Summary of February 6th, 2002 meeting.

Click Here to view all the pictures.

We had a great meeting and had about 65 people to attend!

Click here to view some attendee's comments.

• Brad Kelley (group President) introduced group and gave the mission statement for the group.  The group is in place to be a resource for the local group of PTC product users.  These meetings are for the groups benefit and controled by the group.  Brad handed out surveys to get everyone's ideas to improve the group.

• Our first speaker, Brad Kelley , spoke on Pro/Engineer information resources that are free. These would be resources to acquire start models, techniques, tutorials and other useful information. He suggested various magazines and internet resources and showed us various examples of each.  

www.prouser.org  Independent Voice of  PTC customers   

http://www.prouser.org/exploder/index.html (e-mail exploder to utilize Pro/E professionals)

http://g.webring.com/hub?ring=proering (ProE webring lots of good free info, parts,etc.like the Yellow pages)

Mentioned Pro/Collaborate is free PTC program for sharing info, free for maintenance-paying Pro/E users, available from PTC website. Windchill Project Link is more advanced version of Pro/Collaborate that you have to pay for.

http://www.profilesmagazine.com/ PROfiles magazine is a free subscription for signing up, will circulate sample.

http://www.proe.com/  "PRO/E The Magazine" cost $ for subscription.

Click Here for Presentation1     Click Here for Presentation2

• XDIN was the program sponsor. Martin Skoglund gave a presentation and showed how they had used Pro/E on several projects. They had some remarkable animations of a Ford engine and a Volvo transmission showing complete assemblies in motion.  They also do training.

martin.skoglund@xdin.com  - http://www.xdin.com

Click Here for Presentation

 

• Reverse Engineering presentation Tony Mitchell of Volvo trucks.  Ever tried importing an IGES file to create part geometry? Tony Mitchell showed us how the technique was used to create a gear for Harley Davidson Motorcycles. A scanned image was used to generate an IGES file which was then imported into Pro/Engineer to create the required part model. This is a great function and its utilization could prove very helpful.  Tony  showed how to use point data obtained from scanning (Laser, CMM, MRI, etc.) to import in to Pro/E and create curves, surfaces, and finally a solid.     PDT Co. Has a laser inspection process; can also obtain solid data from laser scanning to use for Reverse Engineering. 3” x 4” part cost roughly $500 and takes a couple of days or so for moderately complex part.

 tony@kadkam.com

Click Here for Presentation

 

• Pete Lutz from Siemens-Westinghouse turbine division in Charlotte.  Gave demo on how to use External Copy Geom. feature. This allows copying for assemblies from one master part. This is the most robust method to currently do this and replaces the Master Model Merge technique previously taught with older revs of Pro/E.  Pete also went through several design conventions his company uses to carry parts from their assembled functions into their various stages of designs. Especially interesting was how he used a solid part to drive the creation of individual parts that would be welded together to form a final weldment assembly. The individual parts or assembly could then be modified and all associated parts would update accordingly.

Pete.Lutz@swpc.siemens.com

• Gourmet lunch provided by XDIN.  We want to thank XDIN for taking care of the catering.  It was wonderful.

• Ed Stevenson gave an excellent presentation relating the Design Process (like PDP, he used Dell as an example) to the capability and functionality of Pro/E software. The title of the presentation was “Designs on Parametric Rocket Fuel: A How To Primer”. We have over 2 pages of notes and requested that he email his presentation to us. IT WAS EXCELLENT!   Ed pressed the need for proper Pro/Engineer design methods, techniques and controls to allow models to be robust, clean, user friendly and present themselves for easy manipulation in the future. 

cae_tools_4u@hotmail.com

Click Here for Presentation

 

• Fred Langley of Learning Labs Inc. gave a presentation on the Z-Corp 3-D printer. This is a rapid prototyping device that makes parts using either corn starch or plaster material with a binding agent with inkjet printhead technology. Three different models are available. Cheapest is single-color 8x10x8 inch envelope for $65k based on Cannon ink-jet printer. Mid-range is multi-color 8x10x8 envelope for $85k based on HP ink-jet printer. Top model is brand new and much more expensive and larger. Small models are standard business copier size and new larger model is like the old D-size copier we used to have in the print room.  Fred also distributed coupons to get one of everybodys models made free.

Fred.langley@lli.com   http://www.applied-technologies.com

Click Here for Presentation

• Jon Jarvis of PTC gave presentation about PTC software related to Mechanisms. He discussed MDO, MDX, and Design Animation to build kinematic assemblies and even create movies of the motion. Leo Green of PTC’s Durham office also chipped in with some useful info.  Applications such as linkage and mechanism design allow Pro/Engineer to really shine because changes can be made on the parts or assembly or its associated items and all associated items will update accordingly. 

jon@ptc.com   http://www.ptc.com

• Jonathan Cook gave a presentation on his company’s mechanism design software called SyMech that runs inside of Pro/E. They are partners with Rand. Their software lets you take solid parts and design the linkage mechanism BEFORE designing the linkage parts. The software is basically a kinematic designer that lets you “sketch” the mechanism and do things like drag the ground points around.  This was exciting to see due to the complexity of certain linkages such as a four bar linkage. In a nutshell, you basically place your object that you want to move in its desired locations, determine the type of linkage you want and the SyMech software does the rest.

jonathan.cook@symech.com   http://www.symech.com

     

• Lastly Brad Kelley gave away a ton of door prizes that had been donated by a variety of companies!  Everybody that came won some kind of door prize!!    Click Here to view all the pictures.   Click here to view some attendee's comments.

  Prizes

  	$850 HP Digital camera donated by Pentagon Engineering was won by Zack Lyon of Noitavonni Design
  	Pro/Engineer Student Version donated by Jon of PTC was won by David Copeland of Chicago Pneumatic
  	Pro/Engineer Student Version donated by Jon of PTC was won by Travis Ledford of Square D Company
  	$100 cold hard cash was raffled off in a contest held by Jon of PTC
  	We also gave away a couple of versions of Purge Drive Plus
  	PTC donated a large number of Golf Shirts
  	Chip Wilson of Enser Corporation donated a few golf shirts as well.
  	Chip Wilson of Enser Corporation also sponsored the drinks at the after meeting, meeting.
  	Jonathan Cook of Symech sponsored all the pool tables at the after meeting, meeting.
  	We also gave away about 10 PTC baseball hats, A couple Mouse pads, 6 PTC T-shirts,  10 Pro/User Beer mugs, and 12 Pro/User soft sided attaché cases.

This only cost was $15 per person for the registration fee and was an excellent value for the information gained!  This is just to help us cover the catered lunch that Is provided.

At this point, Brad Kelley provided closing statements and thanks to all the companies and individuals who sponsored or helped with this event.

As you all can tell, it was an exciting day for me as a user of Pro/Engineer software. I saw capabilities and utilizations of techniques, methods and approaches, software and implementations of Pro/Engineer that totally impressed me. I hope everyone's intention is to become a regular participant in the activities of this user group.   Everyone that I talked to said they saw things which will be incorporated into my own daily use of Pro/Engineer.  Our goal is to have supervisors and management who have Pro/Engineer being used in their departments should attend these user group meetings as well.  They should become involved in the user group activities. They should also be supporters of their employees taking part in the user groups.  I believe when supervision and management personnel see what is being done at other companies they will be anxious to incorporate some of those ideas into their own departments.

Vendors & Sponsors

There are an unlimited number of ways you can support the Pro/Panthers of the Carolina's.  Here are few suggested of ways you can sponsor.

Click  here to find out about becoming a sponsor!

1. You can purchase advertising space on this web site.  - Find out How!

2. You can host a meeting at your facility. - Find out How!

3. You can rent a vendor booth at a Pro/user meeting. - Find out How!

4. You can donate door prizes to be given away at meetings. - Find out How!

5. You can make any other arrangements if approved by one of the board members! - Find out How!