RapidSwug Meeting 12/9/09

Central Wisconsin SolidWorks Users Group

Meeting Agenda

Date: Wednesday, December 9^th, 2009

Time 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Meeting Location: Kumon Math and Reading Center

1345 8^th Street South (Shopko Plaza Mall Shops)

Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494

Facilitator: Raj Deshpande

Phone: (715) 424-3636 Ext. 4632 (work)

(715) 423-7323 (Meeting Location)

E-mail: rddeshpa@renlearn.com

(Mention: SW User Group in Subject column)

Purpose: Network with other SW Users in the area

Learn new things

Support local students interested in design and engineering

Mentor, Sponsor/promote design projects

Initiate and support local communities

Agenda: 5:00-5:05 Welcome

5:05-5:15 Speaker – Dennis Fritz, Account Manager – Graphics Systems

Subject: Introduction and Overview of SIM3/Graphics Systems

5:15-6:30 Speaker – D Duraikannu, Analysis Manager, Graphics Systems

Subject: SolidWorks Motion

What is SolidWorks Motion and why invest in it?

Why SolidWorks Motion?

SolidWorks Motion – Real Life Case Studies: Mechanisms, CAM Synthesis, GFI Paint Mixer Motion Analysis and Exporting Loads for FEA Structural Analysis

6:30:7:00 Refreshments/Informal gathering

Meeting Minutes October 7, 2009

The third SolidWorks User Group meeting for Central Wisconsin area was held on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. We had another successful meeting with ten (10) people attendance. The meeting was held at Kumon Math and Reading Center, 1345 8th Street South, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494. We followed a set agenda for the meeting.

Agenda: 5:00-5:05 Welcome
5:05-5:50 Speaker – Christopher Van Asten, Clover Industries/User Group Member
Subject: SW Toolbox
5:50-6:20 Speaker – Mark Swanson, Renaissance Learning/User Group Member
Subject: User Group Project
6:20-6:30 Speaker - Caleb Bahler – Genesis Technologies/User Group Member
Subject – User Group Website/blog
6:30:7:00 Refreshments/Informal gathering

The meeting started on time. Christopher Van Asten talked about applications and customization of SW Toolbox. With Toolbox, you don’t have to create any standard parts such as screws, pins, gears, clips, nuts, bearing, jig bushings, o-rings etc. SW Toolbox has it all. You just drag and drop to your assemblies and set the type and size and you’re done. Toolbox is available in SW Premium and Professional packages. You can customize Toolbox to follow your standard part numbering system or generate different styles of same part. Let’s say, you use 3 different styles of Ø1/4-20 X 2" Hex Bolts, e.g. (1) Ø1/4-20 x 2" Grade 5, (2) Ø1/4-20 x 2" Grade 8, (3) Ø1/4-20 x 2" Stainless Steel, you can customize the Toolbox so that the assembly BOM lists which variation goes in the assembly.

1. In configure area of the Toolbox under the properties, define your properties or edit an existing value.
a. To add a new property simply select in a blank Property Name field.
b. After adding a new property set the Type to be "Choose List" or "Single Value."
c. Input your Values in the appropriate area.
Options (Set for each Property Value):
· “Add as a configuration specific property," turned on by default and generally recommended to be on.
· “Each value for this property requires a new configuration,” this can be turned on for only one of the Property Values.
2. With a property selected choose to apply it to a Standard or Component.

9. Before selecting your next property you can choose Enable or Disable and set the Default property for an entire Standard or a specific Component. (This means you can set different defaults for different fasteners.)

Once these values are set you can see the results in your Assemblies when you place a fastener. The topic was informative and Chris did an excellent job of explaining it in detail.

The second topic was a Group Project. During the last meeting we decided to follow up on Punkin Chunkin project. Mark Swanson did some research and listed various categories for pumpkin throw contests. Unfortunately Nekoosa Punkin Chunkin contest was cancelled and we missed an opportunity to visit other nearby contests for this season. Mark communicated with Pumpkin Association and received some feedback. We have been thinking about electro-mechanical (rail-gun) means of launching the pumpkin. At present this category does not exists, however the association was open to adding such category in the future. Besides this project we talked about other project that would involve community.

An engineering product or projects with wider scope that may help solve some of problems in third world countries. For example, washing machine operated by using bicycle was developed by MIT. Some variation of soap box derby. For example, racing soap box cars with stored energy (e.g. wound spring, flywheel) or may be using standard car battery. We can try to make this an annual event where local students can participate. This could be an additional project besides Punkin Chunkin project. Simply asking community leaders if they have any need or wanted help with engineering project. Mark S. volunteered to follow-up on this with WR leaders. Modeling heavy bunk house or historical buildings.

Let us spend some time researching and thinking about the group projects so that we are ready to discuss and move forward with it during our next meeting.

We ran out of time to discuss Group Web site. Before proceeding with a web site we want to get your feedback. This would allow us to scope the project. Please visit the blog to leave ideas and suggestions. Scroll down to the bottom of the blog and click on "Post".

The next meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009. The meeting will be posted on SWUGN Calendar (SolidWorks User Group Network) as well as User Group blog (http://rapidswug.blogspot.com/) .

Follow-up:
Next meeting: Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Time 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Meeting Location: Kumon Math and Reading Center
1345 8th Street South (Shopko Plaza Mall Shops)
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494
Facilitator: Raj Deshpande
Phone: (715) 424-3636 Ext. 4632 (work)
(715) 423-7323 (Meeting Location)
E-mail: rddeshpa@renlearn.com
(Mention: SW User Group in Subject column)

Topics: SW Motion (60 minutes each) – Raj to contact VAR
Discuss group project (all)
Please contact Raj if you want to present or make an announcement in the meeting.

Meeting - Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

Central Wisconsin SolidWorks Users Group

Meeting Agenda

Date: Wednesday, October 7^th, 2009

Time 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Meeting Location: Kumon Math and Reading Center

1345 8^th Street South (Shopko Plaza Mall Shops)

Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494

Facilitator: Raj Deshpande

Phone: (715) 424-3636 Ext. 4632 (work)

(715) 423-7323 (Meeting Location)

E-mail: rddeshpa@renlearn.com

(Mention: SW User Group in Subject column)

Purpose: Network with other SW Users in the area

Learn new things

Support local students interested in design and engineering

Mentor, Sponsor/promote design projects

Initiate and support local communities

Agenda: 5:00-5:05 Welcome

5:05-5:50 Speaker – Christopher Van Asten, Clover Industries/User Group Member - Subject: SW Toolbox

5:50-6:20 Speaker – Mark Swanson, Renaissance Learning/User Group Member - Subject: User Group Project

6:20-6:30 Speaker - Caleb Bahler – Genesis Technologies/User Group Member - Subject – User Group Website/blog

6:30:7:00 Refreshments/Informal gathering

Note: We planned this meeting to coincide with Nekoosa’s Pumpkin Fest. Unfortunately this year the Festival (local casino) has cancelled the Punkin Chunkin contest. As usual we will have free food and giveaways. Extend invitations to other SW users in the area.

SolidWorks 2010 What’s New – Improved Visualization

Central Wisconsin SolidWorks Users Group Meeting Minutes July 28 2009

Central Wisconsin SolidWorks Users Group

Subject: Meeting Minutes

Meeting Date: July 28^th, 2009

From: Raj Deshpande

The second SolidWorks User Group meeting for Central Wisconsin area was held on Tuesday, July 28^th, 2009 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The meeting was held at Kumon Math and Reading Center, 1345 8^th Street South, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494. We followed a set agenda for the meeting.

Agenda: 5:00-5:05 Welcome

5:05-5:15 Introductions

Name

Industry/Affiliation

SW Experience

Expectations from SW Users Group

5:15-5:6:00 Keynote speaker – Christopher Schaefer – Applications Engineer - Graphics System

Subject: DriveWorks

For background information of DriveWorks visit www.driveworks.co.uk/more.html.

6:00-6:30 Presentation – User Group Website/blog

Caleb Bahler – User Group Member

6:30:7:00 Refreshments/Informal gathering

The meeting started on time. After the introductions, Dennis Fritz, Account Manager for Graphics System gave a presentation on DriveWorks. Christopher Schaefer was not available for the presentation. DriveWorks is design automation software for SolidWorks. It allows users to set design rules to create many configurations of SW assemblies and parts. User interface is simple to follow. Based on the user input, design variations as well as drawings are created automatically. DriveWorks is intended to save time for products that use several design variations. DriveWorks can be used as a substitute to design tables, multiple configurations, and API.

We briefly talked about the User Group blog. Caleb Bahler could not attend the meeting. Members liked the blog design and felt that the blog needs to be active so people can visit it frequently to get new updates.

We focused our group discussion on how to keep group interesting and add new members. We discussed many activities that would require group involvement. Mark Swanson suggested a group project that all of us can share design responsibility. He suggested participating in Nekoosa Pumpkin Chuckin contest by designing a pumpkin throwing machine. Everyone agreed that this would be a good group design project. Nekoosa Pumpkin Fest is scheduled every year in mid October. Our next meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, October 7^th so that we can discuss the project and may decide to check out the contest during the following weekends.

We again discussed possibility of rotating meeting locations between Wisconsin Rapids, Stevens Point, and Wausau. All users were open to the idea. To accomplish this, we need local Users from Stevens Point and Wausau area to take the lead to arrange the meetings locally. The next meeting is scheduled on Wednesday, October 7^th, 2009. The meeting will be advertized on SWUGN Calendar (SolidWorks User Group Network) as well as User Group blog.

For the next meeting we are asking group member to present 15 minutes each on their favorite SW topics. So please let me know if you would like to give a presentation. We need four to five volunteers.

Follow-up:

Next meeting: Wednesday, October 7^th, 2009

Time 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Meeting Location: Kumon Math and Reading Center

1345 8^th Street South (Shopko Plaza Mall Shops)

Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494

Facilitator: Raj Deshpande

Phone: (715) 424-3636 Ext. 4632 (work)

(715) 423-7323 (Meeting Location)

E-mail: rddeshpa@renlearn.com

(Mention: SW User Group in Subject column)

Topics: Member Presentations (15 minutes each)

(Inform Raj on the topic and time request)

Discuss group project (Pumpkin Chukin)

Please contact Raj if you want to present or make an announcement in the meeting.

Participants for May 19^th meeting:

Carl Johnson – Diversified Woodcrafts

Chris VanAsten – Clover Industries

Dennis Fritz – Graphics System

Eric Pilsl – Graphics System

Jeff Pepp – BDT Inc.

Kent Huchthausen – FRP Composites Inc.

Mark Ptak – MSTC

Mark Swanson - Renaissance Learning

Raj Deshpande - Renaissance Learning

Shane Burling – Point Precision

Stephen Turner – Renaissance Learning

Meeting Agenda - Date: July 28th, 2009

Central Wisconsin SolidWorks Users Group

Meeting Agenda

Date: July 28^th, 2009

Time 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Meeting Location: Kumon Math and Reading Center

1345 8^th Street South (Shopko Plaza Mall Shops)

Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494

Facilitator: Raj Deshpande

Phone: (715) 424-3636 Ext. 4632 (work)

(715) 423-7323 (Meeting Location)

E-mail: rddeshpa@renlearn.com

(Mention: SW User Group in Subject column)

Purpose: Network with other SW Users in the area

Learn new things

Support local students interested in design and engineering

Mentor, Sponsor/promote design projects

Initiate and support local communities

Agenda: 5:00-5:05 Welcome

5:05-5:15 Introductions

Name

Industry/Affiliation

SW Experience

Expectations from SW Users Group

5:15-5:6:00 Keynote speaker – Christopher Schaefer – Applications Engineer - Graphics System

Subject: DriveWorks

For background information of DriveWorks visit www.driveworks.co.uk/more.html.

6:00-6:30 Presentation – User Group Website/blog

Caleb Bahler – User Group Member

6:30:7:00 Refreshments/Informal gathering

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User Group Member's Samples of Work

Send us your pictures to add to this page.

Caleb Bahler / Genesis Technologies

Meeting Minutes May 19, 2009

Central Wisconsin SolidWorks Users Group

Subject: Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date: May 19th, 2009
From: Raj Deshpande

The first SolidWorks User Group meeting for Central Wisconsin area was held on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The meeting was held at Kumon Math and Reading Center, 1345 8th Street South, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494. We followed the set agenda for the meeting.

Agenda: 5:00-5:15 Welcome
5:15-5:35 Introductions
Name
Industry/Affiliation
SW Experience
Expectations from SW Users Group
5:35-5:50 Keynote speaker –
Mark Swanson, CTO, Renaissance Learning
Purpose of the group
Potential benefits
SW Community involvement
5:50-6:00 Presentation – Graphics System
5:55-6:30 Future meeting agenda
Officials/Volunteers (President, VP, Secretary) Time / Frequency
Topics
Website/advertising/promoting the group
Announcements
Guest Speakers
6:30:7:00 Refreshments/Informal gathering

The meeting started on time. I welcomed all the participants and thanked volunteers, VAR, and SolidWorks for sponsoring the event. We had a good turnout considering this was our first meeting. We went around the room as every one introduced themselves.

Mark Swanson, Chief Technology Officer at Renaissance Learning Inc. gave a keynote speech. He highlighted some of the objectives and purpose for the User Group and encouraged feedback from attendees. A list of items participants expected from the User Group included;
Leaning new features – Lot of us felt that we use similar software features on day to day basis for our work. Therefore, it would be beneficial to share knowledge from other group members and learn new features of the software. We also decided to invite experts from VAR or other SW partners to give a speech on a specific topic. One of the suggestions was to set aside some time during each meeting to address any SW modeling challenges a group member may have.
Communication and networking - As a group, it is easier to receive and share information readily as compared to individually.
Keeping group active and interesting to all participants – Mark S. stressed that the group needs to be active and inclusive for all participants. One of the ways of doing this is to keep contents practical and include hands on projects.
Community outreach - The advantage of SW User Group is access to diverse technical knowhow and expertise. We may be able to use this knowledge to sponsor community projects that benefit local area students interested in engineering curriculum. Mark S. mentioned that it is easier to get funding for community project as a professional group than for an individual.

Some of the discussions and suggestions for ongoing activities were focused on communication.
· We decided to set up a blog where all Group Users can share their thoughts. This will avoid sending and receiving mass e-mails for communication and give opportunity for each User to participate at their own time and will. I want to thank Caleb Bahler for volunteering to set up the blog. Caleb also did a great job designing the logo and coming up with a catchy name for our User Group.
· We talked about possibility of holding meetings in Wausau in the future. Wausau area may have larger number of SW users and potentially more participants. All users were open to the idea. We need local Users from Wausau area to take the lead to arrange the meetings in Wausau. Technical college in Wausau may be a good location for a meeting. Few members suggested rotating the meetings at different locations. For the next meeting, we decided to meet in Wisconsin Rapids at the same location. The next meeting is scheduled on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009. The meeting will be advertized on SWUGN Calendar (SolidWorks User Group Network)
· We discussed frequency of the meetings. We planned our next meeting in two month and plan to adjust the frequency as we gain more experience.
· We also decided to postpone election of officers and focus on networking and getting to know each other better.
· I made an announcement of SWUGN Summit in Minneapolis on August 18. Please let me know if you need further information or plan to attend the meeting.


Follow-up:

Next meeting: Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Time 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Meeting Location: Kumon Math and Reading Center
1345 8th Street South (Shopko Plaza Mall Shops)
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494
Facilitator: Raj Deshpande
Phone: (715) 424-3636 Ext. 4632 (work)
(715) 423-7323 (Meeting Location)
E-mail: rddeshpa@renlearn.com
(Mention: SW User Group in Subject column)

Topic: Presentation on DriveWorks
(Raj to contact DriveWorks and arrange presenter and post agenda)
We will get some feedback on our User Group name and blog
Please contact Raj if you want to present or make an announcement in the meeting.

Participants for May 19th meeting:

Al Javoroski – MSTC
Caleb Bahler – Genesis Tech
Chris VanAsten – Clover Industries
Dean Goodmanson - Renaissance Learning
Dennis Fritz – Graphics System
Eric Pilsl – Graphics System
Joe Tylka - MSTC
Kent Huchthausen – FRP Composites Inc.
Mark Ptak – MSTC
Mark Swanson - Renaissance Learning
Raj Deshpande - Renaissance Learning
Shane Burling – Point Precision
Stephen Turner – Renaissance Learning
Tim Lonsdorf – Clover Industries