Engineering Every Day

Between designing new parts on SolidWorks and working on his car, Zack Lindsey keeps busy. While Lindsey grew up besides the Rocky Mountains as a Colorado native, he was taking apart and rebuilding anything he could get his hands on; he was destined to be an engineer before he even knew it. Eventually, Lindsey graduated from CU Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in economics. Completing a bachelor’s program is no small feat, and Lindsey reflects on his toughest class: “The capstone senior project was definitely the most immersive class [I took]. It’s really like a mini engineering job; that’s how I’d describe it. You’re doing all the steps in the engineering process—you’re designing, making sure your customer is happy, purchasing parts, testing everything, manufacturing everything. It was really comprehensive.” Lindsey later confirms that whilst this was the most challenging class he took, it was also the one that prepared him the most for his career outside of school.

Example of LiDAR imaging

“[My team] worked with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association), and we designed a LiDAR scanner. Essentially, it was a big gimble mount that had a LiDAR laser underneath, and they wanted to be able to point it in any direction in the sky within a whole dome without it ever being limited.” LiDAR is an acronym for “light detection and ranging” and is a method of laser sensing used by scientists and meteorologists to study different environments, both natural and manmade. “The LiDAR beam detects particulates in the atmosphere, and it allows us to get data on how much particulate is in atmosphere, [as well as] its direction and speed. So it’s really helpful for high level and low level wind maps, making predictions, and finding the highs and lows in a [specific] area.” LiDAR isn’t only used for weather-predicting purposes, however—it can also be found in everyday items, such as phones and cars. Apple began utilizing it in 2020, and now the entirety of the iPhone series uses it to enable Face ID and enhance camera quality. Car brands such as Nissan, Subaru, Mercedes, and Volvo have also implemented LiDAR technology, which allows cars to sense any objects around them to prevent unnecessary collisions.

After taking a couple months off to recoup from his breakneck studies, Lindsey found a place to land at James Engineering as our design engineer. When asked to describe what a typical day looks like for him here, he laughs and says, “There isn’t really such a thing as an average day. Some days I’m here [at my desk] designing new parts, some days I’m just doing drawings. Other days I need to fix a problem on a machine, so I’ll design something, make the part, go out into the shop, install it, test it, make sure it’s what I want, and make revisions on the computer [if need be].” A tedious process, but one that’s essential for business. Without the engineering team’s relentless drawing, testing, and redrawing, assemblies would fall apart after the first build. “I also organize lists for different machines to figure out what parts they need manufactured, purchased, powder coated, anodized, things like that.” There are a lot of moving parts within James Engineering, and Lindsey’s organization is key to maintaining a smooth operation.

With as many responsibilities as Lindsey carries, he faced a steep learning curve when he first stepped into his position at James Engineering, but he ultimately defeated it with determination. “There’s definitely a lot of tasks I didn’t know how to do beforehand and I kind of just had to learn how to do it on the fly. It has been challenging but it’s been really helpful in the long run.” Here at James Engineering, we encourage asking questions and hands-on experience. Senior engineers are readily available to teach valuable lessons that can be applied in and out of the workplace, and it was these mentors that helped Lindsey find his footing. We urge our engineers to get their hands dirty and help out in the machine shop when they can, as well as execute their own innovative ideas. Afterall, engineering is inherently centered around creativity and problem solving. So as a creator himself, Lindsey finds great satisfaction in perfecting his projects, especially when they are done “on the fly”. He talks on his most rewarding moments at James Engineering: “Every time a machine goes out that door which I’ve done a lot of the design work on it’s really fulfilling, seeing it on the truck and leaving.” Lindsey offers some advice to people who are just getting started as engineers, saying, “The best way to design is to just do it and see if it works. You’re never going to get it right the first time, so you learn from your mistakes. Another piece of advice I’d give is design in a failure point or else the system is going to design it in for you!”

Outside of his time at James Engineering, Lindsey enjoys spending his time working on his car. “I’m a big car guy, so I like to make parts and sell them.” Even when out of the office, Lindsey is developing his skills as an engineer. “I’d love to develop my own racecar parts one day, but I’m not quite there yet.” In the meantime, you can find Lindsey working diligently on different tasks throughout the shop. “The thing that’s helped me the most is learning to work with a manual machine because I’ve really learned what the capabilities of the shop are. [It’s] learning how to make a part in a way that will make it easier for the machinists.”

It's thanks to motivated employees like Zack Lindsey that James Engineering and other manufacturers alike can thrive. Whether they know they want to be an engineer from the start, or discover it years down the line, their knowledge, expertise, and efforts strengthen the engineering world one part at a time.

The A1 Intern

Fluttering between the stone halls of CU Boulder and the bustling shop of James Engineering, Quinn Gossett studies hard and works even harder. Shortly after finding out about the family-owned OEM shop through a friend, Gossett began her job as a mechanical engineering intern—the perfect gig for a mechanical engineering undergrad.

“I chose to study engineering because it is the perfect combination of creative problem solving and science, two things I love,” explains Gossett. “Oftentimes there are several ways to solve a problem, and that requires truly creative thinking, which is something I’ve done naturally my whole life.” Gossett quickly slipped into her role at James Engineering, tackling any challenges presented to her with a fresh-faced eagerness. “One of the first obstacles I faced was establishing a system of organization for myself. The machines that [we] build are very complex. I was able to overcome that challenge by being thorough and asking questions as soon as they came up.”

But by pushing through and solving these challenges, Gossett gained expansive hands-on experience which wound up giving her an in-depth look at the engineering career field.

“My work [at James Engineering] stretched me outside what is traditionally considered mechanical engineering. I worked on project management, component design, and [even] hands-on assembly and manufacturing. Since James Engineering is a small company, there is ample opportunity to work in these different areas. Not having a hyper specific specialization has allowed me to develop a well-rounded set of skills.”

Gossett expanded upon her project management skills by creating systems that tracked the building process of specific machines. These systems revealed any problematic dependencies to the team of engineers, while also providing them with clues as to how to make the building process more efficient. Before building could even really start, however, Gossett had to go through the trials-and-errors of component design process. Seamless component design is crucial, which Gossett discovered, especially since she had to figure out how to incorporate new parts into already-existing assemblies. “It was necessary to explore multiple design options instead of immediately committing to one design for full development,” she writes. Once a component was correctly designed, the assembly process could begin, which allowed Gossett continuous hands-on involvement. Gossett then discovered that assembly can show intricacies that her CAD models can’t, further enhancing her knowledge when it comes to designing new parts.

 "Developing skills across several disciplines changed my perspective on how the engineering process works as a whole,” Gossett continues, “Even when working on one individual component, it is critical to understand what it takes to manufacture the part.”

 James Engineering constantly encourages continued learning when it comes to the engineering industry—both for the new and the experienced. Just one internship or job opportunity can completely change an engineer’s perspective of the industry and teach them something new they wouldn’t have been able to garner anywhere else. After her time at James Engineering, Gossett offers some advice to those interested in becoming mechanical engineers themselves:

“Be prepared to work hard and work creatively. There are times where you will fail, but that is part of the learning process. The mechanical engineering curriculum reaches across a wide range of disciplines and is extremely well rounded, [so] as long as you are trying your best, that will get you far.”

 Mechanical engineering is a stimulating and rewarding industry that always asks the question, “How can this be better?”. As engineers design practical, efficient, and complex solutions to the multitude of problems that pop up in our everyday lives, it’s important for them to remember how their work impacts the world around them. “My biggest goal is to leave this world better than I found it. Through any industry I work in, I always want to use my skills to create solutions that make this world a better place for every human and every creature that calls Earth their home.”

Gossett has already succeeded at making James Engineering a better place.

To all the engineering students out there, we at James Engineering commend your dedication and inspiration—it is a rigorous industry, but it is worthwhile. If you are interested in learning more about James Engineering and how we contribute to the mechanical engineering industry, click here to check out the rest of our website. In the meantime, keep studying, keep creating, and keep innovating.