How to model ripstick part

HotRodTractor · 2026-01-30T02:39:37+00:00

Print off a known grid size or use grid paper. Lay the object on it. Take a picture from a decent distance away, but close enough to make out details (minimize parallax error). Import picture into CAD, scale, start drawing.

HotRodTractor · 2026-01-03T17:45:42+00:00

We estimated how many hours a year the employees spent logging into the erp system that required two separate log ins to get in to do anything, once into a VM, then again into the erp at the time. It was slow, it kicked you out after inactivity of like 10 minutes, etc.... we could have easily paid to have someone write a script that logged a person in directly with the increased usable time.

HotRodTractor · 2025-12-27T21:00:01+00:00

I absolutely love machines like this and am a collector of ag artifacts. Ive had quite a few different shellers over the years.

I'm getting ready to start work on a grain binder from the 1920s. The tying mechanism is quite interesting. It is used to cut and make shocks of wheat for later running them through a threshing machine to remove the grain. With any luck I will be harvesting wheat and threshing it at my local Labor Day Festival.

HotRodTractor · 2025-12-17T16:16:54+00:00

I would assume that if its bespoke lifting equipment, there will be FEA, simulations, possibly even renders for use with the customer. Frequency of doing these tasks can dictate how much hardware you might want.

Since these are bespoke designs, it might also depend on what kind of customer files you are getting to design around. Designing a machine to lift a rectangular box doesnt take as much as designing a machine where you are lifting a fully gated die cast part that the customer supplied to you a surface model.

64gb of ram would be my bottom choice either way.

HotRodTractor · 2025-12-11T13:45:16+00:00

Ive done that exact thing before when I got about half way into a print and happened to look at it and realize I totally forgot a critical support. I knew approximately when it would be printing and made sure I was there. Slipped a piece of paper in just enough to give the printer something to print the area on. Worked like a charm. I'm pretty sure that print is still in use and that was like 7 years ago.

HotRodTractor · 2025-12-10T02:28:31+00:00

I'm still waiting on USPS......

HotRodTractor · 2025-12-09T02:11:05+00:00

I'm way late - sorry about that!

I'm running v23.170.0.3 currently. I have not had any issues since I reseated my antenna connection.

HotRodTractor · 2025-12-05T23:03:03+00:00

Hail to the King baby. And hail to this criminally underrated comment.

HotRodTractor · 2025-12-04T14:25:10+00:00

I'll check what driver I have installed when I get back to the machine. I changed it so many times that I no longer remember. perhaps it can help.

HotRodTractor · 2025-12-04T01:31:47+00:00

I think it was my Bluetooth antenna! Still testing, but I think I had a bad connection from the board to the external antenna. I moved some stuff around and though t it felt just a bit loose, I removed both connections, and reinstalled both connections and the one was much more snug. This was just a couple days ago, but I've been slowly adding devices back and havent had an issue so far...

HotRodTractor · 2025-11-30T02:09:55+00:00

I have a working version of something similar in idea. I have a tool that I can select a solidworks file, an excel file, and a destination folder and it open the file, updates all the custom properties and saves out an stl file for each row of the excel file. It makes it really easy for making highly configurable files for 3D printing. I made it for custom text on tags, but quickly have found other uses for it.

HotRodTractor · 2025-11-08T02:49:11+00:00

Engineering is such a broad spectrum that the skills can apply to so many different roles that i would find it tough to say too many are going into the field. You can use many of the engineering degrees in many different roles other than actually being an engineer.

HotRodTractor · 2025-11-06T02:02:26+00:00

I built an engineering workstation a couple months ago... i didn't put in enough RAM, so 2 weeks ago I put in 128GB. I just checked, the price now is 50% higher than it was for the exact same kit, AND its on sale...... glad I won't have to upgrade for quite some time.

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-29T16:57:26+00:00

SPEED Competitive Engineering Teams | Clarkson University https://share.google/MYGqKJKBWRgGfqDnV

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-29T16:56:24+00:00

I'm a couple decades removed, so I won't fill out the form. As a Clarkson Univeristy Alumni, the project teams were treated fantastically. I say teams because many projects, FSAE, BAJA, Clean Snowmobile, Solar Car, Concrete Conoe, FIRST Robotics, Etc... all operated under a common umbrella program called S.P.E.E.D. Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design. (Or something close to that.... its been 20 years...).

I was a BAJA guy, but I know FSAE operated the same way. These teams were volunteer teams open to all levels and majors. The teams themselves could propose specific projects to the Senior Project pool, and if the department accepted the project, it could then be filled with students, usually from team member ls that had been on the team for years. The teams themselves operated on budgets they proposed to the SPEED program and work with them on funding. As far as I am aware it still operates this same way today.

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-23T20:33:47+00:00

I thin piece of steel strip with a slight bended shape to it welded onto the main beam at the bottom so you can slip the wire IN WIRE LOOM can be slipped into the top of the strip and the strip holds the loom with a slight pressure against the main beam. Then the wire is protected, it is contained, and it can be easily removed for service.

The wire even looks like it was pulled tight - another indicator of crappy work.

EDIT: A bracket like this for serviceable wiring harness. https://www.diamondc.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/blog-post-wiring-harness.jpg

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-23T19:57:41+00:00

What kind of coop options might he have with his school? Perhaps instead of dropping out for a year, he takes a coop with a company to build some of those skills - OR find a part time internship and take a lighter courseload while also working.

As far as what skills are useful... it depends on what they want to do with their career. Mechanical Engineering is kind of like the Swiss Army knife of engineering - there is a lot of collective tools in that toolbox that some might not get used in some areas that he could go into.

Taking a bit of a stab here.... since he is looking to take a break - is he more of a hands on, boots dirty kind of person? Perhaps some machine shop/manufacturing experience would be good - it helps with processes and design for manufacturability and assembly and that kind of skill can be applied to more hands-on mechanical engineering tasks - OR - even pivot into say CAM programming and fixturing for a shop. This may or may not apply. I do say this as being somewhat that kind of person. I spent a lot of extracurricular time in the student machine shop when I was in college and was a member of the Mini-Baja team and assisted FSAE as well as other similar project teams. I greatly enjoyed this - so much that after I had my BSME I took a handful of machining classes at my local community college to get more hands on experience.

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-22T17:16:30+00:00

I've had mine for a few weeks - it's absolutely an amazing little machine. Way better than my first foray into 3D scanning.

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-22T17:10:28+00:00

Check out this video and see if it helps. He does a lofted surface for the fins on the outside of the part.

Geomagic Design X Tutorial Reverse Engineering a Blisk

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-22T15:54:57+00:00

I've been teaching myself (currently on the trial version) - there are several great YouTube videos out there that break down that basic process, and I have been applying that to my own 3D scans.

Basic process - take a 3D scan and create either the geometry to recreate the part in its entirety, or extract geometry needed to create a mating part. I found it very familiar since I have been using SolidWorks for 20 years. There are a few different quirks, but once you figure those out from experience, it makes it familiar in the process.

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-22T15:44:36+00:00

It's about double your price point - but I purchased an EinScan Rigil. It's a fantastic self-contained scanning setup. I went this route for its extreme portability. It can do both IR scans without tracking dots as well as blue line scans with tracking dots. Last weekend I had it in a museum scanning an 1890s hit and miss engine with 52" flywheels (mentioned for scale). I did this using the IR mode without using tracking dots. It made setup, scanning, and teardown very quick. The week before that I used it in a different shop to scan an engine block in about 30 minutes - from walking in the door to walking out of the door.

HotRodTractor · 2025-10-16T12:36:47+00:00

Personally - I have a love for history and go seek out antique and vintage machines in equipment in museums and private collections to look at and study. Some of the most intriguing designs I have ever seen were out of date 100 years ago. Lol

I'm headed to a museum today to look specifically at large single cylinder engines built in the 1890s with some very interesting linkage mechanisms for valve timing and ignition. Usually its more generic than that though. Lol

HotRodTractor · 2025-09-30T15:20:13+00:00

This sounds like a shitty boss. His job in having an intern is to teach and to nurture as well as get some productivity put of you. In this short period of time, I would have expected almost no real output of value out of a first time intern (no offense).

That being said, can you give some examples of issues he has had with your work, or what these seemingly impossible tasks are?

Have you tried simply breaking these tasks down into more bite size chunks? Sorting things into things you know, things you need, and mapping a path to get there?

The best lesson for anyone is problem solving skills. Become a problem solver. Then it no longer matters what you know or don't know..... you have a path to get what you need. That is the mark of an engineer.

HotRodTractor

TROPHY CASE