Students: Kosciuszko Middle School (Milwaukee Public Schools)
This spotlight is on a middle school that has implemented "Project Lead the Way" http://www.pltw.org/index.cfm as a way to excite the students (especially the minority students) about engineering. You will watch a video half in Spanish and half in American English that tells of the success of the program. I love the testimony of the children in the program.
So without further ado....
We are one step closer to our dream of Digital Prototyping. You can read the details at http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/05-01-2008/0004804847&EDATE. Moldflow is a great addition to our family and we want to welcome them. The type of analysis are listed on their website http://www.moldflow.com/stp/english/products/des_opt_sol.htm.
Today's student is Peter Halasz!
Peter is from Europe and brings a very different look at education. He explains what he is doing and why he chose to do things that way. Thank you Peter for all of your information that you are open to sharing. I am hoping that more students will step forward with open answers so that we may all learn something new.
1 What is your major and why did you select it?
My major in SZIE (St. Stephen’s, Univ.) is Manufacturing Technology of Machines, but in Vienna, I didn’t take anything yet, it’s a bit different of a system around here than in the states. I chose the mentioned major, because it is the most practical and complex depiction of vision I have about the mechanical engineering, it doesn’t focus too hard on one particular subject, and I prefer having a wider perspective. The focus is given from my side, by concentrating on a smaller area of studies in my spare time.
2 What is the most important thing that you have learned in your studies so far?
FEM, CAD, CAM overall, using the technologies/softwares for these. At least I appreciate these the most (keeping in mind that I learned the aforementioned only by myself, since the curriculum is just about to touch these topics..). On the other hand, from the industry, the benefits from being able to use these tools in real life, on real problems
3 Where are you hoping to live after you graduate?
I’m planning to move to London after I finish here, but for how long, I don’t know it yet, probably a few years. Or more. :)
4 What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I spend my free time usually with modeling, when I’m in the city (either), if not, than I prefer angling. I spose not for the catch, but for the lifestyle it is connected to.
5 What advice would you give to those in high school considering College/University?
I’d tell them to find out really early what would they want to study, what leads to the way they want to start on, because spending 3 or 4 years just to warm up on winter days at school -because what you’re being taught is not what you wanted- is plainly not a good idea. Plus I suggest to realize that school is not the manifestation of godly knowledge, it is a company to support your thirst for knowledge only to an extent, the rest you need to work out for yourself, and that’s pretty damn hard if you’re not motivated enough.
6 How long did the project take?
It took one week of work, including the documentation, drawings, and the backyard work needed for the calculation to be as appropriate as possible, on my level.
7 Anything else that you would like to share with the readers?
I’ve studied in Hungary for 3 years at St. Stephen’s University (city: Godollo, faculty: Mechanical Engineering), which probably doesn’t tell you anything at all. However, after that I transferred to Vienna, Austria (TU Wien, same faculty), keeping myself in the Hungarian higher education program by means of postal tuition, meaning that I’m doing the two courses parallel, for the austrian type of education is more lexical and focused but less practical, and the hungarian type much more practical but less focused. I prefer both, for the sake of widening my perspective, and because I learned from the past 5 years of working in the industry in a workshop, that the lexical knowledge is pretty much worth nothing without seeing and touching things.
I am so happy to report that the Autodesk Labs Technologies http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/sustainable_materials_assistant/ has an add on for Inventor to make sure that you are considering the effect that your design has on our environment. The new feature is called "new Sustainable Materials Assistant for Inventor". This new add in gives a great incentive to consider the materials that we select in our day to day designs without killing our design time line. Once you add this to Inventor you can start to see some new categories in the library...
You can easily create a sustainability report that will check for whether the material is toxic, or recyclable, or what the carbon footprint is. Once again, keep in mind that these "extras" are for trial and we need to use them in order for it to become part of the program. So go up to the site and try it out (don't wait for it to come in the box).
I love spring because it is a time for flowers, warmth in the North, and NEW SOFTWARE. If you are one of us lucky ones to see the new software before it comes out, then you know what I mean by this. I just absolutely love getting my hands and a couple free hours here and there to play with the Beta software. I am going to do a top ten favorite features that would have made my job that much faster (and let's face it...much more fun as well).
As we go Through these products, I will give you a link to the experts of each of these products. I love all software, but never claim to be the expert on each. There are however some great experts to watch your favorite software and learn something new. The first is for a product called AutoCAD Electrical. If you are not sure what that is, you can look at my previous posts on the subject. The expert on the subject is Nate Holt and here is a link to his blog http://mfgcommunity.autodesk.com/blogs/blog/7/.
Now back to my pick for number 10: It is called Circuit Builder and it is found in AutoCAD Electrical 2009. The official definition from the help menu is as follows:
"The Circuit Builder tool builds a circuit based on your selection from a list of available circuits. The circuit is built dynamically, matching the rung spacing, adding wiring between components, and annotating the circuit.
Circuit Builder comes with many motor control circuits predefined. Select a circuit from the list and select the location on your drawing to insert it. The circuit is inserted as defined or configured, changing the individual components within the circuit, wire types, or annotation values. Annotation values are extracted from a lookup table based on engineering standards. Circuit Builder looks for a match on the motor horsepower and supply voltage. If a match is found, Circuit Builder provides the Full Load Amp value, appropriate motor wire type, motor starter size, fuse or circuit breaker size, overload size, and so on. Each time a circuit is configured it is added to the list of available circuits for quick insertion at a later time.
The Circuit Builder tool comes prepopulated with data to build and annotate many motor control circuits. Circuit Builder is fully customizable. You can add motor control circuit definitions and edit existing motor control circuit definitions. Circuit Builder can be set up to insert other circuit types besides motor control. The feature is driven by a spreadsheet, a set of drawing templates, and an annotation database. The spreadsheet defines the available circuits, circuit types, and defaults for each option within a circuit. The template for a selected circuit defines the placement for the individual components and the wiring. The annotation database provides the values used to annotate the components within the circuit."
Here is a link to to video of the new capability http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=8444021. Just click on the "View Now" under Circuit Builder.
Stay tuned for #9...
For those of you who are loving the creativity of Alias and the manufacturability of Inventor then this is for you. Just released this week is a plug in for Inventor that reads the wire files from AliasStudio. This add in helps to streamline the design process by connecting the Industrial Designer with the Mechanical Engineer. I happen to love both and if you do as well, this tool is a must have. Here is the link to try it out for yourself
http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/alias_iv_trans/.
Keep in mind that this is a technology preview and the more we use it, the more likely it will become part of the product. So don't delay in adding this to you list of tools to use. Oh yeah, and help spread the word will you?
If you haven't spent much time in Inventor, then here is the webcast to get a look at it. The webcast will look at more advanced topics of Inventor. You will need to register at the link below and then watch .....
| Date and Time: | 2008-Apr-16 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Pacific Daylight Time |
| Deadline: | 2008-Apr-15 |
| Location: | Online |
| Hosted By: | Autodesk, Inc. |
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/oc/offer/form?siteID=123112&id=10935721
P.S. This is no April Fools either!
I just finished a class at Yale teaching Inventor to Architecture students. Yes, you heard me right. If this is your first time hearing about Architecture using Inventor, then let me fill you in on the why. Although the standard architectural design programs are perfect for the 90% plus of designs, there are those crazy shapes that they come up with that a program like Inventor is just better for starting the design.
We played around with adding material, creating surfaces, solid to surface to solid again, pattern along a curve, extrude to a curve, emboss, and sculpt. I am showing the examples that I came up with. I am not claiming to be an architect, but it now definitely has my interest. If you look at my inspiration of the dragonfly and then look at my building design below, well, I think that you get the idea.....
Well, welcome to spring 2008. I hope that it looks like spring where you are. I am in Hancock, MI looking out at a snow bank. On the bright side, I am told that it is warming up here. After all, yesterday was 32 and today is 26.
This semester is ending soon which means that I could be at your campus soon. I am looking for your projects done for a class. Please send me an email with a jpg and you can be featured in a spotlight on students blog.
I will soon be doing a series on 2009 products so stay tuned....
Melissa Thomas Autodesk World Wide Education Mechanical Engineering Solutions Specialist
Autodesk announced their design competition for students of all disciplines. Take a look at the official site www.autodesk.com/buildsomething. The mechanical engineering competition is for any design with a tweak. And there is a bonus for "sustainable design" spin on it. I know how busy we all can be during this time of year, but you can use what you are already building for class. Just don't forget the deadline of April 30th and good luck with your design.
