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.