Sprocket DC News

On 21^st March 2010 Sprocket MD Jenny Roberts competed in the Helly Hansen trail race, Cumbrian Commotion, which was held in the beautiful setting of Grizedale Forest. This gruelling race consisted of a 12km run, 20km cycle, 1.5km canoe plus three agility challenges just before the finish line. Over tough terrain that included parts of the North Face trail (an extremely technical single width bike track including boardwalks), 300m ascents both on bike and foot and an open water canoe on Coniston Water, this challenge was not for the faint hearted!

The rules of the challenge stipulated that only teams of 3 were allowed and that each team had to stick together over the whole course. For a bit of added fun, Jenny’s all girl team (2 Roses and a Leprechaun) were in direct competition with an all boys team (Sad Ken) that consisted of 2 Lancaster friends and Jenny’s husband!

Both teams started together and the boys led by about 50 meters consistently until half way through the cycling at which point the girls took a marginal lead. However the boys caught up at the transition area and took the lead again right the way through the run to Coniston, the canoe and the run back to the finish. All that stood in the way of them was the three challenges before the finish line...

Challenge 1: Three man walking skis – each team member had one foot on each ski and foot loops to move the skis along. Having a head start on the skis was no match for the girls coordination and despite the boys best efforts to slow the girls down (wedging the girls ski under theirs), the girls completed this challenge before them.

Challenge 2: Scramble net – each team member had to scramble under a net that was pinned to the ground. Although the girls reached this first, there was a backlog of other competitors and both teams ended up scrambling under it at the same time. The girls just managed to get through first though and had first attempt at challenge 3.

Challenge 3: The wall – each team member had to climb over a slippery inverted ‘v’ shaped wall. With height and upper body strength at a disadvantage, the girls managed an immense team effort which involved Kirsty skilfully scrambling up and sitting on the ridge, whilst Jenny managed to jump and clamp onto the ridge with her finger tips. Ruth then pushed Jenny up by the feet, whilst Kirsty pulled from the top, and once Jenny was sat on the ridge with Kirsty, the two of them pulled Ruth up and over. All slid down from the wall and miraculously managed to cross the finishing line 13 seconds before the boys team!

The girls finished in a time of 3hrs 32mins 6secs, 131st out of 331 and 6th out of the 40 all girl teams that took part.

Full results can be found at: http://www.racetimingsystems.com/public/results.aspx?raceid=1047

Sprocket DC has recently been involved with a number of events designed to promote engineering to the next generation.

Jenny Roberts, Managing Director at Sprocket DC, has been attending school events to encourage students to consider engineering as a career and to broaden their minds to the opportunities engineering holds.

For many years now engineering has been thought of as a dirty and often labour intensive profession that is largely male dominated. Although the latter may be correct at present, there is much more to engineering than fixing heavy machinery.

Working as a STEM Ambassador Jenny recently commented, 'One of my favourite things is to watch the reactions of the students when I tell them that I have designed playground equipment as a mechanical engineer. This is something that they have never previously thought about having been designed, so when I explain about the strict standards that have to be followed, whilst making the equipment fun to use and considering the loading that the equipment may be subject to, they begin to realise that there is much more to it than meets the eye. Broadening their perception of engineering is a small step in the right direction to changing the attitude to engineering and to encourage a lot more young people into the profession.'

So far Sprocket DC has been involved in a talk to 6th form students on product design, helping out at an 'Engineering Your Future' day at Burnley Football Club, taking part in a careers evening at a Lancaster secondary school and talking to students about challenging gender stereotypes in the engineering profession.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page and our Tweets to find out what we're doing to promote engineering further!

Sprocket DC is pleased to announce their newest customer is BAE Systems.

Last week saw the first project get to a flying start, with a fast turnaround required to ensure their product was delivered on time.

Pete Tumelty, Business Development Manager, commented:

If you have a project that needs to be completed in a hurry, then please get in touch with us via the contacts page and we'll be happy to help!

Sprocket DC now has a Facebook page where you can join in with discussions, find out the latest news, look at our photos and much more!

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/pages/Lancaster-United-Kingdom/Sprocket-DC/193587056459

We hope to see you there soon :)

15.00 - Call comes in about a project requiring urgent turn around

15.42 - NDA sent over, signed and returned

17.17 - Brief and initial sketches received from client

18.11 - Discussion of required outcome, file formats and deadlines (12.30 tomorrow)

19.15 - Quick test model sent over to test file import

19.16 - Work begins on creating 5 CAD models

21.56 - File import cracked and all systems are go!

01.28 - 3 out of 5 complete, other 2 well on their way to completion

SLEEP

07.19 - Initial files sent over to client

08.00 - Finalising last 2 models

09.10 - Initial feedback from client and first rendered model received

09.11 - Modifications implemented post feedback

11.51 - All files sent over with time to spare!

We pride ourselves on being able to provide a fast turnaround and will go above and beyond to ensure that you have the result you want in time for that important deadline.

You can now follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/SprocketDC

Sprocket DC has today announced a new student and graduate service designed to encourage and support the next generation of creative and technical minds. This service aims to help with the development of concept ideas into prototypes that can be used to sell their product or add substance to their portfolio of work.

In particular the service offers turning concept drawings into 3D CAD models, advising on DFMA, producing technical drawings and creating rendered 3D models.

This service also focuses on delivering the required outcomes whilst working towards the timescales and budget pre-agreed with the student/graduate.