Day Four. My final day. Although I am thoroughly disheartened that my time at Apex Tool Group has ended, I am ever thankful for what I have learned here. Today I got an even deeper glimpse into the designing and manufacturing of tools.
I began work with Mr. Thompson, a Senior CAD Engineer at ATG. He gave me many insights into the most viable and strategic ways to design products for continuous design and iteration. He also gave me a challenge, to design a seal in CAD based only on a paper engineering drawing. I gave it my best effort, and he offered me tips and suggestions along the way; eventually, we finished.
Mr. Thompson then took me to the machine shop, where that very same model was being 3d printed and machined. The 3d printers used by ATG are not the ones you are familiar with at CA, however. They are polyjet printers-similar to the inkjet printers you could find at home- with more than a thousandth of an inch accuracy.
I then got to see the part get milled on ATG’s CNC milling machines. It only took around ten minutes for the part to transform from a block of aluminum stock into a precision manufactured product.
After the adventures in CAD and machining, we went out for lunch at Mr. Dumpling, where we ordered a heaping family style meal. It was delicious!
Finally, Cecil and I wrapped up our last day with another discussion on research on development. This time, we were doing research on competing products to improve ATG’s versions. It was, once again, fascinating.
I had an amazing time this week at ATG, I met so many new people, saw new machines and workflows, and learned far too much to detail on this blog. Thank you to everyone at Apex Tool Group for making my week phenomenal!