Drew Samtmann's Portfolio - CAD Work for the Skipper Program

CAD Work - Skipper Program

This page documents the CAD work I carried out for the Virginia Tech Orbital Launch Vehicle Team’s Skipper program. It focuses on part-level design, assembly modelling, simulation-driven sizing, mass-data management, and design-for-manufacture decisions that directly supported iterative builds, ground testing, and multiple flight articles. The material emphasizes engineering judgement, cross-discipline collaboration, and the CAD processes I put in place as I progressed from contributor to structures sub-team lead where I would become the Chief Engineer & Co-President soon after.

Project Type
Collaborative Work on College Design Team

Date
Oct. 2022 - May 2025

Progress
Completed

Skipper 2B, 2A, 1E, & 1D CAD

During the Skipper 1D and 1E development cycles I contributed as a CAD engineer under the direction of the structures sub-team lead at the time, supporting detailed part resizing, design-for-additive-manufacture of avionics bay interfaces, and finite-element studies in ANSYS Workbench to validate local stress and fastener loads. I rapidly produced many 3D printed prototypes, verified fit within the assembly model, and iterated geometry to match the team’s in-house manufacturing constraints (body tube modifications, print orientation limits, and post-processing allowances). Those iterations were informed by Instron test results for the body tubes and connection hardware so that CAD geometry reflected real mechanical limits rather than purely theoretical dimensions.

For Skipper 2A and 2B, my role transitioned to CAD lead for structures and involved both technical leadership and systems-level CAD stewardship. I led a CAD platform migration from standalone USB-based SolidWorks files to a managed Fusion 360 environment for a ~90-person team to eliminate file-version drift, enable cloud collaboration, and reduce the risk of outdated geometry propagating into manufactured parts. I created a mass-tracking database that enumerated nearly 500 parts, recorded measured versus simulated weights and current/previous centers of gravity, and fed that data into aerodynamic and performance simulations. Across all work I focused on design-for-manufacture, traceable CAD revisions, formal design reviews, and cross-discipline coordination (avionics, propulsion, and manufacturing) so that CAD outputs translated reliably into tested, flight-worthy hardware.

Skipper 1C & 1B CAD

While learning the team’s procedures during Skipper 1B/1C, I invested in both fidelity and presentation: I remodeled the entire Skipper 1B part set in Fusion 360 to learn SolidWorks-based workflows and to verify interoperability across CAD systems, and I imported Skipper 1C assemblies into Blender to create high-quality renders used in external design reviews and donor presentations. These activities served dual purposes—improving personal fluency with multiple CAD toolchains (reducing single-person knowledge risk) and producing clear visual artifacts that accelerated manufacturing and testing decisions (for example, demonstrating how the in-house body tube layup interfaces with internal bulkheads and avionics mounts).

Miscellaneous

Beyond flight-article geometry, I produced educational CAD breakdowns and rendered assemblies to transfer knowledge across the team: detailed, exploded CAD and Blender renderings of the Peregrine CO₂ separation assembly and the motor casing assembly documented internal construction and assembly order for newer members and for manufacturing handoff. I also designed the “grappling-hook” L1 nose-cone avionics bay: a compact, retention-first electronics carrier sized to install through a preformed hole in the cast plastic L1 nose cone, epoxied to the inner shoulder, and carrying a single flight computer and battery for certification flights.