Answers you can take into a design review.
ChatETS cites the source behind every claim, the calculators run on your own numbers, and a senior engineer is one email away when the part is unusual.
See how ChatETS works →ChatETS · Available now · Free to start
The AI engineer your team can actually cite.
Generic chatbots have opinions. ChatETS has 41 years of documented production outcomes behind it, plus your own specs, test reports and datasheets, and it shows the source for every claim. Ask why the snap-fit failed at 50K cycles; run the creep calculation in the same chat.
No credit card · paid plans start with a 30-day trial · self-hosted option
Threaded ABS boss: what draft, and how thick at the root?
Use 0.5°–1° draft per side and keep the root at 1.0–1.5× the nominal wall. Go thicker and you trade a stronger boss for sink on the show surface.
Draft / side0.5–1°
Root / wall1.0–1.5×
Risk if thickSink
SourceETS design corpus · boss & rib proportions
Not another chatbot
Confidently wrong is the most expensive answer in DFM.
General-purpose AI is trained on internet content of varying quality. It has no idea which guideline survived production and which one warped. ChatETS is built on curated, expert-validated outcomes, and it tells you where each answer came from so you can check it.
| Generic AI chat | ChatETS | |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | Internet content of varying quality | Curated, expert-validated ETS corpus plus your documents |
| Manufacturing | No understanding of molding constraints | Real-world manufacturing trade-offs |
| DFM specifics | Often confidently wrong | Grounded in decades of failure data |
| Theory vs. floor | Can’t tell them apart | Distinguishes textbook theory from shop-floor reality |
| Provenance | None | Document, page and relevance score for every claim |
| Math | Generated text that looks like math | Deterministic calculators via the physics engine |
What engineers ask
Six questions it answers well.
Each opens ChatETS; paste the question and judge the answer yourself.
What wall thickness should I use for ABS?
Material-specific recommendations with reasoning, not a number from a table.
Ask it →Why is my part warping after ejection?
Differential cooling, packing, gate location and fiber orientation, walked through as causes.
Ask it →PEEK vs PEI for a battery housing?
Thermal, mechanical, processability and cost, compared.
Ask it →How do I design a cantilever snap-fit?
Proportions and material-specific strain limits, then run the calculator.
Ask it →What causes sink marks near ribs?
Rib-to-wall ratio, packing pressure and shrinkage, explained together.
Ask it →Pick a resin for outdoor UV exposure.
UV stabilization options, degradation mechanisms and cost-effective choices.
Ask it →What it covers
Not a resin lookup. The whole part lifecycle.
ChatETS applies the same principles taught in ETS seminars for four decades, across every decision a plastic part goes through: from the first sketch to the field failure report. Eight specialist modes keep each answer in the right discipline.
DG
Design guidance
Instant feedback on wall thickness, draft angles, rib and boss design, snap-fit geometry, living hinges, fastening and every other DFM fundamental.
MS
Material selection
Polymer properties and trade-offs across commodity to high-performance resins, elastomers and composites: heat, chemicals, UV, creep, cost.
PT
Process troubleshooting
Describe the defect (warpage, sink, short shots, jetting, weld lines) and ChatETS walks through probable root causes and corrective actions from real-world pattern recognition.
FA
Failure analysis
Cracked bosses, environmental stress cracking, fatigue and creep failures traced back to design, material or process.
AS
Assembly & joining
Snap-fits, press-fits, screws and inserts, welding and adhesives, selected for the part, the volume and the assembly line.
QC
Quality & compliance
PPAP packages, completeness checks and analysis reports, plus answers grounded in the standards your customers audit.
How it works
Ask. Retrieve. Answer with a source.
No special syntax, no keywords. Plain-language questions, grounded answers.
- Ask your questionAny plastics engineering question in natural language.
- It retrieves contextFrom the curated ETS corpus of design rules, material data and failure outcomes, and from your uploaded documents.
- It runs the toolIf the question needs math, a calculator or simulation is invoked, not estimated.
- You get a grounded answerAnchored in 41+ years of engineering experience, with the document, page and relevance behind it.
Live · the materials board
Try one slice live: twelve resin families, twelve ways to fail.
This board is one small instrument. ChatETS covers design, materials, processing, assembly, failure analysis and compliance. Pick a family for the short version; ChatETS gives the long version, cites the source for every claim, and can answer against your own datasheets and test reports.
Ask ChatETS free →Polyamide 66
ClassSemi-crystalline
Used forUnderhood brackets, connectors, gears
Watch forAbsorbs moisture: stiffness drops and dimensions grow once conditioned, so design to conditioned values
General behavior of each family. Grades within a family differ widely, and ChatETS answers against the grade you name.
Beyond Q&A
It doesn’t estimate. It runs the tool.
Ask for a calculation, simulation or compliance check and ChatETS invokes real engineering tools and returns structured, verifiable results.
01Ask02Research03Design04Materials05Analysis06Manufacturing07Orchestrate08Reason
TL
Engineering tool invocation
- FEA: static, modal, thermal, buckling
- Physics validation of 3D geometry
- DFM for molding, CNC, FDM and SLA
- Manufacturing quotes
CA
Deterministic calculators
- Snap-fit, beam deflection, stress intensity
- Fatigue life, contact stress, living hinge
- Thermal expansion, creep, chemical compatibility
PP
PPAP & compliance
- 18-element PPAP submission packages
- Rules-driven completeness checks
- Analysis reports with PDF export
KB
Your documents, cited
- Upload PDF, DOCX, PPTX, CSV
- Hybrid semantic + keyword search
- Document, page and relevance on every answer
MI
Materials intelligence
- Searchable catalog with mechanical and thermal data
- Temperature-dependent comparison
- Semantic material search
SG
Team, security, governance
- Organizations with role-based access
- SSO (Google, Azure AD, Okta, SAML2) + 2FA
- Full audit trail; GDPR export and deletion
Deploy on your terms
Try it in the cloud. Run it behind your firewall.
Self-hosted deployments can run on your own local models, with no external API calls and no data leaving your network.
Free to start
chat.ets-corp.com, fastest path. Paid plans include a 30-day trial.
On-prem or air-gapped
Local inference; nothing leaves your network.
API & webhooks
REST API with docs, OIDC identity provider, partner program.
Inside ETS Build
Page-aware answers across the ETS Build workspace.
See ETS BuildEarly access · Next step up
When the question becomes a whole part: ETS Build.
ETS Build is the manufacturing-intelligence workspace: parametric design, FEA, materials, DFM and a collaborative AI engineering brain. It goes beyond Q&A, taking a concept from design through analysis to production-ready, compliant documentation. ChatETS runs inside it.
- Project-aware. Upload your project for contextual guidance throughout design.
- Live DFM validation. Manufacturability checks as you design, not after.
- Material intelligence. AI selection matched to your exact requirements.
- Automated reports. Design reviews, DFM checklists and material specs, generated.
Be first to access ETS Build
Join the waitlist for early access and founding-member pricing.
Built for the people who decide
Whoever signs off, the answer holds up.
A design decision crosses four desks before it ships. Here is what ETS gives each of them.
Risk you can put a number on.
A fixed-price pre-tooling review starts at $3,500. One line of the failure ledger costs $10K–$75K once steel is cut. Seats, training and engineering hours can share a single annual agreement.
What a review covers →An expert built for cross-examination.
Fellow of SPE and author of the field’s standard text. Expert-witness work since 1997. A conflict check comes first, and availability, a CV and fees follow within one business day.
Request a conflict check →Simple to buy, easy to audit.
Pay by check, ACH, purchase order or card. Fixed price where applicable, with scope, timeline and quote agreed before work begins, and an NDA signed on request before we see anything.
Start the paperwork →Next step
Ask the question blocking your design. Tonight.
Free to start, no credit card. Paid plans begin with a 30-day trial; enterprise deployments are private, scoped and NDA-first.
- NDA on request
- Senior engineer replies in one business day
- Fixed price where applicable
- Your data stays yours