Hello readers, this is Sam Stevens. I am a senior at MHS in Ms. Wissner’s 5th period ELI. I am doing an ELI on SolidWorks. For those of you who don’t know what this computer program is, It is a modeling software used to create 3D images of almost anything you want. It is mostly used by graphic designers, engineers, and computer animators. It is a very useful way to visualize ideas.
Why care about My ELI?
SolidWorks and similar 3D CAD programs help reduce mishaps in consumer products. SolidWorks was designed mostly to keep engineers all on the same page and informed. Most languages are not sufficient for conceptualizing objects. Their purpose is to convey ideas rather than elaborate structural detail. Imagine trying to describe an airplane to someone who has never seen one before; it’s pretty darn hard. The main result is miscommunication, which in the context of an airplane means that the plane will fall apart and people will die. Another example is smart phones; they would not have evolved this far if the engineers had not been on the same page, resulting in lots of miscommunication, and we might still have flip phones. Another application for SolidWorks is animation. The software can be used to model motion, which allows animators to create moving animations. The bottom line is that SolidWorks and other 3D CAD programs are making this world a better place to live in, and they create quite cool images.
What have I been doing thus far and how am I using SolidWorks?
I am member of the Moscow High School Robotics and Electronics Club. We are competing against the rest of Idaho in a competition where we have to build a robot that works with other robots to accomplish a hard task. This year’s task is to put wiffle balls into really tall beakers to earn points. This might not seem that difficult, but for a robot, this a challenging task. I was on the team last year. We didn’t devote enough time to making our robot, and as result we did not compete last year. I found out last year that another team had used SolidWorks to record the evolution of their robot, which I thought was a great idea. In an effort to not repeat last year, this year I decided to do an ELI on SolidWorks and create the team’s engineering notebook to keep everyone on the same page and reduce confusion.
This year I have been learning the basic syntax involved in using solidworks.
This an example of one assembly I have modeled using my new skills.
This is an example of a part which is quite hard to draw and explain, but thanks to SolidWorks, we could 3D print this part.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this piece.
~Sam
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