Susan Straley, the Queen of Lean Machine Design and President of Rentapen Inc., has moved her educational weld fixture design blog to a new location on the web.
Straley has been educating the world about weld fixture designs since October 2011. It is called the Weld Fixture Design 101 and can now be found at www.weldfixturedesign101.com.
Weld Fixture Design 101 has a series of posts that discusses and informs on issues and skills related to designing good weld fixtures. The machine design lessons over time go further enter into such complex issues such as detailing a complex weldment, use of sub-assemblies in weld fixture design and more. For instance: 6 Benefits to using Sub Assemblies in Machine Design. This specific post describes how sub assemblies can save time and money in machine design and makes drawings easier to read.
Weld Fixture Design 101 came about as part of Rentapen’s Growing Machine Design Engineers Program. Rentapen hires interns and trains them while they work. Rentapen has created a series of videos and instructions on best practices, some of which are included in the Weld Fixture Design Blog.
The inspiration to create the Blog came when Straley found out that 40% of the engineering workforce was going to retire in 8 years. Straley wanted to share her knowledge and experiences that she and her team have gained over the years through working with a variety of customers.
“We have learned so much about machine design from working with a variety of customers. We have seen from the outside, which company standards work well to save time and money in the design, build, and operation of a fixture and what practices are not as helpful at all.” said Straley
“I am passionate about making sure the next generation of engineers learns from the mistakes we have seen companies make before.” said Straley. “Through these lessons and discussions we continue to learn also.”
Weld Fixture Design 101 also shows engineers how to incorporate more money saving purchased components in their fixtures to reduce the number of components that must be custom manufactured for the fixture or jig.
“I include lessons on how to use REID pins and Rentapen’s standardized yet versatile blocks, plates, clamp risers and shims,” said Straley. She said that Rentapen’s RAPid Tooling Components™ reduce costs and increases the accuracy of locating product parts in a fixture. Rentapen allows designers to download any 3D Models of the RAPid Tooling Components™ from their web site, saving time and money in machine design.
