Welcome to the 3rd episode of our Meet the SOLIDWORKS Super Users Series
We continue to feature Q&A with some of the incredible people that have been using SOLIDWORKS for years...and this one is a BIG interview with someone incredible.
The third Super User we are unmasking today is @TB
I spoke with Todd earlier in March after this year's 3DEXPERIENCE World 2023 that Todd unfortunately couldn't attend - but he was there each and every day virtually!
I thought I knew Todd, but as I prepped for the interview and during our discussion, I learned so much more about this incredible SOLIDWORKS user and overall, down-to-earth, incredible human! So...
Without further ado, I present to you the interview
- Transcript with additional pictures and links to references and additional material is below - don't miss it!
| Name | Company | Title |
|---|---|---|
| @TB | Metalworks, Inc | CAD Design Specialist |
Interview transcript
Matthew HALL
Hello, everybody. We're here with Todd Blacksher, one of our most incredible SOLIDWORKS Super Users that I know of. Todd, thank you for your time today. Happy you can join us and take some questions.
Todd Blacksher
Absolutely. This is awesome.
Matthew HALL
Todd, let's just jump right in. I'm really curious, how many years have you been using SOLIDWORKS?
Todd Blacksher
I learned it on SOLIDWORKS 2001 plus. Technically, the year was 2002. That was always one of my favorite trivia questions for user group meetings. It's like because it went from 2001, 2001 plus to 2003. There was never a 2002 release. That puts it about 21 years.
Matthew HALL
Wow. That's a long time. You're using it 21 years, going on 22. Before we get into a lot of the other details, I'd just like to find out, what do you do at work on a daily basis and how are you leveraging SOLIDWORKS there to solve challenges?
Todd Blacksher
Our company slogan is All Things Metal, so it's about anything you can think of. We've got fiber lasers, press brakes, welding, machining, powder coating, all that. I'm on the QRM team, which is Quick Response Manufacturing. And we're basically the group that is there to make life easier for everybody that touches the product before it goes out the door. We're making fixtures for welding, for robots, for press brakes, we're making assembly tools, material transport. We're basically just the internal support the entire company group. We do a lot of rapid prototyping. We work with the customers to share the capabilities that they might not know that we have and tweak their design a little bit to take advantage of those. So it's all sorts of things.
Matthew HALL
So if a customer comes in with some challenge, how are you using SOLIDWORKS to solve any of those challenges that they present to you?
Todd Blacksher
A lot of this stuff is how can we harness the tooling that we have. And then one of the new things, we've had it for about a year and a half now, we got a Markorged X7 printer, and so we'll do a lot of prototypes with that to be able to show what we're thinking of. And on the internal side, which is where we use it most, and I think most people miss this with 3D printing, we're using it... I'm doing a whole lot now with our forming robots and doing end of arm tooling. One of the things that I came up with is a head that will attach to the robotic arm that all of the air lines and hardware is integrated into the print, so they can just connect it to the robot, plug in the air, and that's it. All the air, the vacuum is going through the printed part. And the best part about that is that it's significantly lighter and stiffer than the pieces of metal that they've been using. And on those, they're attaching all the hoses and all that. So it's just a mess. It works, but this is a very clean, sleek design, and it allowed them, because of the stiffness and the weight, to ramp up the speed at which the robot operates.
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Matthew HALL
Solving challenges and helping them do things faster. That's awesome!
Todd Blacksher
Yeah, that's basically it. We're there to help them make more money.
Matthew HALL
Yeah, of course.
Todd Blacksher
Be more efficient.
Matthew HALL
Todd, I've been managing our digital SOLIDWORKS communities for a couple of years now almost, and your name is always popping up. I started in prep for this interview, I did some research and learned some interesting things about you that I think is going to really surprise everyone listening into this. One thing I want to start with is I've heard that you are... How do you want to say...? You're a huge advocate of seat belts, and you might be the only person to win a pass to 3D Experience World from the hospital ICU. Is that really true or is this some urban legend? What's going on here?
Todd Blacksher
No, it's real. Okay. It was less than a month after we got back from SOLIDWORKS World 11 down in San Antonio, and I had just dropped off the people from the carpool and I was headed home. I got into the turn lane, and that's the last thing that I remember until I woke up in the ICU and basically had to be told what had happened to me through the accident report. Basically, I think somebody might have run a light and cross traffic. They hit a car, they ricocheted into me, just t-boned my car really bad, pushed it up over the curb and into an embankment, snapped the axles. It was a big mess. And three broken ribs, collapsed lung, big mark on my head. When the pillar hit my head, that must have knocked me out. But it stretched my optic nerves, so my eyes weren't coordinated. I still have double vision. And apparently, when I first came to and I would go to look at something, my left eye would see it and my right I would slowly track over to it.
Matthew HALL
That's disconcerting!
Todd Blacksher
The connection got stretched and it took longer than it should. So yeah, still double vision. Well, around that time, they were announcing registration for the SWUGN Summits. There were going to be a bunch of them around the country. And I believe it was the previous year that the first person to register for each SWUGN Summit won a pass to World. And so I was like, I've really got to win a pass. I got to win a pass.
Additional reads: Learn more about SWUGN and Todd Blacksher Opens Up About SWUGN
Matthew HALL
So this was on your mind while you were in the bed at ICU?
Todd Blacksher
And so I had been checking constantly. And it's like, okay, oh, they pulled my car...they pulled my phone out of the car and brought it to me at the hospital. And so I check and it's like, oh, registration is open. So I'm registered. And my wife has a picture of me in the hospital with my one good eye looking at my phone trying to get the registration. I got to the event and I was the first one to register, so I got a free pass.
Matthew HALL
You won a pass. That's awesome. That's dedication. Oh, my gosh.
Matthew HALL
Car crash accident, life threatening, no details. Let's register. Come on.
Todd Blacksher
The important things. The funny part was that I had won a pass to 11 as well because that was the one that there was an online deal where it was the best excuse for why you couldn't make it or why you haven't registered yet. They were trying to check into that.
Matthew HALL
I can't say that's a good excuse, but yeah, it's one of the best.
Todd Blacksher
Yeah, that one happened after we got back from the conference, so it was an adventure.
Matthew HALL
Yes. Well, I'm glad everything is you're okay and you're still here to have this conversation. And before this accident and probably even through today, I peaked at your LinkedIn, pretty much had to scroll through all the SOLIDWORKS certifications that you have. It's amazing how many you have. You probably have more than time we have here to list them all. But let's just say it's extensive. And in all the years you've been using SOLIDWORKS and your certifications and learning all these different things. What is your favorite feature or the best thing about SOLIDWORKS that you've come to love?
Todd Blacksher
I wish I could come up with just one because when you talk to most people, it's all these things.
Matthew HALL
Well, I think @JM had five number ones, so you're.
Todd Blacksher
They're all the best. Because to me, SOLIDWORKS is really powerful because of all the little things, and it's the stuff that you don't think about. But this tool saves clicks, this shortcut saves time. And I always just called it "All The Small Things". I started piecing them together and put together a presentation and called it, “All The Small Things” because it was always I would help somebody out and it's like: wait, back up...how did you do that? And I was like, Oh, just this shortcut? Everybody knows about that. No, I didn't. No, they didn't. I started finding out about all these. I just put a bunch together, created all the small things, and that ended up being my presentation for the second SLUGME.
Matthew HALL
So, SLUGME...what's that all about?
Todd Blacksher
Yeah, I can't believe we haven't talked about that yet. Not yet. SLUGME was an idea I had after I got back from World one year and I'm sitting at my desk watching a webinar and there was something really cool and I was still in SOLIDWORKS World mode and I leaned over to nudge them and go, Yeah, it's a great... But there was nobody next to me. I'm so used to seeing those things in a crowd and I was like, oh, man, you miss the "World Effect" by just watching a webinar because you don't have everybody around you. I wanted to recreate that. I was like, well, wait a minute. If we could get somebody to present on GoToMeeting or something like that and have them present and then have all these user groups log into that call, we could have a huge user group meeting. So, SLUGME was SOLIDWORKS Largest User Group Meeting Ever. I was thinking if we had five groups and each group had 20 people, that's 100 people. That'd be huge. Well, the first year we ended up with 33 groups that all logged into it. And each group had a ton of people, and it just went off great. And it's like, well, we didn't think we'd be able to pull it off, and we did. And then it's like, yeah, it was a big success. We need to do it again next year. And since you didn't present this year, you need to present next year. And that's when All The Small Things happened.
Matthew HALL
Amazing. And so how many SLUGME's have there been?
Todd Blacksher
So far? Last year, we did SLUGME 7. Done seven of them. And it's funny about that was it was the day before my mom's birthday, and I went to visit her after SLUGME, and she had watched the entire thing.
Matthew HALL
Oh, wow.
Todd Blacksher
And so when I got down there, she just kept going on and on about, "...So all this happened because of this computer software? All these people came together because of this?" Yeah. It's the most amazing community.
Matthew HALL
Are you starting to think about a SLUGME 8?
Todd Blacksher
Yeah. There was a bunch of emails going around about it today, and we're going to have a planning meeting next Monday.
Matthew HALL
Okay, already planned.
Todd Blacksher
Of course, even before the cameras came on for SLUGME 7, I'm already gearing up thinking about what can we do next year?
Matthew HALL
Awesome. Well, that's great. Well, we're looking forward to SLUGME 8 when it will happen, so I hope everybody is able to join. In addition to SLUGME, you usually attend all the SOLIDWORKS Worlds, or now known as 3DEXPERIENCE World. Even if you have to register from a hospital or wherever you may be, if you're in a space station, whatever, I know you count on you. You've gone so many years. Why do you keep going back?
Additional read: SLUGME Through the Years
Todd Blacksher
It's the community. I mean, it's all the people. Since 2006, I've only missed one. I've been to 17 conferences, I think. Okay. This year was just virtual. But how it all got started when I started using SOLIDWORKS, it just lit up. So I had to find out more. I dug in and I found out about user groups and I joined a user group and started working with them. Then I found out about this thing called SOLIDWORKS World. I went to my bosses and said, I want to go, I want to go. 2004, no, not this year. 2005, oh, no, not this year. Then I was getting ready to ask the next year, and my girlfriend said, Why don't you just take vacation and we'll just fly down there? You can register yourself and you can just go on your own. I'm like, yeah. Okay, if they aren't going to send me, I'm going to pay because I want to go. It was in Vegas that year. We had said, well, while we're there, we could get married.
Matthew HALL
Get married in...Vegas? That's amazing. You got married at SOLIDWORKS World?
Todd Blacksher
Yeah. We go and first timers and it was like, Okay, get in the lay of the land. Then the Sunday reception, there's a few people that we know, and so we're talking to them. And one of them is talking to Jeff Ray, who had just been made the CEO. I said, hey, do you know of anybody else that's getting married this year? And he's like, oh, no, I don't. And he started taking some notes. And so he had announced it in the general session on Monday. And then the general session, then there was a session, and then there was lunch. We went over to the Stratosphere at lunch, got married, shot to the top of the Stratosphere.
Matthew HALL
Yeah, the Big Shot thing on top.
Todd Blacksher
Did all that, went to lunch, came back to Caesars where the conference was. We pulled up just as the Myth Busters were leaving, so we got to meet them. It was just crazy. The off-site event was at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We got to drag race. We hung out with John McEleney, who was the previous CEO. That was really big because there's all these people that you heard about or you knew about, and you can just go up and talk to them. It's just this big, open community.
Check out some of Todd's fave's from 3DEXPERIENCE / SOLIDWORKS World past here
Matthew HALL
Yes, awesome, connecting, passionate community.
Todd Blacksher
Yeah. And so immediately we're hooked. And it's like, okay, both of us, we're going next year. We're going again. And so I think there's only been one year that Jade did not go with me to World. So she's been to 16 - 15 or 16.
Matthew HALL
So Jade is a big SOLIDWORKS user as well?
Todd Blacksher
No. But she digs it and I have taught her a whole lot of stuff because she was like: I would like to get my CSWA. I want to learn about it. And as she would learn more about it, then the general sessions sunk in a little bit more. And it was like, oh, okay. Yeah, I know exactly what that is. But she wouldn't go to the sessions. She'd go to the general. Then she would meet up with others. And so what we would do is we'd encourage people to bring their spouses. And then she started doing the "Widows and Widowers" group. And so what would happen is we'd get out of general session and they would all meet up and then they'd just go explore whatever city we were in. Go whale watching in San Diego, tour Coronado Island, New Orleans, just all the different places. Before we would go, she would start planning. It's like, Okay, here's some of the stuff that I want to check out. And then as you get to know people, you're talking with them before. She's talking to other “Widows and Widowers” and saying, "hey, what should we check out?" They would plan out those days while we're sitting in conference rooms, they're out wandering around.
Note: See HERE for information regarding CSWA certification
Matthew HALL
Having their fun. But that's great. That came out of just everything with SOLIDWORKS and these events.
Todd Blacksher
She blogged about it one year. But yeah, it's one of those things that it's your extended family and you're going to see them and you're going to hang out with them. And it's that one special time of the year.
Matthew HALL
That community spirit that we've been talking about, it's developed, continually reinforced through these digital events, the virtual attendance. You couldn't attend, unfortunately, this most recent 3DEXPERIENCE world, but you were there with us in spirit virtually. That spirit never seems to really just end with any particular event. I think you mentioned that earlier as well. It just continues. There's this continual outpouring support and help and dare I say, love for all SOLIDWORKS users. I mean, you and your wife, for example, from your marriage world to other ways, too. There's also a story I've heard about you rallying help for a user named Dave. Can you give us some details or share some information about that?
Todd Blacksher
Yeah, I met @DB. He's from Australia. I met him virtually on the old forum. And so he started using SOLIDWORKS in an unusual way. I believe he was a machinist, but he was going to have to have a brain surgery. And so he wasn't going to be able to work. But the doctors wanted him to keep his brain active as much as possible leading up to the surgery. So his boss let him borrow a laptop with SOLIDWORKS on it and said, "Here, go learn SOLIDWORKS, and that'll keep your brain active." Well, then Dave found out about the forum and he jumps in headfirst. He's into it and it's like, hey! and just starts asking questions and questions and questions and showing off what he's doing and, hey, I'm doing this. And so we all just gathered around because really funny guy, super appreciative, really nice. And he got really good really quick. And he started answering questions, which is the ongoing thing where you go there to learn, but then you see somebody that has a problem that you had, and so you're helping them out while you're learning about something else.
Todd Blacksher
And right before the surgery, there was a post that, hey, we're all here for you, Dave. Big support. All these people chiming in from all over the world. And so I started putting together this map on Google and putting pins where everybody was well wishing and was going to print that out for him, really big. And he had to return the laptop prior to going into surgery. And it's like, wait a minute, if each of these pins on this map was able to donate \$20, we could probably get him a decent laptop. And maybe we could do something with SOLIDWORKS to get him a seat because it didn't sound like he was going to be able to get that back afterwards. And so it's like, let's get him his own laptop, his own seat of SOLIDWORKS. And so I put together a site where people could donate. I started working with @CC from SOLIDBOX. He's a good friend. And I was like, hey, Chris, here's the deal. We got this guy. We want to do this.
Todd Blacksher
We're coming up with as much as money as we can. So we got that. We sent it to him. They built a custom laptop. We're working with SOLIDWORKS. They were going to get him a seat of premium. I hit up 3D Connexion to see if we could get him a controller, maybe a mouse. And then one of the guys, his name was Matt, was like, "oh, we should put a custom skin on the laptop."
Matthew HALL
Of course.
Todd Blacksher
And then @JS was the one that did the artwork with SOLIDWORKS way back. And there was a favorite of Dave's. And so we just hit up John. I said let's get that. Let's put it on the laptop. So then we shipped everything up to Waltham and they got SOLIDWORKS loaded. They threw in some other goodies in the backpack, gave him a backpack and shipped it off to Australia.
Todd Blacksher
And so we're all just kind of waiting until, okay, he's out of surgery, everything's good and all right, it should be there any day now. And we're all just kind of watching and all of a sudden there's a post just unboxing all this stuff, and he's just like, oh, my God!
Matthew HALL
Wow.
Todd Blacksher
So it was pretty awesome.
Matthew HALL
Yeah, that's an incredible story. And thanks for taking the leadership and everybody that helped out with that.
Todd Blacksher
Yeah, I mean, it was that really shows the passion of the community and everybody coming together to help out one of their own.
For more about this heartwarming story, see the blog post: A SOLIDBOX for Dave Bear
Matthew HALL
So, Todd, your influence, if that's the word I want to use, and passion for SOLIDWORKS, helping your fellow man well, doesn't just stop with humans. And you made global headlines back in 2021 during the pandemic, where you set out to use SOLIDWORKS to help man's best friend, right?
Todd Blacksher
Yeah, that was easily oh, gosh, one of my favorite projects. So our corgi, Ash, was starting to have some difficulties with his hind legs, and we weren't really sure what was going on. So we took him over to Iowa State. They have a really well-known veterinary clinic there, student college. And so he was diagnosed with Degenerative Myelopathy, which is a lot like ALS in dogs, where it starts in one place and it just spreads throughout your body. So it starts in his legs and then it just starts working forward. And Jade found a Corgi on Wheels group on Facebook and somebody donated a cart to us. So it's like, okay, we got him used to the cart. We made some customization, some modifications, and he's able to get around. And then the snow hit and the cart didn't do very well in the snow. And Jade was like, okay, you need to make something so that he can play in the snow, because ever since he was a puppy, he just absolutely loved the snow. I mean, that was his favorite time of year. And so it's like, okay, he's just not going to be happy if he can't go out and play.
Todd Blacksher
So, a friend of ours gave us some old cross-country skis, cut them down, and I designed up some brackets that I could mount to the cart that I could quickly attach these skis and keep the wheels on. So like, if we hit a patchy area, the wheels would still roll and then the skis were just a little bit above the wheels, but when we hit the snow, he's floating on skis.
Matthew HALL
Wow. Great.
Todd Blacksher
And he loved it. And it was so awesome, because as he started to figure it out, if he'd get to a hill, he would run. And he'd put his back feet up on the skis so that he could just let them be there and he would just run down the hill. And he just thought, oh, man, he was a happy dog.
Matthew HALL
Well, glad you made him so happy.
Todd Blacksher
Yeah, that was probably still one of my favorite projects.
Additional read: Extra, Extra, Read All About It!
Matthew HALL
Awesome. Yeah. And it was featured in magazines, all kind of media, I mean, in our communities as well, too. So congratulations for that.
Additional read: Engineer Dog Owner Designs Skis for Pet's Wheelchair so Pup Can Keep Bounding Through the Snow
Todd Blacksher
Yeah, people picked it up. Tampa Bay News had it. It was on the morning news here. It was on the morning news in Tampa Bay. It just kind of got picked up in all sorts of weird places.
Matthew HALL
Todd, I see you engaging a lot in our SOLIDWORKS User Forum community and other communities online. What is it that keeps bringing you back to our 3DSwym communities?
Todd Blacksher
Much like World, I mean, it's the community of people. They're coming together to share their knowledge, and you come to learn and before you leave, you're helping somebody else. I could be on there forever and I'll never give back as much as I've gotten.
Matthew HALL
And you are obviously an incredibly experienced, SOLIDWORKS superhero. I recommend all users and listeners to network and follow you right in 3DSwym. But are you willing to share with our listeners? Who else do you recommend to connect with and follow in our 3DSwym communities and why? Any names that you give me, how.
Todd Blacksher
Much time do we have? The list would be huge. And I'd really hate to miss people, but there are the ones that come to mind right away. Of course, Eric [Beatty] and John [Matrishon]. And those guys - @EB's everywhere; he's in the Maker Space, he's in the support channels. He's just helping out. Anybody can. @JM's very much the same way. I probably chat with both of them on an almost daily basis.
Matthew HALL
Wow.
Todd Blacksher
@DG, who was the king of the old forum, and he is still just revered on this forum. @AV - huge influence. I got to present with him at World one year. It was awesome when we talked about the community. @GS always has great info. @KC always helping out. @BB and @LT have great tips. Betty's got a tip every week, and then Lennart’s got Tips From The Train [and other tips, too].
Matthew HALL
Tips From The Train... yeah, that's awesome.
Todd Blacksher
And I've been dipping into the other communities. So, like, the MAKERS | Made In 3D community. There's a bunch of people in there - I adore, @.S & @LL and their YouTube channel. @JP is great. @EH is one that I found on there. He's the one that printed a scale model of a B-17G and flies it - the coolest thing ever. So it's like, I definitely want to hit him up for SLUGME 8, because I just think that's amazing.
Matthew HALL
I don't want to take too much of your time because I know you got to get back to the community or working in SOLIDWORKS. So there's a final question I'm asking to all the superheroes: is there a quote that motivates you?
Todd Blacksher
I don't know about motivate, but in high school I saw a quote and it was just, if it isn't fun, it isn't fun. And I don't know why, but it stuck with me and I just thought it was funny. But as time goes by, I kind of changed it to fit me a little bit better. And now I really like: if it isn't fun, MAKE it fun. It's all about attitude and just being able to find the positive. I've been real. I consider myself very lucky to have worked at some really great companies because I've worked at a few different places, but really great companies. And then I'll drop back and I know people that worked at all those same companies that have a completely different opinion. And I think it all boils down to attitude and being able to find the positive in what it is you're doing. Or as John would say, perspective. It's how you look at it. But they've all been great experiences. I've learned so much at all these places. I was with a VAR for a number of years and didn't think I'd ever leave that. And then I jumped over to another place that I didn't think I'd ever leave.
Matthew HALL
But I love that - the positivity, the attitude, and I love that if it isn't fun, you make it fun. Design it and make it with SOLIDWORKS. Make it fun.
Todd Blacksher
Yes.
Matthew HALL
Todd, thank you very much for giving us the time here today. You have such incredible experiences, incredible stories, and everything is so wrapped around and with and in SOLIDWORKS. It's just awesome. Again, thank you for your time, for sharing this.
Todd Blacksher
Oh, totally. It's all about embracing the community.
Who will be our next super hero unmasked? Stay tuned and follow/subscribe to this community!
MjH
