When
the workday is over how do you occupy your spare time? Maybe you
read or work in the garden. More than likely though, it’s something
other than what you do on the job. I knew we had an eclectic group, but I
was really surprised to discover how Joe Merchant, an Omnica mechanical
engineer, uses his free time. One morning I arrived early, and as I made
the rounds, I noticed an unusual model on Joe’s computer. It looked like
an auto engine. That seemed odd. I wasn’t aware that we were doing
any projects for Detroit.
Joe had been coming in early for months,
using his free time to refine his 3-D computer skills. The project he
chose as a design exercise was the modeling of a complete
3.2-liter, 6-cylinder engine in SolidWorks®, our engineering
software of choice. Ever since he was in his teens, Joe has enjoyed the
challenge of working on cars. Hobbies evolve, and because he was already
proficient with state-of-the-art CAD software, modeling an automotive
engine was a reasonable choice. The added benefit of a project like this
was a better working knowledge of the CAD program he uses every day.
 According
to Joe, as he became more involved, the project gained a life of its own.
He started with a simple block of virtual metal and kept adding more and
more details. Early mornings and late nights have led to the addition of
bearings, springs and pistons that you can see in the cutaway view. Joe
wanted the right “look” and a stable model that he could modify
without using convoluted work-arounds. The result is a CAD model that
required a lot of patience and persistence.
Shown at right is Joe Merchant,
explaining the finer points of engine design to Jeff Smith (left) and Don
Archambault.
At left is Joe's engine, featured on the cover of a SolidWorks®
brochure.
For the record, Joe mentioned that the
most difficult part of the exercise was modeling the intake manifold. He
describes it as solving the problem of “getting SolidWorks® to
make a hollow complex path extrusion”. Evidently he was successful
because his engine was so good it was chosen as the
featured image for the cover of the 2002 SolidWorks® Corporation
brochure.
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