Mechanical design is one of my greatest passions. I think mechanics and mechanisms are how I stumbled upon my path as an engineer, and so I have a soft spot for them! If I had to pin something down as my first experience, it would be working with Legos. Later I hit my stride on a FIRST Robotics Competition team in high school, where I became the mechanical lead my junior year, and team captain as a senior.
From there came college where in group projects I was generally the only one with CAD experience, and so I happily took on the majority of design and assembly. I also took ME1800, a class to learn about manufacturing technology, and used the Washburn Labs at Worcester Polytechnic Institute where they have an impressive array of HAAS CNC mills and lathes. This experience was vital for my senior capstone project, and the video below shows one part that I designed, programmed, and machined along with my friend and group member.
After college and in my daily work I have continued to use CAD tools, especially Solid Edge, to model parts and design things. For example, I’ve taken the decades-old scanned drawings for the machines I work on, and have created 3d assemblies for them. The value here is manifold –for creating mockups, quickly referencing measurements, exporting drawings for technical instructions, designing custom in-situ tooling, and just generally getting a feel for the machine. I’ve earned the 2024 Professional Certificate for Solid Edge, and aim to earn an expert certificate sometime in the future. Additionally, I’ve taken up Onshape to help the robotics team I coach, since it is a powerful, free, browser-based, collaborative CAD tool.
Some major projects that required my mechanical and CAD skills include my Austin Healey Sprite, my 1/16 Maus model, and my Firebird. Check out some of the other projects in the carousel below:
Lombardi Engineering 