San Luis Obispo, California

Helpingideas becomefinished products.

Exactlee Design & Development is a sole proprietorship built to help others bring products 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.

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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 helped build.

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?

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
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work
Product design and CAD work

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 rendering and product animation work
Photorealistic rendering and product animation work

Product Development & Prototyping
  • Prototype development — functional parts, not just something that looks right on a shelf
  • Concept-to-prototype product development
  • Design iteration and testing before committing to tooling
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work
Product development and prototyping work

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 built to take a tolerance stack-up problem off the table so it doesn't need to be solved twice
  • Grounded in years running a machine shop tool room, where this was daily work under a master toolmaker, not a one-off
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids
Tooling, fixtures, and production aids

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
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work
Composites and sandwich panel design work

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
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work
Machining and fabrication work

Manufacturing Process & Line Development
  • Equipment specification and sourcing, matching pumps, motors, tanks, and process gear to the actual duty cycle, not just a catalog spec sheet
  • New production line setup: installation, utility tie-in (power, air, water, drainage), and commissioning to get equipment running to spec
  • Vendor coordination for turnkey equipment quoting, specing, and delivery scheduling
  • Production line workflow analysis and efficiency improvements, 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
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work
Manufacturing process and line development work

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
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide
Space Campers investor pitch deck slide

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
Fluid system design and plumbing work
Fluid system design and plumbing work
Fluid system design and plumbing work

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 modern AI-assisted tools, at a fraction of the traditional cost and timeline
  • 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
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AI Onboarding & 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
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3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing
  • Design for 3D printing (DfAM) offered as its own service — designing a part to print cleanly and hold tolerance, not just treating a printer like a mini injection molder
  • 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)
3D printing and additive manufacturing work
3D printing and additive manufacturing work
3D printing and additive manufacturing work
3D printing and additive manufacturing work
3D printing and additive manufacturing work
3D printing and additive manufacturing work

Custom Process Equipment Design & Build
Not a certified electrician, but extensive hands-on experience with electrical systems
  • 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
  • Full build execution or fabrication oversight, either built in-house or specified and managed through outside shops
  • Motor wiring, VFD selection, and control panel layout for driving custom equipment
  • Sensor integration: 4-20mA, pressure, temperature, load cells, tied into the equipment's control logic
  • Pneumatic circuit design for equipment requiring pneumatic actuation
  • Design grounded in firsthand builds: custom mixing machines and production aids at Specialty Silicone Fabricators, bioreactors at WISErg, and fermentation tank systems at Whalebird
Custom process equipment design and build work
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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 — what a vendor actually needs to quote accurately, without a round of clarifying questions first
  • 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

Brand Buildouts & Custom Merch
  • Custom tap handles and drink service hardware — laser-cut, CNC-machined, or cast to match a brand
  • Branded bar and counter builds, from concept through fabrication and finish
  • Menu boards and branded signage as part of a full buildout package
  • Point-of-sale and retail displays built to hold up to daily use, not just look good on day one
  • Branded merchandise and one-off promotional pieces
  • Custom laser art
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work
Brand buildout and custom merch work

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
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings
Facilities planning and permitting drawings

Fermentation & Bioprocess
  • Bioreactor and fermentation vessel design, including anaerobic digesters built for autonomous, unattended operation
  • Tank geometry as a process control variable: I found that shallow, flat tank shapes can hold kombucha under 0.5% ABV with no other intervention, just from oxygen exposure
  • SCOBY and yeast culture management, master seed culture methodology, and generation-drift detection
  • Lab QC process design: yeast counts, acid profiles, and a regular review cadence with an outside lab
  • Odor control system design
Fermentation and bioprocess work
Fermentation and bioprocess work
Fermentation and bioprocess work
Fermentation and bioprocess work
Fermentation and bioprocess work
Fermentation and bioprocess work
Fermentation and bioprocess work
Fermentation and bioprocess work
Fermentation and bioprocess work

General Construction & Facility Work
  • Framing and rough carpentry for interior and facility buildouts
  • Concrete work: pours, finishing, patios, and flatwork
  • Interior buildouts — walls, flooring, fixtures, and finish work for shops, offices, and production spaces
  • General handyman and facility maintenance — the day-to-day fixes that keep a space running
  • Hands-on trade experience, not a licensed general contractor — larger jobs that require a C-license get scoped accordingly and routed to the right licensed professional
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work
General construction and facility work

Oversized & Heavy Operations
  • Rigging and equipment moving plans — routing, clearances, and hardware selection for getting something big from truck to final position
  • Facility logistics for large equipment: doorway and access planning, floor loading, and utility tie-in sequencing
  • Oversized build strategy — breaking a large part or assembly into sections that can actually be shipped and moved, then reassembled on site
  • Heavy equipment installation and commissioning coordination
  • Safety planning for heavy lifts and oversized loads, working alongside licensed riggers and crane operators where the job calls for it
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work
Oversized and heavy operations work

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.

All Projects →

Get in Touch

Have a project that needs figuring out?

Tell me what you're trying to build, where it's stuck, or what it costs too much to make. No forms, no discovery-call funnel — just email me 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