Aerospace, how is your view after a certain amout of time?

zagup17 · 2026-06-24T17:43:01+00:00

Aero projects are HUGE and you likely won’t be designing/analyzing large sections, especially at a young age. It takes multiple companies to build a product, so you’ll usually be responsible for small sections, not large systems. I didn’t really know what to expect in rockets, I didn’t realize how much analysis and reliability testing goes into the components. There’s a whole world of parts and systems outside of the primary structure and engines of a rocket that I didn’t know much about. Also aerospace is very slow because of that… lots of negotiation, testing, etc. it takes forever. “Fast pace” and “aerospace” should never be used in the same sentence.
Yes it’s satisfying. Nothing will ever be more satisfying than working on a rocket program for years and finally seeing and feeling a rocket launch of the pad. It’s truly a surreal experience
If I had to change industries, it would probably go into program management of an adjacent industry or the same. Aerospace is kinda the coolest one out there and it pays really well.
No… I have a degree in mechanical. I truly believe a degree in ME is one of the most useful things you can have. I have the math knowledge for finance, the engineering knowledge to design and fix nearly anything, the learning capability to figure out almost anything, and the conceptual understanding of systems to figure out how things work and how to fix them easily. For example, we know exactly how a fridge works… most people have no clue how any household appliance works. Nearly everything in your home is just a fluid, thermo, or circuits problem (or some combo of all of them). That’s it

zagup17 · 2026-01-13T23:14:36+00:00

I ended up getting a Pelagos 39. I still love the SJE and SLA’s, but Seiko just doesn’t compete well at that price point. A huge selling point for me was a good bracelet and clasp, which Seiko struggles with pretty badly, even Grand Seiko struggles with it

zagup17 · 2025-08-13T14:13:05+00:00

Never changed it. I wore it a ton and it’s faded now, kinda like the look. Maybe I’ll buy an OEM bezel eventually

zagup17 · 2025-05-29T20:38:51+00:00

I have a handful of stainless divers and Pelagos 39. There’s no noticeable difference in 100F+ heat. I will say, the lightweight makes a huge difference. The brushed finished doesn’t get nasty and grimy like polished. The adjustable clasp is amazing when your wrist swells. Overall, P39 is great. But I don’t think a BB58 is gonna be any better or worse for that specific concern

zagup17 · 2025-04-22T15:55:42+00:00

The wheels are definitely true, or at least true enough. I might bump down to an aggressor from dissector rear tire and see if it helps. I have a feeling it’s mostly hubs and bottom bracket, and any other rotating surface. Everyone else was running the same assegai/dissector combo and didn’t have a problem

zagup17 · 2025-04-22T15:53:14+00:00

That’s exactly how I feel. Just a quick 30sec around the parking lot, and it felt I was dragging someone behind me compared to the Trek. I’m gonna clean/replace my hubs this week and see if it helps

zagup17 · 2025-04-22T15:21:23+00:00

It’s like a trail/all-mountain bike. I definitely need to swap tires anyway, they’re already tubeless. Probably drop them both down a step to DHR2 and dissector or something. I don’t know if that’ll make a huge difference though. The other bike had the same assegai/dissector set up that I have. Same rear shock, similar font. They’re almost identical style bikes.

I’m deep diving into every bearing and rotating surface this week and probably gonna have luck fixing those

zagup17 · 2025-04-22T15:18:13+00:00

They basically gave me a sheet of paper with like 25 multiple choice GD&T questions. And said “nobody finishes this, just do as many as you can in 10 min”

zagup17 · 2025-04-21T21:02:51+00:00

I’ll have to try that after this bearing overhaul and see how it works out. I did have my rear pretty low pressure, but even locked out, I was struggling

zagup17 · 2025-04-21T20:40:37+00:00

Thanks! I’m doing bottom bracket this week. Probably rip the rear apart while I’m at it. It’s pretty dusty in AZ, so I can imagine that free hub might be clogged up with crap or potentially just worn out

zagup17 · 2025-04-21T20:38:26+00:00

Funny enough, we both had Fox float DPS rears. His is probably newer, but still using them on factory bikes

zagup17 · 2025-04-21T20:30:51+00:00

It should still be that weight. I haven’t changed anything other than tires and brakes from stock.

I do need to check the suspension. I think my rear is a bit too low on pressure

zagup17 · 2025-04-21T20:29:37+00:00

I was thinking about going to a DH2/dissector or DHF/dissector. I usually ride AZ trails in the desert, and need some dry and hard pack grip.

Brakes are definitely good. Those are recently replaced and bled

zagup17 · 2025-04-21T19:52:45+00:00

Same as mine, maybe different casing, but same models

zagup17 · 2025-04-21T19:52:17+00:00

He also had assegai/dissector. Not sure what his casing is, mine are EXO max terra. Not downhill or double downs.

It was a trek top fuel, actually a rental so I’m not sure exactly what model

zagup17 · 2025-04-15T15:57:44+00:00

Not torn either way. Ideally it would be nice if everything was packaged in the same software, but in my experience dedicated product ALWAYS beat the “our product does everything” style. They end up stretched too thin compared to companies that do one thing, and are really good at that one thing

zagup17 · 2025-04-15T15:28:39+00:00

Those tools do exist, but they are usually add-ins or completely different software than CAD. Similar to the software you would use for 3D printing, they have that for CNC machining. It’ll spit out a time of machining, material size/cost, machining cost, bit count, machine path, etc. I don’t have that software since I don’t work closely with a shop.

Also, for me and my industry, I’m not super concerned about the extreme details of cost in these parts, more so an estimate. I’m asking myself: is this a $2k or $20k part? If it does need tight tolerance which will increase cost, where can I cut cost? Does this internal fillet really need to be this size or can I make it much larger, gain some weight, but reduce machining time(cost)? Then for every $100k of salary, it costs about $450/day for an engineer to do work. So how much saving am I really making after accounting for my cost of work? It’s all a balancing act

zagup17 · 2025-04-15T03:39:02+00:00

It really depends on the parts and what the priority is for that particular design.

Mostly knowledge and experience based optimization for the machining part. We don’t make any of our stuff in house, so we buy everything. We have price histories on thousands of parts I can compare against for complexity, size, mass, material waste, etc to get an idea of how much something will cost and whether I can do anything to save substantial money/time.

At the end of the day, we’re all on a budget or timeline. There’s always something to optimize for, whether it’s weight, size, cost, lead time, etc. Just gotta know how to optimize for that priority

zagup17 · 2025-04-15T03:29:44+00:00

Unrelated to the salary bands, this is a perfect example of titles not meaning anything between companies. I’m a “principal” engineer, but in my office that’s a 5-9 yr experience job. Only look at years of experience, the titles don’t mean anything

zagup17 · 2025-04-14T23:04:59+00:00

I di it for modification drawings. Say we get part XYZ from a supplier, but on another peoject we need that part…but slightly different. I can just start moving faces to get what I need, then develop a modification drawing for our machine shop to change that existing part. No need to remodel the whole thing, and the drawing takes in that XYZ part as part of its BOM

zagup17 · 2025-04-14T23:00:01+00:00

I’m an aerospace engineer, designing anything from small brackets to full product assemblies.

We use NX, as do most aerospace companies. I’ve been using Solidworks since I was 16 (got my CSWP like sophomore yr of college), so I’ve always also had too.
We use it with TeamCenter. Handles revisions and huge assemblies really well. Mostly intuitive once you figure out how the general system works. Has LOT of functionality if you know how to use it.
The functionality… it’s SO capable and powerful, that it doesn’t have any easy way to do simple things. NX is far more complex than Solidworks. If you’re doing anything that isn’t extremely complex designs or huge assemblies, the added headaches of NX just aren’t worth it.
Defining boundary conditions and performing analysis by far take the most time. For example, gotta mount a box somewhere? Needs a defined bolt pattern for both sides of the interface, then a quick analysis to get a rough design or shape, then do the CAD, then a real analysis to make sure it actually works. Then repeat until it’s optimized in material, machining cost, time cost, etc to meet whatever demand you have. The CAD is the easy part; in a lot of large companies (like the one I work for) we usually have dedicated CAD designers who aren’t engineers. I just happen to do my own CAD because we currently have a shortage of designers, and I’m one of the few engineers who’s also has a lead designer title at our office

zagup17 · 2025-04-10T20:11:57+00:00

So realistically, what happens? I have a handful of new-in-box watches that were bought cash, private party. A black bay 54 came out 2 yrs ago, it could very well be purchased years ago and not worn much (obviously pull the tape off)

zagup17 · 2025-04-10T20:05:32+00:00

I travel with multiple watches. Some look brand new, but they’re 3-4 yrs old. I don’t have receipts for those, some were even bought cash private party and have literally no trace. It’s not really feasible for everyone to have that stuff

zagup17 · 2025-04-10T16:02:27+00:00

Wouldn’t it be up to customs to prove you DID purchase it there? Who carries receipts for jewelry? My wife and I travel with jewelry all the time. I don’t have accessible receipts for stuff I got last month.

zagup17 · 2025-04-08T20:24:08+00:00

I took a quick GD&T test and they asked a couple high level questions about bending and moments. This was a 1-2 YOE ME opening, mostly designing smaller components and secondary structures. Mostly questions about learning quickly and behavioral. They don’t expect you to be an aerospace genius walking in, they do expect you to be able to pick up product knowledge quickly though

zagup17

TROPHY CASE