Surry Community College is now offering a diploma as well as a certificate in Engineering
Design, which can lead to a career in architecture, civil engineering, and manufacturing.
The certificate program only requires six classes whereas the diploma program includes
15 classes.
High school juniors and seniors can take Engineering Design classes tuition-free through the Career
& College Promise dual enrollment program.
Hello, my name is Scott Lester, and I am the Instructor for Engineering Design Technology.
This is a program that prepares students for a field in drafting, engineering or architectural
fields.
Companies need drafters because there is a shortage of people who have these skills currently
in the job market.
Drafters are the engineers’ and architects’ workhorses.
Students who also want to become an engineer or architect should take these classes as
a stepping stone.
Surry’s Engineering Design program classes including Technical Drafting, Computer Aided
Drafting or CAD, Solid Modeling and Machine Processes.
We use the latest industry standard software including Solid Edge, Solid Works, and AutoCad.
The Engineering Design Technology program prepares students to apply technical skills
and use advanced computer software and hardware to create working drawings, graphic representations
and computer simulations for mechanical and industrial designs.
The program has four printers on site ranging from desktop Makerbot printers to the commercial
style printer.
Students learn about the latest technology in stereolithography, which is another word
for 3D printing.
We learn about the best methods for printing – proper fit and function of parts so that
they go together after being printed.
The classes consist of a variety of board work using pencils and paper like they used
to do 20, 30 years ago and then we move on up until we get into AutoCAD or 3D type drafting
using the computer.
And then, from there we transition into 3D modeling and we create 3D models of objects
whether it’s machine parts, cast parts, plastic injected molded parts.
And from there, we will actually create working drawings that would be ready for manufacturing.
One of the most exciting ideas about this program is that you get an idea in your head.
You draw it on paper, pass it on to a computer, create it in 3D and even create machining
drawings for the machinists to produce a finished product.
There’s this project we did in the Solid Works class, which is Drafting 154.
This right here is a pipe vice.
This program right here it allows you to get a design together, put it in 3D and then from
that 3D model, you create a drawing.
Those drawings are used in the machining shop.
So, you hand those drawings to the machinist, and the machinists creates each part of out
metal or whatever material you are using, and they physically assemble the whole part
together.
It is very helpful to taking machining classes mainly because you see both parts of designing
and creating a product.
When you are in the design class obviously you are designing a part.
However, whenever you are machining, you get that drawing and you implement the design
knowledge into machine that you are actually going to cut parts from.
Taking drafting classes in high school were very helpful.
That’s how I actually kind of got hooked onto doing this program.
It also allowed me to get college credit through that program, and it was really fun.
It was really fun.
I do plan on seeking further education in this field, possibly a degree in Mechanical
Engineering.
I would recommend Surry Community College to anybody and everybody who’s interested
in this engineering program…The instructors here are very helpful.
They are patient with their students.
They guide you through every single problem that you have in order for you to reach your
educational goals.
I have always wanted to know how to draw this stuff.
I like artistic endeavors because I was a map maker and a webmaster for many years.
I never learned how to do CAD, and I have a lot of inventions locked inside my head
that I would like to see out in the real world.
And, in the past creating a prototype of these things was prohibitively expensive for someone
that just went to work for a living every day, but now if you can draw them in the computer
in 3D, you can print them out on a 3D printer and you can have a prototype in a few hours,
and that is what is most interesting to me about the thing.
CAD is used for so many things…So if you are in the construction trade industry, you
would be using CAD to do building plans.
If you are a mechanical designer, you would use CAD to design mechanical objects like
toasters or valves or something like that.
If you are in the electrical trades, you are going to use CAD for electrical schematic
diagrams and that would hold true if you are in the computer engineering field.
PC boards are drawn in CAD now…Engineering drawing is sort of like the language of building
things.
So if you want to or if you have ideas about how to build something different from what
you see today or you are creative in that way and you want to have your ideas put into
the marketplace then you are probably going to have to learn how to draw engineering drawings
or you are going to have to hire someone to draw your ideas for you.
Students can earn a certificate or diploma in Engineering Design Technology at Surry
Community College and then qualify for a variety of jobs in mechanical areas such as manufacturing,
fabrication, research and development and service industries.
Job titles include mechanical drafter, designer, CAD designer and project designer, which pay
around $35,000 per year on average for those beginning their careers.
For more information, go to www.surry.edu or follow the program on Facebook @sccengineering.