Mechanisms & Mentorship Video Series: How to Clamp a Really Small Wire
Ever wondered what it would be like to be mentored one-on-one by a senior engineer that’s using SOLIDWORKS to successfully deliver solutions to industry clients? My name is Rafael Testai, and in this video series “Mechanisms & Mentorship,” we’ll take a look behind the scenes to see how a hand-picked engineer has designed one of their mechanisms in granular detail. We’ll “open the hood” to analyze their CAD design and thought process behind the solution. I’ll ask them questions about the project, roadblocks, challenges, specific insights they learned, and how they’re using SOLIDWORKS to solve real world problems.
You’ll learn a mixture of soft skills and hard skills. This series is perfect for viewers who are already proficient in SOLIDWORKS (CSWA, CSWP, CSWE) and want to take the next step in their careers.
In this episode of Mechanisms & Mentorship, I’ll interview Product Design Engineer, Creator, & Professional Problem Solver, Tanner Green from TeamPipeline.us in Arizona. We’ll focus on the clever mechanism he called “Parallel Jaw Tensile Test Clamp.”
Time Stamps:
1) What Problem Were You Trying to Solve? (Min 0:00)
The customer needed Tanner to design a fixture that would clamp some very small wires, all of them less than 0.015″ (15 thousandths of an inch), for a tensile test at a variety of specific clamping lengths. There were multiple diameters of wire, many of them around 0.002″ (or 2 thousandths of an inch), at various lengths which will need to be clamped. A requirement was to be able to make it easy for an operator to insert the wire and remove the broken piece – or in other words, it shouldn’t take a lot of force to open or close it. Simultaneously, the clamping force needed to be high enough that the wire sample would not slip.
2) Big Picture Mechanism Explained (Min 1:49)
3) An Industry Term you Should Familiarize Yourself With (Min 8:13)
The answer is the word “integration.”
4) How Does a Senior Design Engineer Approach a Design Problem? (Min 16:02)
Tanner’s sequence is outlined below.
Tanner also discussed the “Jobs to be Done” theory, by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen. Learn more about it here. Give this video a thumbs up and “Share” this blog if you’re being exposed to new theories you didn’t know existed. Let’s learn together. ?
5) Document Everything (Min 20:35) In this part of the interview we dive deep into why one should document and how.
Ultimately, it’s about having a trail of how a decision was made and being upfront about everything.
Tips: Document what was taken from conversations and meetings. Send it to the customer so both parties have a copy.
6) Have you Ever Heard of the Term “Wicked Problem”?(Min 26:22)
Learn more about wicked problems here:
https://www.fastcompany.com/3064188/how-design-thinking-can-help-you-solve-lifes-wicked-problems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SemHh0n19LA
BONUS: Tanner is a Husband and Father First (Min 40:37)
Learn about how Tanner upgraded the electrical system of a Power Wheels car for his kids. Click here to watch him in action.
To learn more about Tanner Green, visit his LinkedIn or his YouTube Channel.
If you read until the very end, I greatly appreciate it. I would encourage you to follow me on Linkedin so that we can stay in touch and you can be notified when more articles get published. I lead with value and my writing style is direct and to the point.
? https://www.linkedin.com/in/testai/
Any recommendations on who you think I should interview next? Feel free to reach out to me on Linkedin or Instagram. I read all correspondence.
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