Spring 2021 is coming to a close at MiraCosta College. I am happy to say that it has been a very successful semester, both at school and at work. I am getting close the earning my third Associates Degree, this one for Mechanical Design.
It was tough balancing school and work, but I am thankful that work has been flexible enough for me to get to all of my classes.
This past semester I was enrolled in a Portfolio/Presentation course, which this site is part of, but also in showing me how to present my work in the best possible light. We read a great book on Success and presented a chapter to the class. It helped hone my presentation skills, along with my assigned partner. It helped meet someone new in class and broke down some of the barriers of distance learning during CoVid.
I was also was enrolled in Advanced 3D Modeling, which went over more advanced features of Solidworks and Creo. In my Intro to 3D modeling, we covered static models, but never got into motion or flow. We were able to get into some model testing in the advanced class. We also covered tables were we could create a part, then create a table for the part and mark off a few dimension changes that were required in a larger assembly and we could pull the parts in from the table.
I was a bit disappointed I wasn’t able to get the machine mates perfected for my final project in my 3d modeling class, but the overall concept was sound. It was a lever operated hose bib. It opened and closed by flipping a lever up and down, rather than having to twist a knob or handle.
Robert Newton, Mechanical Designer 