Today, we’re launching the Creo edition of the PTC Community Spotlights which launched last month in the ThingWorx Community.
Here’s where we have a chance to learn a bit more about our most active community members: who they are, the products they use, and what they like about being a member of the PTC Community. I, Ruth Morss, am your guest host on this Creo Parametric Tips board. Normally, I write Creo product collateral, but when Cat and Jaime Lee gave me the chance to get to know a community member, I grabbed it.
The first community member in our Creo Community spotlight series is Thom Braxton who goes by the handle @tbraxton. He is most active on the Creo Parametric 3D Part & Assembly Design Forum.
Thom has been a member of the PTC/USER industrial design and surfacing technical committee through 2002 and got involved again in 2019 to have the chance to influence Creo’s development. This TC is responsible for core surfacing, ISDX, Freestyle and ReStyle tools. He currently maintains the list of open issues for core surfacing functionality.
Above, Thom enjoys his favorite hobby – cycling. Grand Traverse trail in Vail, CO
The first non-Creo thing to know about @tbraxton is that he’s a native Floridian. He swears you can get used to the heat but not the humidity. Not surprisingly he enjoys the outdoors whether it’s the earth or the ocean. One caveat: Assume any body of water has a gator in it. “Alligators invade any body of water they can swim in. There are tons of them!”
He started using Creo back in the mid-90s in its Pro/Engineer days. He enjoys turning to the Community when he’s got a detailed technical question. “We’ve got community members who are invaluable resources and happy to respond to questions.”
Professionally, he used to run R&D groups at Motorola – thus the magazine cover highlighting his article ‘Mapping Your Good Intentions’. He now works as a consultant on products from medical devices to sporting goods to consumer electronics and even high-end chronometers.
A good day for him is working with people who are not technical by nature to define a problem to be solved – and then working to solve that novel technical problem. “I love the flexibility and the range of projects. I’d get bored quickly if I were working on the same thing for my entire career.”
He continues to provide engineering and design support to a leading manufacturer of respiratory personal protective equipment (PPE). It is satisfying to see product designed and manufactured in the USA being used to fight the effects of COVID-19 globally. Pro/E and Creo were integral to the development and manufacturing of these products.
On his wish list? Economical 3D metal printing suitable for mass market production parts. He said Motorola had one of the first 3D printers sold commercially in the early 90s and so he had the chance to work with the technology just out of college. “It’s evolved. It’s cool – but it’s not quite there for production parts in most applications.”
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