Cane Creek Chooses SolidWorks to Optimize Design

Cane Creek Chooses SolidWorks to Optimize Design

If you’re a dedicated cyclist, you’re familiar with Cane Creek Cycling Components, famous for its headsets. If you are not, like me, you have no idea where to find the headset on your bike. So I did some research. According to Wikipedia, it’s the “set of components on a bicycle that provides a rotatable interface between the bicycle fork and the bicycle frame.” Sounds like a crucial part.

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Even the CEO has to study for the CSWP test

Even the CEO has to study for the CSWP test

One evening at SolidWorks World 2011 I was having a conversation with Matt Lorono, who manages the  SolidWorks Legion blog. During our talk, Matt brought up the topic of certification, and asked if I had already earned my Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP) certification. I had to admit that I hadn’t, but promised Matt that I would have it by SolidWorks World 2012.

SolidWorks CSWP logoEarly last month, I started working toward meeting that goal, and thought that some of you might be interested in following me through the process. So over the next few months, I plan to post occasional updates letting everyone know how things are going. First, some background.

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Five Questions Friday with Rachel York of Applied Robotics, Inc.

Five Questions Friday with Rachel York of Applied Robotics, Inc.

RDY Name: Rachel Diane York

Title: Mechanical Draftsman

Job description: Responsible for routing and completion of Engineering Change/Support Requests submitted to the Engineering Department.

Company: Applied Robotics, Inc. Applied Robotics is a leading global provider of specialized end-of-arm tooling and connectivity solutions designed to meet unique application and market needs, and bringing new levels of flexibility and efficiency to bear on the industrial material handling process.

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

1) Why do you choose to do the work you do?
I grew up the only child of a man who could fix anything, almost to the point I would want to break things just to watch him work his magic.  Watching him tear things down and build them back up to something even better made me want to take everything apart, just to see how it worked. Worse case scenario: Dad could fix it.

My mother encouraged my curiosity; whenever something broke, a can opener, garage door opener, radio, lawn mower, whatever it was, she would always give me the chance to mend it before it was deemed a lost cause and handed off to my dad. My favorite part of what I do is seeing the ‘insides’ of machines and applying what I know about how one works to fix and improve, or even help create another. The greatest challenge of all is wanting to be a part of creating something that can’t be improved, simply because it was perfect the first time – come on, it could happen!

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Celebrating the Patron Saint of…Engineering?

Celebrating the Patron Saint of…Engineering?

In my short tenure at SolidWorks I have learned that more things are connected to engineering than I ever thought possible. Take St. Patrick’s Day. I could tell you about all the beer mugs or beer taps or Irish products designed with SolidWorks, but that would be expected. But, did you know that the patron saint of Ireland is also considered the patron saint of engineering?

It’s at the bottom of the Wikipedia listing, hidden among the ways in which different cities celebrate. An engineering college in Rolla, Missouri has been celebrating St. Patrick, the legendary snake chaser, for the past week – in fact, the past century. After a little digging, I found out that the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is one of our customers, and gave them a call.

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National Pi Day: A True Holiday for Engineers

National Pi Day: A True Holiday for Engineers

So I’ve just found out it's National Pi Day here in the States because they write today's date as 3/14 rather than 14/3. I guess that means Pi Day back in Europe should be July 22nd (22/7).  It's a somewhat serendipitous event, as I'm analyzing an assembly which is a mass of screw thread, spheres and cyclic mechanism.  When you stop and think about it, pretty much the whole of engineering is built upon that two-letter constant. 

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