Capabilities
Prototyping and Light Production
In order to do many of the things which I am passionate about, I need to have the capacity for design and build. I have learned to visualize things in 3D in my mind, and then to translate those ideas into actual, manufacturable parts in 3D design space. To do that I need professional grade software and hardware.
In the early 2000s, I set up a consulting practice and named it Wenger Engineering (logo above). Later, I created an LLC called Wenger Consulting and many of my career moves actually started as consulting contracts.
I Build Stuff
Can I do something for you?
On the Mechanical Design side, I own a single seat license of Solidworks which suffices for most of my needs in the mechanical design world. Most of the projects you find on this site were either designed using SolidWorks, or with the aid of SolidWorks' capabilities.
When I find myself needing to reverse engineer something, either to modify it or interface to it, I also have a hand-held 3D scanner which allows me to directly input real-life objects into 3D file format.
Fabrication takes on a few different forms depending on the material I need to use for the project. Many plastic parts can be prototyped using one of my three 3D printers: the Anycubic Photon 4 Mono resin printer for small parts that require high accuracy, an Elegoo Centauri Carbon for medium parts and an Anycubic Kobra 2 Max for parts up 16.5" x 16.5" x 18", these last two being filament based printers.
These three printers also allow me to work with a variety of different plastics, from PLA to ABS. But most often I am using PETG as it's the most cost-effective filament I can find.
For metals, I maintain a Taig Tools 4 axis CNC milling machine with ball leadscrews and closed loop feedback for accuracy. In order to generate the gcode files for the mill, I have a license of Mach 3 Mill from Artsoft.
In addition, I have a variety of power tools, including a lathe, metal cutting bandsaw, drill press and assorted other tools which allow me to approach general fabrication for low-accuracy requirements.
Finally, although I sometimes work with wood, it's not my favorite medium. Being a mechanical engineer, I chafe at the tendency for wood to warp or change shape as material is removed. Or the the dimensions shifting during periods of high or low humidity. However, sometimes it makes the most sense and so I maintain the ususal assortment of Makita/Milwuakee/DeWalt (et. al.) hand tools.
