Engineering Education for the Mechanically Inclined

Help with your homework

Sorry, I know it’s a little late for this semester but I would like to offer to help you see how you can make the CAD models for your lessons.

What I would really like to do is to help you see different ways to construct parts so that you can see the value of experimentation with the CAD tools. Creating the correct geometry does end up being the bottom line but exploring different ways of creating it can offer insight into ways of “seeing” designs in your future differently.

I’ve created a few examples of some work for a class in an MET program in the Midwest but I’d really like to help students from all over understand what possible.

Please send scans or digital data to me and I will put together a video for the site as quickly as I can to help you see at least one way of building your lessons. Don’t be shy!

As if Autodesk University wasn’t cool enough on its own…

TRON: Legacy Exclusive Movie Preview at Autodesk University 2010

If you caught the Avatar preview last year, we have another special treat for AU attendees this year. Cliff Plumer, the Chief Executive Officer of the Academy Award®-winning digital production studio, Digital Domain, will join us and present clips of Walt Disney Pictures’ highly anticipated film TRON: Legacy ahead of the December 17 release date!

Cliff will give a brief presentation during the General Session on Tuesday November 30th at 8:00 AM. At 5:00 PM, Cliff will join Autodesk SVP’s Amar Hanspal and Marc Petit in the AutoCAD and M&E Keynote where he will preview some of the most exciting clips from the movie in a Disney Digital 3D theater especially prepared for our AU guests!

Join us for a unique AU experience and celebrate the 28^th anniversary of AutoCAD by getting an exclusive sneak peak of Walt Disney Pictures’ TRON: Legacy.

Seating will be limited, so I encourage you to arrive early. Like last year, security will be tight, so no camera or recording devices will be allowed.

In the mean time, check out the latest TRON: Legacy trailer.

Register at www.autodesk.com/au to see this in person. Oh yeah, and to attend some of the over six hundred classes and learn from the top exerts on all of Autodesk’s offerings.

The Inventor secret EVERY student should know…

  So, you downloaded Inventor (yeah, I know, it’s big; but it will be worth it) and you’ve installed it on your home computer or an older laptop and you’re experiencing an occasional crash. Rather than tell you that’s a special feature we’ve built into return you to your desktop without having to tell Inventor to close your files I will tell you what the problem most likely is. Your graphics card.

  Before you do anything look at your system information and find out what graphics card you presently have. Then go to www.inventor-certified.com/graphics and see if there is a certified driver for you equipment. Note that a certified driver may older than your current driver. If you don’t have a card that offers a certified driver move to the next phase.

  If you have an older PC at home you could upgrade your video card but it’s a little difficult to do that with an older or non-workstation class laptop. Now this solution isn’t a cure all. If your Operating System isn’t up to the requirements or you have only a small amount of RAM you could still run into problems. With that said most of the systems I’ve worked with that have had issues I was able to correct with a few clicks of the mouse.

  Let’s try this:

1. First Open Inventor
2. Go to the Ribbon’s Tools tab > Application Options > Hardware tab
3. On the Hardware tab select checkbox next to Software Graphics
4. Click OK to apply the change and close the dialog
5. For extra assurance close and restart Inventor
6. What you’ve done to your system is disabled Inventor’s direct connection to the graphics hardware and drivers. Instead Inventor will send information on what it needs to display to to OS and it will communicate with the hardware much like any other Windows application.

  Inventor’s functions like Pan, Zoom, and Orbit may be a little choppier than before but it’s a small price to pay for stability and the access to incredibly powerful tools on a modest computer.

It’s official! I’m Certifiable and you could be too; for free!

For the past several years I’ve been an Autodesk Inventor Certified Professional.

Having this certification has been a tremendous asset and has opened up opportunities for me to share my passion for Inventor and the other applications the support the Autodesk Digital Prototyping philosophy.

You will need to act quickly but I promise the price will never be lower.  Please take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to show the world what you know and make a statement about what it means to be Certifiable!

Open the Doors to Certification – It’s Free!

We are excited to announce the first ever, 8 city, Autodesk® Certification Roadshow. We are especially promoting Autodesk Inventor at these shows. Other Autodesk Certification products include: AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Revit Architecture, and 3DS Max Design. As you know,  Autodesk certifications are a reliable validation of your skills and knowledge, and can lead to accelerated professional development, improved productivity, and enhanced credibility for you and your employer.

Certification is one step that is critical to personal and professional success!

Event Details

Southern Polytechnic State University

October 26, 2010

9:00am – 4:00pm

Continuing Education
1395 South Marietta Parkway

Bldg 200  Ste 234
Marietta, GA 30067

Pratt Institute

October 28, 2010

9:00am – 4:00pm

School of Professional Studies
144 West 14th St. Room 509
New York, NY 10011-7300

Moraine Valley Community College

November 2, 2010

9:00am – 4:00pm

9000 W. College Parkway
Palos Hills, IL 60465

Salt Lake Community College

November 4, 2010

9:00am – 4:00 pm

CAD Applications Training Center
9750 South 300 West
Sandy, UT 84070

British Columbia Institute of Technology

November 8, 2010

9:00am – 4:00pm

555 Seymour Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6B 3H6, Canada

San Francisco State University

November 10, 2010

9:00am – 4:00pm

Downtown Center
835 Market Street, 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103-1901

Austin Community College

November 11, 2010

9:00am – 4:00pm

CAD Learning Center RM3213
11928 Stonehollow Drive
Austin, TX 78758

Honolulu Community College

November 19, 2010

9:00am – 4:00 pm

Drafting and Technology Department
874 Dillingham Boul
Honolulu, HI 96817

Key Benefits of Certification

• - Gain an industry recognized credential that proves your skill level
• - Use the Autodesk Certified Logo
• - Display your Autodesk Certified certificate
• - List your name in the Autodesk Certified Professionals database

Autodesk Open Doors Registration

You can visit the Autodesk® Open Doors website to find the most up to date event registration information. At out Autodesk® Open Doors to Certification event, you can test your skills on the Autodesk software releases for 2010 and 2011, and discover new opportunities to your career, be more productive, and increase your value overall as a professional.

Preparation Options

Make sure to visit  www.autodesk.com/certification so you can download your test roadmap prior to attending our event.  Contact your local ATC for Certification Prep classroom and online training options www.autodesk.com/atc

The Associate level test is a one hour timed exam while the Professional level exam is 1.5 hours in length.

Next Steps

Download your certification roadmap at: autodesk.com/certification

Important Link: www.autodesk.com/opendoors

Questions? Contact: opendoors@autodesk.com

A quick start for Students using Inventor in a lab environment

[This is specifically for students who need to be able to save their work to a flash drive but the pathing considerations apply to anyone in a lab environment where you' cannot consistently use the same machine every day. Just replace the concept of a flash drive with a mapped network drive.]

  Quick question. Have you ever created an assembly using a fastener or other component from the Content Center and the next time you go to open it Inventor isn’t able to locate those pieces?

  To use the Content Center consistently you need to know where the Content source files are and you need to be able to tell Inventor where to place the data for the parts that you’ve used so it can find it again. This is done in the Project File.

Chances are if you look a the active Project File on your school’s lab computer it is just listed as ‘Default.ipj’. In the following steps you will learn how to make sure all of the data you create or consume is where you need it to be.

1. Start Autodesk Inventor
2. In the Get Started tab find the Launch panel and select Projects
3. At the bottom of the Projects dialog select New
4. Select New Single User Project
5. Give the Project File a name. For our Example I will use ‘Classwork’
6. In the Project (Workspace) Folder space I will enter the drive name and the name of a folder that I want created on my flash drive named Classwork.
7. Click OK to create the Project File. You may have to confirm the creation of the folder on the flash drive as well.
8. Double click on your new Project name in the top panel to activate it.

  At this point you have created a new project file. Inventor knows where to find the Content Center data source information from a setting in the Application Options but it places data that you’ve used based on a setting in the Project file. This default is on the hard drive of the computer you’re using Inventor on. If you move from one computer to another your bolts, washers, etc. are still on the hard drive of the other computer. Now you will set your Project file so that anything you use from the Content Center travels with you.

1. With your new Project File active expand the Folder Options area in the lower portion of the Projects dialog.
2. Select the ‘Content Center Files’ row.
3. After a moment the current path will be displayed.
4. Highlight the existing path and enter:   .\Content Center Files
5. Press Enter to accept the new value
6. Save the change to the Project File
7. Click Done to close the dialog

  In a project file a period in the path represents that path where the Project File is found. This acts as a shortcut or alias. A folder has now been created under my Classwork folder named Content Center Files. Now when I place a bolt into an assembly it will be put there. When I go to save my work now it will automatically want to place it on my flash drive.

Now every time you go to a new computer you will have to Browse for you Project file but when you come back to a computer you’ve used before it should be on the list in the top of the dialog.

If everyone in a class agrees to a Project File path and name you won’t have to change this every time or perhaps ever once its been done.

Are you learning in a Project Based curriculum? If not, why not?

The process of Engineering Education has been pretty much as is for as long as most any current student or their parents have been alive, but it hasn’t always been taught this way. Now the question is “is it time to look back?”.

Creativity, problem solving, production methods, interviewing skills, and entrepreneurship used to be part learning to be an an engineer and in the commercial world they still are skills that one must have. So why is it so rare to hear some of these terms in an Engineering College?

There are rabble-rousers among us. There are students, professors, and even institutions that are questioning the process of Engineering Education that has been in place for the last half a Century and they’re finding some creative answers. In fact, one of the answer they’re finding is challenging students to be CREATIVE.

I’ve had to the opportunity to meet a number of people who are looking at this issue at different levels. There are thought leaders like David Goldberg of the iFoundry at the University of Illinois and his “Missing Basics”, Institutional leaders like Franklin W. Olin College, and countless individual professors and students who care about what they are learning and how well they are prepared to be Engineers.

Well A few weeks ago I had the honor of speaking to another institution who has been unwilling to limit their students to the dogma of modern Engineering Education. The Iron Range Engineering program proudly proclaims that their approach to learning is:

“Student empowered development of technical and professional knowledge and competencies in context of industry sponsored project-based learning.” Sounds like Engineering Education to me.

I meet brilliant young people every time I visit the great and storied programs that I work with. There is something different about students that participate in team activities which allow them to explore “real” engineering in a hands on fashion on those campuses. That same confidence, inquisitive spirit, and hunger to learn more is deeply rooted in the students of the Iron Range Engineering program and in the other Project Base programs I’ve met.

If you’re a student that is not in a Project Based curriculum environment I’m not saying that you’re missing out on an opportunity but you may need to take it upon yourself to get involved and learn these other skills that aren’t in the curriculum. It can be done and is being done on your campus. Just look for the students who smile a lot and seem to be just a little more confident and ask them if they’re on a student team.

Re Cycling

How’s this for a recipe?

Take one Physics major with a penchant for Motorcycles, add one 1978 Suzuki GS550 (classic), mix in a couple of Solar Panels, batteries, and an electric motor and what do you get? Inspiration.

 Tony Coiro of Purdue University has created one of the most intriguing Electric Motorcycle* conversions I’ve ever seen. Many conversions mask the mechanics and don’t bother to attempt practicality. Tony’s conversion is relatively inexpensive, creative, functional and in a Mad Max kind of way; beautiful.

I first met Tony when he was working on a project team for the Purdue Physics Department and after awhile you get to know when someone is telling you what they're GOING to do, and when they’re just talking. Tony is one of those people who is DOING things, not talking about doing things.

If you meet Tony you will see the confidence of someone who knows that they can achieve what’s in their head. You’ll also find him approachable and very eager to show you his creation in a manner that encourages others to try things that they dream of. He and other members of the Electric Vehicle Club are taking matters into their own hands and learning things they’ll never be offered in a classroom.

If you’d like to know more about Tony and his creation check out a few of these links:

National Youth Science Foundation

Indystar

Trend Hunter

In case you haven’t already assumed so; a mind like this doesn’t just relax. Tony’s recently acquired a more sporting oriented chassis and has some fantastic plans that I won’t share here. I will just say that if you’re driving around Northern Indiana in the next few months and are suddenly passed by a bike that’s making no sound, be sure to wave to Tony. He’s riding the future.

*Yes, that’s Autodesk Inventor in the video

Education Community check up

So, this web site walks into a Doctor and says…

OK. Not that kind of check up. If you haven’t yet visited, or haven’t recently visited the Autodesk Education Community your really, really need to. Now.

There are now 32, yes thirty-two (XXXII) different applications online that cover tools from a digital easel (Sketchbook Pro), building environment analysis (Green Building Studio) to Plastic Injection Mold analysis (Inventor Professional) and they’re all available for your exploration and insatiable need to learn. We’ve also added some flexibility for those working on long term projects. Instead of the software’s activation being effective for just over a year it’s now good for three years! That’s fantastic!

Of course I’m going to be upgrading every year but then again I don’t have job that requires me to make anything like students have to but it’s great to have the option to not have to upgrade so often.

On another note the Community now has over 1,500,000 members! That’s an amazing number. So if you haven’t joined the community it’s obvious that you need to. With that many members focused on the world of Design and Engineering it could really be considered its own Social Network.

Enjoy and explore!

Calling all cars! …and bikes, and canoes, and bridges

OK. They* tell me I’m supposed to behave myself on this blog thing but enough is enough.

If you’re a member of a student team and you’re not using Inventor; you’re working too hard. Seriously. I know that in most ME programs you only use the very basics of 3D CAD and due to that you’re really not going to see that much difference between Inventor and other systems. Sure Inventor’s easier to use but how hard is it to create and Extrude feature or a Fillet?

For those of you on a Shell Eco-Marathon, Formula, Baja, Hybrid, Human Powered Vehicle, Submarine, Solar Powered car, High Mileage, Vehicle, or even a Bridge Building team you need more than this. For all practical purposes you are working in a production environment. That is is a critical differentiation. You’ve moved beyond theory and now you’re using your education. You know that just because it looks perfect on the screen doesn’t mean it will always work or sometimes even fit together. [Welding has a pretty amazing effect on straight things doesn’t it?]

Let’s take a look at a few examples of what I’m talking about:

Most of you need to create frames. Chances are you’re using an outdated beam element analysis program to construct a frame and then remodeling it in the CAD tool which may require extruding concentric circles or squares to build it. Well this is how Inventor Does it:

The ability to model a frame, analyze it and make modifications quickly isn’t even the beginning. You can also analyze parts and components at many different levels.

Computational fluid dynamics, non-linear materials, permanent deformation, mechanical event simulation, or even combinations in a multi-physics environment? You’ll need some or all of these tools.You don’t even have to use the full blown CAD tool to supply the geometry to analyze. How about finally being able to figure out how to keep the seat from getting so hot?

Most teams are not just building Mechanical things. You also need to work with that crazy Electrical stuff. You might even have an EE on the team. Yes, they’re different but you’d better get used to them. There’s not a lot of machinery driven by steam and leather belts around anymore so electrical people are here to stay. Why not learn to work with them? Let them work the way they do in schematics but leverage their work in your 3D models. Well, just look:

  As long as we’re talking about thing that aren’t the first thing you consider when you’re joining a team let’s look at all of the parts you shouldn’t have to model at all. Standard components whether they are belts, bolts, or bearings are build to standards. Why on earth would you draw a fastener or more over why would you insert even a pre-drawn fastener in your design if you don’t know it will perform in the first place? Worse yet why put a chain in an project you spent weeks shaving grams from that could be used to pull a stump with? Optimizing weight shouldn’t exclude standard components. Check this out:

That’s what I thought you’d say. These things are in your Machinery Handbook and probably haven’t changed in fifty years. Take advantage of the computer’s ability to sort through tables.

So you’re sure the drawing you sent to get a part machined was the correct version right? Well it’s probably right. I hope so too. No problem though. You can afford to get another one made. Stop wondering and start working in the type of data management environment that your future employers will be using.

Finally; fund raising. How many hours have you spent waiting for a rendering to complete so you can build materials? If you want to do poster sized prints tools like 3DS MAX, Maya, Soft Image, Alias Studio are all amazing. But if you just need to make something quickly why not just save what’s on your screen? You can even apply decals of the people your approaching to show them how the project will look with their contribution.

So, why the rant? I worked for years in industry and with Autodesk’s commercial customers. I’ve also worked with several collegiate teams that have been able to see why our commercial customers love these tools. You, the students on these teams are doing something incredibly valuable to your future. You’re getting experience in product development and project management. REAL experience. These tools are made to remove obstacles and make these processes more efficient. Believe it or not Autodesk doesn’t make these things for the fun of it. They’re made because people need and want them and you need them too.

Everything that you see in the videos above is available to you for your own use at no cost from the Autodesk Education Community or will be in the near future. If you’re a team and you want to know more please contact me. Autodesk wants to give you the opportunity to see your ideas become reality with less effort and with better quality.

If you want to know more drop me a note at thom.tremblay@autodesk.com and we can discuss what options are available. Please stop spending your valuable time using plain 3D CAD tools and archaic analysis tools that don’t really connect with your design. There’s no need for it and you and your time are too valuable.

 

 

* “They” being respectable, well meaning people trying to keep me from getting in trouble

2010 Autodesk Student Expert Program off to a great start

Last week the members of this year’s Autodesk Student Expert program met in San Francisco for their orientation and training.

  This year along with eye opening briefings from Executives including Autodesk CEO Carl Bass and CTO Jeff Kowalski they were also given presentations by industry experts on Manufacturing and Architecture. Then near the end of the event the students were given an opportunity to test their skill with the Autodesk Associate Certification exams for Inventor and Revit.

These exams were not a watered down version for students. They were the very same test that commercial users around the world are taking to show their expertise and commitment to being deeply engaged with the technology. I know many people who’ve found this test challenging and many who’ve had to take it several times to pass but saw the value in Certification.

Among our Experts five Architectural students passed the exam including one who passed both the 2010 and 2011 exam to maintain his Revit Professional Certification. Incredible. We also had six of the Mechanical students pass the Inventor 2011 certification. In both camps several more students were just a question or two from passing. This is particularly impressive when you consider that these students are not in the commercial world using these applications every day.

It promises to be a great class for Autodesk Student Experts and I know I speak for everyone in Autodesk Education when I congratulate those that passed the exam and for those who will in the near future. All of these experts will be a tremendous asset to the other students at their schools.