{"id":93123,"title":"F4 - Automated compliance checks for engineering drawings","tagline":"We help hardware teams 10x how they redline \u0026 interpret engineering drawings","body":"# **What is F4 in a nutshell?**\n\nWe’re helping hardware-rich teams 10x how they redline and interpret engineering GD\u0026T drawings. With backgrounds at Tesla and SpaceX, we’re building a platform that finally treats drawings like code—automatically validating every dimension, tolerance, and GD\u0026T symbol against standards so noncompliance is caught instantly.\n\nhttps://youtu.be/SYzqZ4XWmCA\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=93123\u0026key=user_uploads/2642473/a6d6c66e-7e58-4405-b4e2-48c30b354495)\n\n# **The Problem \u0026 Why We Built F4**\n\nDrawing literacy is one of the weakest skills across hardware teams. Yet drawings are made every day.\n\nThese aren’t just illustrations—they’re effectively business contracts between designers and manufacturers, defining what’s acceptable in production. Drawings carry the bulk of design intent—fit, form, function, and fabrication—and act as the important source of truth across production, quality, and supply chain.\n\nGD\u0026T standards from ASME and ISO exist to formalize this communication. But they’re dense and confusing. Across major revision years, there are thousands of pages of definitions, edge cases, and revision quirks. Designers are expected to know it all, leads are expected to catch every mistake, and suppliers are expected to interpret drawings flawlessly. One mistake means scrap, delays, or worse.\n\n# **Our Solution**\n\nWhy is something so critical still so manual? Why can’t drawings be validated and interpreted more quickly and robustly —like code? Why can’t hardware dev be more like software dev?\n\nWe’re changing exactly that!\n\nF4 treats drawings like code—they either execute or fail immediately. Our platform checks every dimension, tolerance, and GD\u0026T symbol against standards in real-time, ensuring full compliance before a drawing ever reaches the floor. No more total reliance on manual redlining and reviews.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=93123\u0026key=user_uploads/2642473/1aa5904c-3086-4722-8838-ffda9c0d7a85)\n\nF4 ensures engineers never release noncompliant drawings—and suppliers never misinterpret them. F4 helps industrial teams eliminate costly scrap, rework, and miscommunication at the root.\n\n# **How It Works**\n\n1. Upload a drawing (dxf…and very soon pdf)\n2. Select GD\u0026T standard of choice (ASME Y14.5 - 1994, 2009, \u0026 2018)\n3. Get instant compliance score graded against a desired GD\u0026T standard using **deterministic logic**\n4. Get recommendation to correct any asset (FCF, FOS, datum, basic, modifier, and/or dimension) of the drawing that is noncompliant with references to ground-truth sources\n5. With a compliant drawing - get standard definition, inspection plan, and tolerance analysis interpretations on any drawing asset of interest\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=93123\u0026key=user_uploads/2642473/accc67da-db20-423d-84b0-7ec4904ad800)\n\n## **Hardware Platform Built by Hardware Engineers!**\n\nI worked at Tesla as a Mechanical Design Engineer and took 6 parts from clean sheet design to production for the CyberCab and SEMI drive system programs. I was also the lead engineer for Tesla’s global drive unit heat exchanger program with +3 million unit annual production volume.\n\nAidan worked at SpaceX as an Avionics Test Engineer, where he designed and owned testing hardware (PCB boards and testing apparatus) for the Raptor 3 Engine - the most advanced rocket engine in the world. \n\nIn college, we led The University of Alabama’s Rocket Team where we achieved the university’s first-ever liquid rocket engine hotfire! I built the rocket engine and Aidan built the electrical/software for our propulsion system.\n\nhttps://youtube.com/shorts/rBwsqu_sdeg?si=RgRU_eqib7_-qLcV\n\n## **Ready to Ditch Manual Redlining?**\n\nIf you're tired of pretending to be good at GD\u0026T:\n\n* Email us: [paul@f4.dev](mailto:paul@f4.dev) and [cantu@f4.dev](mailto:cantu@f4.dev)","slug":"ODz-f4-automated-compliance-checks-for-engineering-drawings","created_at":"2025-08-18T23:37:02.733Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T01:17:24.150Z","total_vote_count":22,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/ODz-f4-automated-compliance-checks-for-engineering-drawings","share_image_url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/media/?type=post\u0026id=93123\u0026key=user_uploads/2642473/1aa5904c-3086-4722-8838-ffda9c0d7a85","company":{"id":30741,"name":"F4 Industries","slug":"f4-industries","url":"https://f4.dev/","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/a1af9d562299111b9e8590450d36412897ddd8f8.png","batch":"Summer 2025","industry":"Industrials","tags":["Hardware","B2B","Industrial"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/30741"}}