos with dimensions scrawled in the margin
- Images of old paper prints (faxed, scanned, photographed) with smeared title blocks
- The broken part itself, photographed next to a tape or calipers
- Material, finish, quantity and due date buried in the email thread
- Customer redlines on a print from two revisions ago
- A modeled part in SolidWorks, Inventor or Fusion, or a 2D drawing in AutoCAD
- Flat pattern and DXF ready for the laser, plasma or waterjet
- STEP and a quote drawing loaded into Paperless Parts or your ERP
- Material, operations and quantity breaks filled in your quote
- A short list of questions for the customer, drafted and ready to send
Your workflow
Define the scope before preparing a steel estimate
Structural steel estimating software can take off a building frame from structural documents. The example on this page starts with a sketch-only part RFQ: a bracket, plate, gusset or simple weldment that needs a model before your estimator can price it.
For a whole structural package, your estimator also needs the member schedule, connections, finishes, erection scope and current drawing revision. Confirm those requirements in your existing takeoff process. The part-quoting example here does not demonstrate an automatic whole-building steel takeoff.
- Part RFQ
- A measured profile, material, quantity, finish and required operations for a specific fabricated part.
- Structural package
- A defined frame scope, member and connection information, revision control and fabrication or erection inclusions.
- Estimate review
- Your estimator checks quantities, rates, allowances and exclusions before releasing the price.
Your numbers
What it gives back to your team
Change the numbers to match your shop.
Example values. Put in your own.
16hours back per week
813hours back per year (50 weeks)
0.4full-time people's worth of typing
today with the agent: review only
Your software
Works with your CAD and steel fabrication estimating software
The example uses SolidWorks and Paperless Parts. Bring a sample RFQ, your CAD version and quoting rules so we can confirm the drafting, flat-pattern and approval steps in your tools.
- SolidWorks
- Autodesk Inventor
- Fusion
- AutoCAD
- Paperless Parts
- JobBOSS²
- E2 Shop System
- ProShop
- SigmaNEST
- Outlook and the shared RFQ inbox
FAQ
Steel sketch-to-CAD and quoting: common questions
Does it work in SolidWorks and Paperless Parts, or do we need an integration?
No integration. LaunchAI agents use your software through the screen, with your team's logins, on your machines. If your estimator can model it in SolidWorks and upload it to Paperless Parts, JobBOSS², E2 or ProShop, so can the agent.
What if the sketch isn't fully dimensioned?
The agent never invents a dimension. It models what the sketch supports, marks what's missing, and drafts the question to the customer ("Is the 13/32 hole bolt clearance, or tapped?"). If your rules allow, it can price on your default with the assumption printed on the quote.
Who signs off before anything gets cut or quoted?
Your estimator or engineer. The agent stops at a review screen with the model, the flat, the quote and every flagged value. Nothing goes to the customer, the nest or the laser until someone on your team approves it.
Can it read images of old prints with tolerance blocks and rev notes?
Yes. It reads the title block, general tolerances, material and finish notes and the revision, keeps the original as the source of record, and flags anything the scan or fax smeared instead of filling it in.
Is it only flat parts, or weldments too?
Plates, brackets, gussets, formed parts and simple weldments from a sketch, yes. On a bigger weldment it builds what the sketch supports and lists what it couldn't, so your engineer finishes the model instead of starting it.
Sketch RFQs are our low-value ones. Is this worth it?
Run the calculator with your own numbers. The real change is that those RFQs stop costing an engineer's afternoon, so you can answer every one the same day, including the napkin that turns into a 2,000-piece blanket order.
Do we need sketch conversion when an RFQ already has a STEP file?
A usable STEP file and a current, complete print can go through your existing model-based quoting workflow. The example on this page addresses RFQs that still need drafting: sketches, old prints, redlines and phone photos with unclear callouts. Your estimator decides which inputs need that preparation.
Other industries
The same agent, other trades
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Metal & fabrication
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Signs, covers & soft goods
Forward us last month's sketch-only RFQs.