Hello and good day to you from episode 24 of our podcast series Project Breakaway. A metaphorical and literal time in the day when we here at Predator cycling take some time away from working in the back shop to come and share with our listeners what we're doing, how we're doing it, what it takes to do it. Our ideas, our innovative success stories and even our missteps and failures. If you find yourself with an interest in bicycles, composite manufacturing, out of the box design or even curiosities beyond. I encourage you to stick with us, settle in and learn a little. I'm Courtney B, co-owner and project manager of Predator cycling. I'm here with my partner Aram Goan, the other co-owner, CEO. Lead design engineer and LinkedIn instructor extraordinaire. Our Predator cycling, how's it going, Aram? That was a hard one to say. That was a hard one. Instructor, instructor extraordinaire. I like it. I love these intros. This is like the highlight of my week. Highlight of your life. Yes. You're the highlight of my life. Um, but yeah, I know. I'm doing doing all right. Uh, it's been kind of a crazy little couple weeks. But kind of trying to get back some sort of normalcy. Yeah, so we had yet another unplanned vacation from the podcast last week. Yep. We had some unforeseen illness spread throughout the family. And that left us with a two-year-old at the shop while planning his third birthday. And it was just a lot. And yeah. There was not very much um quiet time to be able to record and we were running we're running production molds and the shop has just been kind of um full swing. So. Yeah, so as stressful as that was, um we also had a lot going on here at the shop. Yep. As I mentioned in the intro, you had more uh LinkedIn learning courses go live. Yeah, we did. And so now you um have your complete three-part series up. And it's available um for your viewing pleasure. Um, so I wanted to dive into the entirety of the course. Um why you did it, what you taught, what the student is supposed to walk away with. Um and what they should know. So, um we've mentioned the LinkedIn learning in previous videos. And um now it's available as an entire course. All nicely packaged. Right. Yeah, it is. Yeah, so it's uh all one, two and three are all released. Yes. So the the main series overall is called composite design and manufacturing. Yep. Um it's basically a course that you've broken down into three parts. Mhm. And um the first video explains what are composites, resins and materials, etcetera. Yeah. You said it was like a. Yeah. You said it was like a composite 101 intro to course. Yeah. Basically to give you an understanding of like what the materials are. How they can be used, the manufacturing processes within them, the molding constraints. So that you can intelligently, you know, design a product. For it's not everything you need to know. But it's a very good understanding of um of what you need to know. So that you can start thinking about making parts out of composites. Okay. The second video is um product development and simulation. which goes over your design process and the general for composite design utilizing um software. And in your case, you were using Ansis software. Yeah. We're using Ansis and and Autodesk software to design our initial concept. Simulate it and really understand what was going on. But you don't have to use that specific software. Like the course is just showing you an example of what you're looking for. Within the software. Yeah. And I I I don't teach the software itself. I mean, I kind of go into a little bit of things about that are specific to that software. But you can do it there's some other software out there. Um for our workflow, that is the best combo. You're teaching the process. I'm teaching the process. And the the the concept of how to introduce simulation early on and how to to design something that's going to be a really good finished part. Both from a um a mechanical perspective and manufacturing perspective. Okay. And then the newly released videos. Video three. Yep. And it's validation um and production or validation of production. Yeah. So it's talking about the final. So like initial simulation is, you know, in the design process simulation. To kind of figure out like what's the direction the product should go. Um and then we do a final validation, which is using like the enterprise um solvers. Again, using Ansis. So we're using um both fluent and mechanical to do um CFD and um and mechanical loads of composite structures. But you're also showing the validation in real life because you have the testing rig. Versus the validation of the software. And also just the validation of actually writing it. Because in that video, like. Oh, well, let me explain. The whole series, throughout the entire series, you're talking about the design, development and manufacturing of our son's uh push bike. Yep. So in the last video, he actually like hops on and like it's functioning. It's a functioning product. Right. And also just talking about the manufacturing process. Like we kind of give you an overview. I mean, again, it's not like a step-by-step instructional guide of how to make a composite part. But um it it goes into the concepts of how we manufacture stuff. So you have a better understanding of not just the design perspective, but also the manufacturing perspective. So it's supposed to give you a very well-rounded outlook of how that all works. Yeah. So let's discuss um what's behind the course. Like the reason why do you think people would be either um attracted to composite manufacturing or the process of simulation? Or like why would I why would I click on this and watch this? Yeah, so like I mean. I think the original. When I did my first um um LinkedIn course was was the the design um. Is the design course in Fusion 360. Um my uh content production uh producer was asking me the question of like, you know, the courses that are the most important are the courses that you wish you would had. Like, you know, back up five years ago, 10 years ago, what course do you wish you had? Um and what would have helped you the most? And and like this was that course for me. Like this, if I had this 10 years ago, like. Oh my God, I'd be so much farther along in life. And also the um software wasn't didn't exist. I mean, it probably exists, but it wasn't available on a lower level. But like there's a lot from I mean like live physics solvers were not available like that and scalable. And the the hardware that we're using now didn't even exist back then. But what I mean though is is that like the overall outline of this course is just really helpful. Because it it's showing that that workflow that we use. That, you know, here's the basics of composites that you need to know. This is pre-preg, these are infusion molds, this is compression mold. These are the different types of materials. Because I don't think a lot of people realize like what is carbon fiber? Like when they come in and see like a roll of fabric, they're like, wait. Oh, that's how you make a bicycle out of that? But not even that though. Like, yes, you're absolutely correct. But like not I'm I'm this goes a step beyond that by talking about like all the different types of like infusion molding. Wet bag, wet laying. Oh, yeah. Vacuum forming, um, compression molding. Uh, pre-pregs. Because there's different uses for each type of. Different molding processes. Like you're making a push bike, but you could have made it like four or five different ways. Yes. And I I the way I I chose to make it was I chose it for a reason because it was the most. Showing you multiple different ways of doing something. I was trying to be make it as like a learning example. But the. And something someone could do at their house or like, you know, what supplies. I mean, nothing that you like you have to go like an aerospace like facility to make it. No, you could make it. I mean, yes, you you could, you could possibly do it at home if you had a. You had a setup. If you had a. Yeah, you don't need a multi-million dollar facility to make the part that we showed. Uh, the push bike. And you could definitely learn a lot from the process. And that's what we were trying. I was trying to show the the the basic understanding of what you need and and. To start thinking about composites and like the basic tools that we use and that workflow. Which when I first started doing this kind of stuff, there there wasn't a. No one showed a workflow that made sense. No, we're all. We're all we're still we're still learning trial by air. I mean, because we're beyond this. Yeah, I mean. We're we're doing the process that we're using now here is is definitely a more complicated version of that. But this the basics of what we're showing in that course is what we use here every day. Um, the fundamentals of that is what is our workflow. Um, and I I think this is a course that would have really opened my eyes to like understanding how to do it. And I think the thing that we introduced that's more on the the newer age of of design to manufacturing. Is the early adoption of simulation. I think that's a big thing. That's a big takeaway from that this course. Which is video two basically. Right? Yeah, video two. Video two talks a lot about simulation early on and then the validation of that simulation. In in in video three. But I think that's something that can be taken away from this course even if you're not doing composites. If you're just talking about design to manufacture. Product design. Especially like now in like COVID times. If you if a lot of people want to bring production back to the US. For sure. That no, but you. And make it better. Yep. Then what we've been getting from overseas. So I mean, there's these. or also just the the concept of of building a product and locally distributing it. This micro factory concept. Um, yeah, I I definitely think that's a that's a thing. And and um, I think also just the the adoption of early on simulation is just really key to everything. It just gives you answers faster. So, I think it's important. I think it's a big takeaway. Not just from the composite perspective, but just from the industrial design, uh, manufacturing specific processes out there. Because to my understanding, simulation usually happened like I've I've I've made something. And now I'm going to simulate it. Instead of I've simulated it and that's going to help me make it. It's usually like, usually in the past simulation is like, okay, we designed the part, it's all done. Before we make it, let's simulate it once to make sure it's good. Oh, simulation didn't work, like it said we'd failed here. Let's thicken this part up a little bit. Okay, we're good now. Go to production. Right. That's typically how simulation has always been used in the past. Um, and now we're using it for the actual like early stage design process. And I think in video two, I talk about like I it's I think it's about two or three hours into the design of the push bike. Is when I started my first simulation. How long is each video? Um, each video is about five minutes. And each course is broken up into multiple videos. I think the the first course is about an hourish. The second's a little over an hour and the third's a little over an hour. So you're saying like three and a half hours. It's like three and a half. Yeah, it's like a three and a half hour. Okay. Series. So, it's a it's a nice weekend. Uh, uh, sit in front of your computer and learn about composite manufacturing and simulation. Yeah, sounds like a party to me. Oh yeah, it's going to be crazy. Um, so LinkedIn learning is obviously a paid subscription program. Um, but it's also available for use at a lot of companies and universities, um, for continued education in the workplace and education on certain tracks in schools. Because I feel like that's where we've seen the most um, um, um. For sure. That's the word I'm looking for. Yeah, a lot of students, there's been a lot of students that have have asked questions and comments. But it's also available to, you know, any LinkedIn. Yeah, so you have to be a LinkedIn premier user. Which is just a subscription fee because I get ads all the time. It's a subscription fee. And then you can also buy each course individually. There's an and you have it for life. Or you can do it. And then I'll also share if you followed me on LinkedIn. I I share all my my course. And if I if you look if you click on the link that I share, um, because I'm the the instructor, um, it's a you get the course for free. You get each video for free once you click on the link for 24 hours. Mhm. So, you just have to be friends with you. Yes, you have to be. There is a penalty to a free trial. Ouch. Uh, yeah, so I I'll after this we post the podcast. I'll I'll uh make sure I share out each of the courses. Um, um. Is there a link to the overall course? There is not. It's they're supposed to. I think it's supposed to be part of a a manufacturing composite learning path, which would have a course. But I don't think they've put it together yet. Because I don't know. There was talk about it being like that. And there's a couple other really cool composite courses. There's there's one that's a really good course about kind of another composite 101 composite manufacturing course. It's really good. Um and there's some some CNC ones and molding courses. And I think they're trying to put them together. But they're not together yet. Okay. So. Um what's some feedback that you've received on your previous courses? I know people message you on LinkedIn after they watch it. Yeah. It's been pretty positive. Um you know, we've had a lot of good feedback coming back. Um from the course. And I think a lot of people. The most commented part from people that are like professionals that already do this. Um has been the the simulation side of it. Um and um. I mean, obviously the the. Course number one, which is like the general composite manufacturing course. has gotten a lot of feedback and it's like. It's like done my best of all my courses. Well, it's been out longer. Right. It's also been out longer. Um but yeah, that course has actually resonated with people. A lot more than I thought it would. I thought course number two would be kind of like the most popular. Cuz I thought. That was the most. Uh cuz there's a simulation. Well, I don't know. Simulation some people just haven't gotten into that yet. I guess not. I mean. People are more like, oh, here's Carmel. Just mess with it. Yeah. Not like I'm going to really mess with it in my imagination. I I'm genuinely surprised on how how how much more popular course number one is than two. Um. I get three, three is validation is getting really into nitty gritty validation, simulation and manufacturing. So I kind of figured that would be the least popular of all. Well, it just dropped. It just dropped. But like I mean, you can see like by like how fast it's sharing and looks and. Um you're you're monitoring your. I I look at my courses like once a week. I see what they how they're doing. How many likes did I get? How many shares did I get? How many comments? I I look at them too. Cuz um once they rate the course and they give comments. I the comments you write, um I get a Google Docs of like. The response responses from people. You get a report card. Yeah, so I I like to know like how I did. And you know. I I have my fifth course that I've already finished and is going to get um um is that editing. And so they'll be releasing it soon. Um but you know. I'm thinking about other courses that I'd like to do. And I'd like to get the feedback so I know what to make. How to make improvements. That's what I was going to ask next. Uh is there anything. That you missed, you feel like you missed in these courses? And that you want to like maybe expand upon in the future, a future course? Or where would you go next with like this track of? Um. Or or are you done with simulation? Well, I'm never done with simulation. No. Um you know, the thing like I had a so for me. I had a really. I for for doing LinkedIn learning, it's been it's been a really good exercise for me. Personally, because I I learned a lot from these courses in the past. And um. I I. I've learned a lot from videos and courses and what other people have put out there, so like I really like the idea of just of doing it myself so I could give back, you know, what I've learned. Um, but I had a really I struggle really hard with where to start and where to end on stuff like this. Because for me, like I I want to go into way too much granular detail of like, well, this is connected to this and then this does that. And and manufacturing is not a linear path, this whole process is not linear. And I made it into a very in order to teach a course, you have to teach it in some sort of linear fashion. Um. So, yeah, I would like to go into some more details about things. I I don't know if there's interest in it. But, um. Personally, I would like to. I'm sure someone out there is interested. There's probably one person. There's probably one or two people. They're out there interested. Um, so I I don't I don't know. I'm kind of looking at my feedback and seeing what um people are thinking about the courses. And kind of based on that and and based on, you know, what my the team over at LinkedIn thinks. Right. And you know. What where I can go. But it's been a really good. I mean, uh, my uh. Um, my content producer, he's helped me a lot with really trying to understand on. You know, where to start and where to end and and what procedurally how to do it. Um. You know, it's it's uh. Um. It's difficult. So, um. It was a good exercise, it was a really good exercise for me on how to how to think about things. So. Yeah. It's a good experience uh with the LinkedIn learning instructor. Yeah. I still remember when they approached me asking if you would be a teacher. I'm like, what? Thanks. Teaching people? And then I was like, oh, online teaching. That's about right. Ouch. Uh, no, it was it was really good. And I um. I mean the format for me is good. I mean, you know, I I I like the. I don't know, it's it's been good. It's been really good. And to be honest, it really helped me with my skill sets for um doing like live stream type. Like computer like cast type experience. Oh, they do. They actually just started doing this. I've seen a couple live stream events. But like where people can like interrupt and ask questions. Like a real classroom. Oh, I don't know. I don't know if they do that. I've seen some live stream stuff that just released. They've released recently. But I haven't really it's work's been so crazy. I think that you'd be probably really good at some sort of like open-ended like instruction with questions. You're really good at answering people's questions. If it was more question based. Not my questions, but other people's questions. Um. And like a virtual like classroom type thing. If people could like mark off like eight hours of their day for it. Oh my God. Here we go. I love the the compliment backhanded comment at the same time. Um, but no, I I I really enjoyed it. And I um. I mean the format for me is good. I mean, you know, I I I like the. I don't know, it's it's been good. It's been really good. And to be honest, it really helped me with my skill sets for um doing like live stream type. Like computer like cast type experience. especially through COVID, like, Yeah. you know, I had a really good recording setup and I knew how to record audios and do like little live stream stuff. Like I knew how to do that stuff a lot better. So it really helped me. But, um, yeah, it was a great. It's a it's been a great experience. And I think the courses are really good. I mean, I think it's a good rounded course. And I think it's just another way to show off like your capabilities or like, I don't know. Cuz I always see you sit at your computer. And I don't know what you're doing. But like if you show people what you're doing, it's like, oh, wow. That's pretty cool. Yeah, no, I think it's cool. It's uh, um, yeah, we don't often get to show off a lot of the the processes that we use here. Um, and this was a good opportunity to show off. I mean, it's not. I mean, it's not part of recycling, it's an Armgoan event. Yeah. But you are basically part of recycling. Yeah, so I mean it's cool. It's it's uh. But it shows off, you know, when we know what we're doing. Right. Yeah, yeah. We know what we're doing. See, there's a course. I have a course. I'm a teacher. I'm a teacher. I know what I'm doing. I'm a teacher. I teach people. Uh, no, it's fun. It's super cool. I I I definitely like it. And it's been really enjoyable to do. Um, and like I said, I think this like this course just really emphasizes something that I wish that I had early on. And I think it would have helped me. Obviously, some of the tech wasn't available. But, um, it's definitely helpful. And I I think it'll help. I think it'll genuinely help people design better parts. Is there anything else you want to mention about the classes specifically? I I mean, I think the the takeaway from it too is is I tried to gear the course towards someone that had an idea. I mean, the idea for me for the course is someone that wants to design something out of composites or is interested in composites. This is a course that's really aimed to help them design their first product out of composites, understand how it works, understand the basic material properties and kind of just open up your, you know, your mind. So you can kind of understand how composites work and and really take a deep dive into like, you know, what process, what system you'd like to use, how you'd like to do it, how you'd like to design, manufacturing restraints, what kind of simulations are out there. Like, you know, I think this is really just like a to open up the flood gates to let people design in composites. That's kind of my idea. Um, behind this course. Um, Yeah. is to really, you know, it's an introductory to a lot of different concepts. And just like real world concept. I mean, I feel like in the past we've gotten hit up by like uh, students from, you know, technical colleges and schools. And I've learned this and I've taken all these courses and I'm in school, but like I need an internship or I have a project. And do you have supplies or can you tell me how the best way to do this? And it's like, why aren't you in school? No. No, but they need the real like, okay, great. I'm in school, but like what do I what application do I actually put all that knowledge to? And I mean, unless you have an internship at a freaking aerospace engineering, you know, Yeah. I don't think a lot of people know that there's other sectors. there are the access to get to them. So maybe this class is kind of like something that they can. It's difficult. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that. See. The idea too is like, you know, I think we've had some interns before. In the past and we've stopped doing interns. Because it was. I mean, what ended up happening is we'd get an intern in and they would like, oh, I know this software. It's like, great, we use that software. So like you're ready to go. And it's like, well. They're understanding of the software was very square. Is that like the right? I mean, they just know the software, they know how to do basic functions within the software. They didn't know how to like bring in stuff from other software and how to integrate that into workflows. And like, you know, how to how it actually worked in the real world. Like it was like. Right. Yeah, that perfect world that would work, but that's not the real world. Like. And they don't get to see like once you are in the software and you simulate something, the actual thing that you're making. Or or tolerances that are spec. Like, bro. You can't hold like, you know, a 10,000th of an inch. Like a part, these tolerances are like. You can't hold this. It's on the machinery. You can't do this. This is you need. A million dollar machine. Just to make this part. Right. You know. Things like that. And and understanding budgets and constraints and. It just a lot of this stuff is just you have to teach all that. And it's like. By the time we've had two interns and both of them by the time we got it up to where they could actually. Help us in the workflow. You know, it's time to leave. Like. And so it's just like it just it took up so much time that we we just didn't have the bandwidth. And we're just we're not big enough to really facilitate that. But. So this course is again. Like like you said. Something that can actually just. If you have a basic. Yeah. If you have a basic understanding of modeling and simulations and composites, this course is great. Because it opens up a lot of ideas. If you don't have any experience in any of these and you just want to make cool composite parts. It shows you what you need to know and what you need to learn. You know. And gives you the. It it gives you all the right things that you can go start searching on, you know, on LinkedIn learning for other courses on on Google and whatever you're going to do. Um or maybe even interested in what what section of manufacturing you're interested in in. Um I think it'll open up opportunities for you. So. That's really the idea. Um. But yeah, we've actually had quite a few like pretty big time legit people go through the course. And actually comment on it and stuff. So it's been kind of interesting. To and even their feedback has been like. Oh yeah, this is a great course. It's like the, you know, actually I didn't I didn't. You know, I hadn't thought of using that workflow. It's so it's been cool. Nice. So. Okay, um. Anything else to mention? I don't think so. For you. Okay. I don't think I think that's it. So, um, we're just going to get back into our work mindset this week. Yep. Uh, after all of our time off. Uh. We're back on your size 56 R 20 molds. Yep. Specifically the production molds. Yep. Um, we're continuing to print the genius water bottle cages and the cleat adapters. Which are doing fairly well both here and the sales on the shop online. But also they're making their way into the Amazon algorithms. Oh yeah. Yeah. Amazon's doing really well with them. And yeah. We've gotten some good feedback. We're starting to move the the custom wedges are starting to go now as well. Um our cleat adapters, so we can do custom angle and uh leg length discrepancies. For um a single piece. Uh we have a custom one that's been doing pretty well. They just need to shoot up the Amazon rankings. Once uh Bezos gets back from space or does not get back from space. If that petition gets more signatures. Uh that's that's that's a little ridiculous. Anyway, uh let's uh wrap her up. Um yeah. Okay. We thank you for choosing to take some time with us. And we look forward to future breakaways. Look for us on Instagram and LinkedIn, LinkedIn learning as well. Facebook, Twitter and in person here in Tennessee. Uh we ask our listeners to please share, like and subscribe. We're available on all major streaming platforms. Thanks for listening. Have a good one and find some time to break away.
EpisodeJun 21, 2021 · 25:04
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Project Breakaway with Predator Cycling
24: Summer Learning! Explore Composites in 3 Parts, Ep. 24
In this episode, Predator Cycling co-owner Aram Goan details his comprehensive 3-part LinkedIn Learning course on composite design and manufacturing. He explains how the course, built around the practical example of creating their son's push bike, covers composite fundamentals, product simulation, and real-world validation and production. This series offers a well-rounded workflow for anyone interested in intelligently designing and manufacturing composite parts.
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