San Luis Obispo, California

Hands-on,wherever needed.

Exactlee Design & Development is a sole proprietorship built to help others bring products or companies to life. That can mean product development, prototyping, mechanical design, startup advice, or just an extra set of hands on a project. Anywhere I can't cover it myself, I've got a network to call on.

Scroll down to see more
Lee Wilkerson headshot

Who's Behind Exactlee

I'm Lee Wilkerson, with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, based in San Luis Obispo. Over the last fifteen years I've helped build a handful of businesses from the ground up, mixed in with stretches in more traditional settings like machine shops, medical device manufacturing, and aerospace. Startups don't leave room to hire in a specialist, so I learned to do most of it myself. On the technical side that meant facility layout, electrical, and production flows, speccing equipment or building it myself when it didn't exist. On the business side it meant fundraising and business development, whatever kept things moving. That range means I can usually find a way to help, whether you're still working out an idea or already running a business that just needs a hand in one specific area.

More about my background

Selected Work

A few companies I've contributed to.

01 / STARTUP

Founder · Product Startup

Space Campers — Camper Shells for the Cybertruck

Designed and built wedge campers and truck caps for the Tesla Cybertruck out of advanced composites, taking them from SolidWorks surfacing through CNC-cut molds and vacuum-infused parts to twenty delivered units. Two design patents and a set of utility patents, all granted, came out of it, along with a team-led press launch that landed millions of views in a week. The full site is preserved here as part of the portfolio.

Visit the archived Space Campers site
The full build story
02 / STARTUP

Business Partner · Brewery Build-Out

Whalebird Kombucha — Facility & Fermentation

Helped build a kombucha brewery from a row of empty warehouses, with some great friends, and had a genuinely great time doing it. The equipment side covered the full industrial range: fermentation tanks, glycol chilling, CO2 distribution, refrigeration build-outs, keg and tank cleaning systems, and custom automated canning lines and depalletizers. Just as much of the experience was on the business side: raising money, hiring, and building a team that made the whole thing worth doing.

Visit the archived Whalebird site
The full build story
03 / STARTUP

Lead Engineer · Bioreactor Design

WISErg — Grocery-Store Biodigesters

Designed biodigesters that took in food waste straight from a grocery store, weighed it, ground it, and processed it on-site, continuously monitoring pH and moisture to hold the ideal environment for breakdown, scrubbing the exhaust air of odor, and reporting everything back to the cloud so the store could track and reduce its own waste. I led multiple generations of that design, including the redesign that took the V2 unit from a $300k price tag down to $70k, the version that was actually built and delivered in numbers.

The full build story

Other Companies I've Worked For

Specialty Silicone Fabricators Production Engineer

Engineered custom mixing machines and production aids, kept the equipment running, and worked with production to standardize workflows and troubleshoot issues.

Breedt Production & Tooling Shop Manager

Managed a 5-person machine shop team at 24, running CNC mills, waterjet, laser, and sheet metal to build tools and fixtures under master toolmaker Andries Breedt.

Downtown Concrete Concrete Finisher

Worked a concrete construction crew, pouring and hand-finishing sidewalks, retaining walls, and sophisticated stamped patios on job sites.

Universal Aerospace Machinist

General machining, quality inspection, and inventory on aerospace components, one of my first jobs, right out of high school.

Services

What can I help you with?

Startup & Business
  • Startup advisory, from someone who has been on both the winning and losing end
  • Pitch deck development, both traditional decks and video pitch decks, great for crowdfunding campaigns or sending straight to investors without needing a meeting
  • See an example: our video pitch deck for Space Campers on YouTube
  • Funding strategy and financial modeling: SAFEs, convertible notes, and what the terms actually mean for you
  • Brand development
  • Engineering education and mentorship: I currently advise through the SLO Small Business Development Center and genuinely enjoy working with students and first-time founders
  • R&D support and engineering project management
  • Patent and trademark guidance: not a patent attorney, but hands-on filing experience, including design and utility patents issued on Space Campers' own products
  • Dynamic, interactive quoting tools that let a client configure and price a project themselves, paired with a live, rotatable 3D CAD model of the actual part
  • See an example: an interactive quoting tool and a live CAD model for the same part
Space Campers investor pitch deck cover collage
Pitch deck slide: "The Situation" outlining the Cybertruck accessory market opportunity
Pitch deck slide: "The Problem" with existing camper shells not fitting the Cybertruck
Pitch deck slide: "Our Solution" showing the Cap and Wedge camper shell concepts
Cover page of an issued U.S. utility patent for a camper strut, latching, hatch-securing, and awning system
Utility patent drawing showing the camper's strut and latch hardware detail
Utility patent drawing showing the rear hatch mechanism in the open position
Utility patent drawing showing the hatch-securing and latch detail
Design patent drawing of the camper shell's exterior form

AI Integration & Training
  • Claude onboarding for your business: setting it up to actually understand your operations, files, and workflow, not just answer generic questions
  • Personnel training on working with AI day-to-day, so it becomes a real part of the workflow instead of a tool nobody opens
  • Setup as a working "personal assistant": drafting emails, summarizing documents, managing schedules, and tracking projects
  • Automating repetitive tasks: meeting notes, status updates, document generation, and file organization
  • Ongoing support as your team's use cases evolve

Website & App Development
  • Professional website design and development: I've worked alongside designers and web developers on past projects, and now build sites like this one myself, using AI-assisted tools, which keeps the cost and the timeline down
  • Custom domain setup and configuration
  • Custom business email setup and mail forwarding
  • DMARC, SPF, and DKIM configuration so your email actually lands in inboxes instead of spam
  • Simple app builds for business or personal use: internal tools, small customer-facing apps, and one-off utilities, built the same AI-assisted way
  • See an example: MindDrift, a personal app I built to help me sleep
spacecampers.com homepage showing The Wedge and The Cap product renders
spacecampers.com Wedge page with a hero photo of the pop-up camper
MindDrift sleep app interface with prompt and background sound settings
Brian Boiler Works website showing a completed-projects gallery
exactleedesdev.com homepage

Product Design & CAD
  • Product design and development: concept through production-ready
  • 3D modeling in SolidWorks: surfacing, organic geometry, large assemblies
  • Design for manufacturability: designing it so it can actually be made at a price that works
  • Reverse engineering and 3D scanning
SolidWorks render of a Breedt Product Design cutoff saw fixture on a rolling cabinet stand
The built cutoff saw fixture in the shop, with pneumatic hose and control panel wired in
CAD render of an anaerobic digester tank and control cabinet, with a person silhouette for scale
The digester tank and control cabinet installed outdoors next to a building
CAD render of a small rotary mechanism with a ribbed copper-finish disc and radial mounting rods
Machined prototype of the copper-finish rotary disc mechanism on a bench
Video still of applying a skim coat to a full-size Cybertruck composite mold plug in the shop
Video still comparing the scanned composite surface to a CAD model on a laptop beside the mold
Specialty Silicone Fabricators static mixer fill station with reference-mass and volume gauges
Interior view of a fixture's guide rods and clamp arms above a roll of masking paper
Orange test manifold fixture with a pressure gauge on a granite inspection table
CAD render of a machined connector assembly with a yellow shaft end
Von Mises stress analysis render of a machined bracket, showing stress concentration near the mounting holes

Photorealistic Renders & Product Animations
  • Photo-realistic product rendering (SolidWorks Visualize): stills that look like finished product photography before a physical part exists
  • Product design animations: turntables, exploded views, assembly sequences, walkthroughs
  • Marketing-ready imagery for launch pages, ad creative, and investor decks
  • Rendering straight from CAD data: useful for pitching, crowdfunding pages, or pre-selling before tooling is committed to
Photorealistic render of the Space Campers Cybertruck camper shell on a coastal cliff road
Photorealistic exploded render of a gearbox assembly showing gears, bearings, and housings
Photorealistic render of a stainless steel process mixing tank with agitator and sight-glass window
Photorealistic render of a lounge chair product in a modern interior setting
Photorealistic render of a green anaerobic digester tank and stainless control cabinet, with a person silhouette for scale
Photorealistic render of the Space Campers Cybertruck camper on a beach with the awning deployed and hammock chairs set up
Photorealistic render of a black electronics enclosure's interior, showing mounting bosses and heat-sink fins
Photorealistic render of a gray enclosed cargo trailer
Reference photo of the weathered, rusted cargo trailer the render above was matched to

Product Development & Prototyping
  • Functional prototype parts you can actually test
  • Concept-to-prototype product development
  • Design iteration and testing before committing to tooling
Holding up a full-scale rib mockup of the camper's wedge roof panel, with the Cybertruck parked behind for reference
CNC-routing a foil-faced foam mold panel on a Haas machine in the shop
Test-fitting the CNC-cut roof mockup panel over the Cybertruck's cab and bed
Rigid foam insulation boards stacked and labeled with R-values, mocked up on the Cybertruck bed to test the roof stack-up
Raw plywood mockup box with the Space Campers wordmark cut into the side, on a trailer frame in the shop
The same mockup box painted black and raised on sawhorses
Black composite panel prototype with protective masking film partially peeled back on a paint stand
Black camper shell mockup popped open, showing a raw plywood interior module cut for the kitchen area
Camper shell prototype with the roof tent popped up and interior lighting on
Testing the roof tent's opening mechanism at dusk
Finished Space Campers wedge camper prototype on a mountain overlook above the fog
Welding a sheet metal enclosure prototype in the shop
Testing the fit inside a completed sheet metal enclosure mockup
Installing a vibratory finishing machine underneath a stainless steel enclosure prototype
Anaerobic digester tank and control cabinet prototype set up indoors for testing
The same digester tank and control cabinet in its final outdoor installation

Design-to-Build Packages & RFQs
  • Full design-to-build package assembly: BOM, exploded views, drawings, and written descriptions handed off as one document set
  • Suggested assembly instructions, written so a shop that's never seen the part before can build it correctly the first time
  • RFQ-ready documentation, put together so a vendor can quote it without a lot of back and forth
  • Sometimes called a Technical Data Package (TDP) in aerospace and defense procurement, same idea, different industry's vocabulary
  • Built from the same process I use to hand work off to CNC shops, composite shops, and contract manufacturers on my own projects
  • See it in action: a complete 21-page RFQ and assembly package, built for a real production run
H30 Customer Loading Unit rendering
Design-to-build package page — H30 Customer Loading Unit
Design-to-build package page — H30 Customer Loading Unit
Design-to-build package page — H30 Customer Loading Unit
Design-to-build package page — H30 Customer Loading Unit
RFQ package page 3 — H30 Customer Loading Unit
RFQ package page 5 — H30 Customer Loading Unit
RFQ package page 6 — H30 Customer Loading Unit
RFQ package page 7 — H30 Customer Loading Unit
RFQ package page 8 — H30 Customer Loading Unit
RFQ package page 10 — H30 Customer Loading Unit
RFQ package page 12 — H30 Customer Loading Unit
RFQ package page 13 — H30 Customer Loading Unit

Tooling, Fixtures & Production Aids
  • Assembly jig design and fabrication: holding parts in the right position, every time, for repeatable builds
  • Welding fixture design for consistent, accurate weldments
  • Production aids: gauges, go/no-go checks, and other shop-floor tools that catch errors before they become scrap
  • Tooling designed to handle the tolerance stack-up so the operator doesn't have to
  • This was daily work for a few years in a machine shop tool room, under a master toolmaker
Custom-clamped composite camper window fixture holding a tinted glass panel for bonding, on a rolling cart
Machined test fixture labeled TIN 3460, with precision bores and mounting features for part inspection
Custom trailer hitch and tongue jig fabricated in-house, branded Breedt, with safety chains attached
Machined aluminum fixture plate with a toggle clamp and ribbed part-locating features
Pneumatic cylinder test fixture (TIN 3358) for verifying stroke and actuation force
Machined black Delrin clamping fixture (TIN 3384) with a toggle-clamp handle
Clear acrylic alignment fixture with white locating pins, measured against a ruler
White 3D-printed inspection comb fixture (TIN 3391) with multiple gauge-pin holes
Small pneumatic manifold test fixture with a brass valve block and quick-connect fittings
SolidWorks render of a machined double-bore fixture assembly mounted on a base plate
Stack of large steel tooling plates with locating pins, banded and palletized for shipping

Composites & Sandwich Panel Design
  • Composite part design
  • Mold design and fabrication: plugs, multi-section large-format molds
  • Vacuum infusion and hand layup consulting
  • Sandwich panel and core construction: foam (PVC/PET) and honeycomb cores for strength-to-weight-critical parts
  • Cosmetic finishing guidance: gel coat, bodywork, the stuff that makes parts sellable
CAD render of a sandwich panel unfolded into flat triangular and trapezoidal skin sections for cutting
CAD render of a ribbed composite mold structure showing internal rib layout
Foam-ribbed mold plug for a camper roof panel with a taped skin panel being laid in
Overhead view of the camper roof mold plug with the composite skin panel in place
Team hand-laying and vacuum-bagging a large composite floor pan mold in the spray booth
Vacuum infusion of a composite panel, resin lines and catch bucket in place
Assembling a row of MDF mold rib sections on the bench
CNC router cutting a long foam mold rib blank on the 4x8 machine
Large CNC-machined foam mold panel on the router table
Two long triangular composite mold rib channels laid out with core material nearby
Drilling and assembling a large composite panel section in the shop
Gel-coated composite mold tub on a wooden support frame, ready for layup
Sanding a large cast-look composite panel surface, respirator on
Two finished white fiberglass gutter-channel parts on a sawhorse rack outdoors

3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing
  • Design for 3D printing (DfAM) offered as its own service: designing a part to print cleanly and hold tolerance
  • In-house print farm: four QIDI Plus4 FDM printers running in parallel, plus one resin printer for finer-resolution, small-format parts
  • Large-format prints built as smaller sectioned components joined with interlocking dovetail joints; no size limit imposed by a single printer's bed
  • Mold plug fabrication using that same segmented, dovetailed approach: a low-cost way to build oversized plugs for composite tooling
  • Functional prototyping and low-volume production parts across a range of materials (PLA, PETG, ABS, resin)
Bank of four QIDI Plus 4 3D printers on a shop shelf
3D printer mid-print on a wavy sculptural lampshade design
Finished 3D-printed wavy lampshade lit from within
Black 3D-printed mounting bracket with alignment holes
Close-up of interlocking 3D-printed part edges and surface texture
Long black 3D-printed automotive trim panel prototype
Large 3D-printed machine guard installed on packaging equipment
Resin 3D print glowing blue during curing
Finished 3D-printed twisted vase styled with flowers

Machining & Fabrication
  • CNC machining consulting: mill, lathe, waterjet, laser, sheet metal
  • Precision fabrication and surface grinding to tight tolerance
  • Sheet metal and one-off part fabrication
  • Material and vendor sourcing: raw stock, machined parts, and outside fabrication, matched to a part's tolerance, volume, and budget across local job shops, on-demand platforms, and overseas suppliers
CNC bridge mill machining a long aluminum mold cavity channel
Precision-machined aluminum mold halves with dowel pins alongside a pulley test fixture
CAD render of a long perforated ladder rack bracket
Laser-cut and formed sheet metal ladder rack bracket
Stack of extruded aluminum ramp deck planks
Close-up of a black anodized machined aluminum rail
Macro view of a precision-machined aluminum mounting bracket with textured grip pad
Three large machined aluminum-framed panels standing upright in the shop
Batch of machined aluminum cylindrical enclosures with finned interior pockets
Machined aluminum indexing fixture plate with adjustable angle gauge
Small aluminum blocks staged in a Kurt vise for CNC machining
Spread of finished machined aluminum linkage and bracket parts
CNC mill machining a large array of small plastic comb parts

Manufacturing Process & Custom Equipment
  • Custom equipment design for process needs that don't have an off-the-shelf solution: mixers, static mixers, presses, fermentation vessels, conveyors, and other purpose-built machinery
  • Equipment specification and sourcing for standard gear too, matching pumps, motors, tanks, and process equipment to the actual duty cycle
  • Full build execution or fabrication oversight, either built in-house or specified and managed through outside shops, plus vendor coordination for turnkey equipment quoting and delivery scheduling
  • New production line installation: utility tie-in (power, air, water, drainage), motor wiring, VFD selection, control panel layout, sensor integration (4-20mA, pressure, temperature, load cells), and pneumatic circuit design (not a certified electrician, but extensive hands-on experience with electrical systems)
  • Commissioning and production line workflow analysis, walking the floor with a production team to find where time and material are actually being lost
  • Work instructions, SOPs, and KPI tracking built to standardize a process and catch problems before they become scrap
  • Production troubleshooting: cure defects, gel inclusions, substrate adhesion, and the other problems that only show up once a line is running
  • Design grounded in firsthand builds: custom mixing machines and production aids at Specialty Silicone Fabricators, bioreactors at WISErg, and fermentation tank systems at Whalebird
Row of stainless Super Sulfur Filter units built for a production line
Canning line filler and control panel installed at the loading dock
CAD render of an overhead conveyor gantry structure
Canning line filling and palletizing Whalebird Kombucha
Assembling an overhead conveyor gantry frame on site
Overhead view of the rotary can-filling line loading Whalebird Kombucha
Empty cans staged in rows before filling
3D-printed spiral guide orienting cans into the labeler
Close-up of the canning line drive motor and 3D-printed can pusher
Cardboard flats feeding toward the case-packing station

Fluid System Design & Plumbing
  • Fluid system design for breweries, kombucheries, and other process facilities, the kind I built from scratch for Whalebird's own production line
  • Process and utility plumbing design and installation
  • Pump selection: progressive cavity, peristaltic, centrifugal, lobe
  • Glycol chilling and CO2 distribution systems
  • CIP (clean-in-place) system design
Keg CO2 and glycol distribution manifold feeding a row of kegs
CAD render of a compact fluid system skid with water heater and pump
Exploded plumbing assembly drawing for a water heater sub-system
Custom glycol, CO2, and CIP distribution control panel for fermentation tanks
Overhead glycol and CO2 plumbing manifold feeding conical fermenters
CAD render of an insulated four-tank fermentation enclosure with plumbed sensor ports
Line drawing schematic of a mixing tank component
CAD render of a bioreactor tank interior with mixing and sparger assembly
Exploded CAD view of an insulated tank panel assembly
CAD render of an insulated tank enclosure with multiple plumbing ports

Facilities Planning & Permitting
  • Facility layout design in CAD: space planning, equipment placement, and workflow layout for a new or growing business
  • Permit application support: preparing layout drawings and packages for submission to city planning and building departments
  • Navigating the permitting process: knowing what a plan check actually looks for and packaging drawings so they don't bounce back with questions
  • Coordination with architects, engineers, and code consultants when a project needs a stamped drawing or certified calculation
  • Change-of-use and tenant improvement planning for existing spaces
CAD site plan of the mixed-use facility layout with pickleball court and bike storage
CAD render of the facility exterior patio with axe throwing and bike storage
CAD render of the facility exterior with axe throwing, patio seating, and parking
CAD render of the food bar and market retail area
Close-up CAD render of the food bar counter and retail shelving
CAD render of the bike shop, fermentation tanks, and communal seating area
CAD render of the fermentation tanks and communal dining layout
Overhead CAD render of communal seating, kitchen, and pool tables
CAD render of the brewery office, storage, and communal seating
CAD render of the distillery area with communal seating and pickleball court
Detailed overhead CAD render labeling the food bar, brewery office, and distillery
Overhead CAD render of the bike shop and rental bike storage

A note on scope: I'm a degreed mechanical engineer, not a licensed Professional Engineer. Work requiring a PE stamp — structural calculations for permits, certified analyses, code-compliance sign-off — is outside what I offer, and I'll tell you so and point you to the right person.

More Projects →

Get in Touch

Have a project that needs figuring out?

Tell me what you're trying to build, where it's stuck, and we'll talk about whether I'm the right person for it.

lee@exactleedesdev.com
Phone (805) 457-4937
Shop 3576 Empleo St, Suite 3, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401