Sometimes it isn’t necessity that’s the mother of invention, but a good old-fashioned competition. At least that was the case with the ten CECS students who entered the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’ 24th WESTEC Student Manufacturing Challenge in March.
Inspired by student Derrick Olsen’s description of the seeds and pulp left over from winemaking at his family’s vineyard and the difficulty of extracting prized grape seed oil without using chemicals, one five-member team undertook the design and construction of a mechanical grape seed press. The other team, drawing inspiration from their colleagues, designed and built a cart to hold the CNC machining tools necessary to build the press.
The students began work on their projects during the fall semester. In addition to designing the products and making working drawings, they had to consider such factors as the potential market and the economics of their products. They also had to devise systems for keeping track of the parts they needed to produce.
After they finished the planning phase, they went to the shop and set about making their designs a reality.
“They had to be able to machine the product, not just design it,” explains Dale Conner, the Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management professor who advised the teams along with fellow MSEM professor Tarek Shraibati. “They had to run the machines and make the trays and carts and do the welding and machining. They had to exhibit a broad range of skills.”
On March 23, at the WESTEC exposition at the LA Convention Center, the entries were judged based on criteria ranging from design and creativity to how well they satisfied the needs of the customer, to manufacturability, to health and safety considerations. The teams were also assessed on their presentation, documentation and project management.
CSUN’s complementary projects swept the competition in the four-year college category, with the cart claiming first prize and the grape seed press placing second. As a special bonus, the teams were featured prominently in the Daily News the day after the competition.
The students who worked on the CNC cart included Fawaz Alsugair, Rigoberto Casas, Tuan Dinh, Kevin Jamir and Stewart Stachowiak. The grape seed oil press team was made up of Braulio Diaz, Edgar Grion, Nathan Kroener, Derrick Olsen and Jesus Rives.