Chicago — mHUB — Engineering Design Consultant
Thomas Cunningham
Taking the undefined ambiguous ideas all the way to final delivery!
Engineering design and fabrication for complex physical systems — from first sketch to working hardware. We work across research, industry, and government, on problems where the scope is hard and the spec is incomplete.
⚙
Mechanical Engineering
✦
CAD / CAM
⊞
Systems Integration
⦹
Concept to Production Ready
◈
Welding & Fabrication
▲
3D Printing
What I can do, and More!
Custom systems from the ground up
1
When no vendor makes what you need and no blueprint exists — I design and build the whole system. Structural, mechanical, and integrated assembly under one roof.
Research equipment — Lab fixtures — One-off builds
How do I get started?
2
Defense-adjacent and industrial clients need builds that hold tolerance, handle load, and don't fail under pressure. I work to spec, document thoroughly, and build things that last.
Structural fab — High-load builds — Defense-adjacent
Proof-of-concept at real scale
3
Startups need more than a sketch — they need something that demonstrates the core claim to investors and early customers. I build the version that makes the case.
Functional prototypes — Investor demos — First articles
Integration across the full system stack
4
Most hard problems don't fit one discipline. Mechanical, electrical, structural — I work across the stack and own the interfaces between systems so nothing falls through the cracks.
Multi-discipline — Automation — End-to-end builds
Thomas Cunningham — Founder
"I like to understand how things work and why they exist — especially where ideas meet the real world."
Octo-Systems is a focused, one-person practice built for projects that sit at the edge of what's been done before. I move fast in ambiguity, stay comfortable across disciplines, and care about what gets built as much as the people I'm building it for.
Based at mHUB Chicago — one of the Midwest's premier manufacturing and innovation hubs — with full access to CNC machining, welding bays, and industrial fabrication infrastructure.
