Engineering Students: Here's What Happens at a SOLIDWORKS User Group Meeting

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Greater Evansville SOLIDWORKS User Group meeting March 12th
Greater Evansville SOLIDWORKS User Group meeting March 12th

 

Last month nearly 50 people, including students, met at the Southern Indiana Career & Technical Center for the Greater Evansville SOLIDWORKS User Group meeting.  Students from SICTC and, thanks to Nashville SOLIDWORKS User Group leader Rudy Ottway, students from Murray State University joined the regular members of the group for a really great meeting.

Instructors Kevin Williams and Andy Beadles, along with SICTC student Christian Mills provided a tour of the facility, as well as some information about the program offerings at the school.

“I enjoyed being able to show local companies about the different opportunities and activities performed at the Technical Center. I also believe that it was a great opportunity for students to network with the companies and discover different jobs that are offered in the Evansville area.”
– Christian Mills, SICTC Student

Students were showing off their work too:

Alva Waelde using a Faro arm to reverse engineer an Adirondack chair.
Alva Waelde using a Faro arm to reverse engineer an Adirondack chair.

 

I used SOLIDWORKS to convert measurement data gathered from a Faro arm to recreate an Adirondack chair so that it could be manufactured at The Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center. The data collected from the Faro arm consisted of 2D lines, circles, and planes that were then inserted into SOLIDWORKS as x.t files. Once the files were inserted I then converted them into useable data. SOLIDWORKS made this process very easy and allowed me to convert and create parts in a shorter period of time then alternative programs. Once the parts were created I then used the assembly feature to rebuild the chair as well as find and fix any problems that occurred. This process was quite simple and allowed me to see how the chair would be put together and where the problem areas would be. Thanks to SOLIDWORKS I now have a lifelike functioning model to work with and will be on the fast track to building these chairs very soon.
– Alva Waelde, SICTC Student

3D printed model of a plastic extrusion line.
3D printed model of a plastic extrusion line.

 

“Creating our model of a plastic extrusion line relied heavily on SOLIDWORKS. I modeled various components of the model in SOLIDWORKS based on 2D drawings. SOLIDWORKS made it easy to see what needed to be modified in order to create quality parts on our rapid prototype machine. Some parts were able to be imported into SOLIDWORKS directly from another CAD system. The feature recognition in SOLIDWORKS allowed for the parts to be modified without starting over on the entire part. After making the correct modifications in SOLIDWORKS, I exported the parts as STL files and fabricated them on the rapid prototype machine. Without SOLIDWORKS, our model could not have been created.”
– Trent Owens, SICTC Student

Rudy had this to say:

“Mr. Kevin Williams and Mr. Andy Beadles at the Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center in Evansville, IN are doing a phenomenal job in preparing students for careers in design and engineering using SolidWorks. The students are marrying their classroom skills with real-world applications and this creates an outstanding learning opportunity. Students are earning SolidWorks Associate level certifications and proving that their generation will take design and engineering to the next level. We hope to capture these talented individuals by showing them opportunities in our Engineering Graphics and Design program in the Institute of Engineering at Murray State University.”

And Mr. Williams from SICTC:

“I enjoyed watching my students present to professionals from industry.  It gave them a great opportunity to showcase their talent.  As a result, three of them have had interviews for internships.”
– Kevin Williams, Pre-Engineering & Project Lead the Way Instructor, SICTC

Students attending SOLIDWORKS User group meetings isn’t a new idea, but it is one that’s catching fire.  Students get a chance to mingle with professional engineers and designers, and the professional users get to see what’s coming up in the industry behind them.  Exciting times for all!

 

Richard Doyle

Richard Doyle

My official title is Senior User Advocacy & SolidWorks User Groups - but most people just call me "The User Group Guy". I've been a SolidWorks user since 1997, and was one of the founding members of the SWUGN Committee. Since starting the Central Texas SolidWorks User Group in 1999, my career path has led me to DS SolidWorks and a dream job supporting the SolidWorks User Group Network worldwide.
Richard Doyle

@https://twitter.com/swugn

Richard Doyle