By day, Charles Marlen (aka Charles @Metaldesigner) is a designer and metal fabricator in Las Vegas, Nevada, fixing 'problem projects' for local clients. By night, he spends his spare time using CAD developing new designs to assist the disabled. GrabCAD caught up with Charles and had a long talk about his life, his work and his passions.
Charles didn't call himself 'Metaldesigner' for no reason - Metalworking has been his career for 20 years."I attended the University of North Dakota and while I was a student there I also taught/tutored math to the Welding Students at a local Technical School. In trade, I was allowed to take all the welding technology classes and become certified in different welding processes and receive a Welding Technologies Degree." After his time there, he picked up a career in Marine Welding, working as far away as the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Since his college days, Charles has been assisting at Group Homes for disabled adults. When an accident ended his career as a Marine Welder, he began to apply his design skills to help those most in need. "Maybe it is Karma that I helped people with disabilities BEFORE I was injured myself… but now that I feel healthier, I still enjoy the creative process to help others… only now, I have a new awareness of how even the simplest of “assistance” items can completely change ones life and create a better quality and enjoyment of life."
Charles works in inviable circumstances for a day-to-day job. "Every week is different." he says, "Many companies and casinos have items they need designed or re-designed because the original designed items do not fit their needs, or simply do not work correctly." With access to every flavour of CNC and metal fabrication machines and machining tools, he makes his client's designs work again. Solidworks figures heavily in each project, from drafting to testing to rendering and prototyping. Having his own workshop allows Charles to whittle away his spare time on personal projects, like this robot hand (above) being developed as part of his entry in the DARPA Humanoid Challenge.
What drives Charles is utilizing advances in robotics to give those disabled by accident or from birth the opportunity to live life to the fullest. Few around him know that he is partly deaf and still suffering from the lingering effects of his accident. "Truth be told JF, very few people know I am disabled and I really try not to make it about me. I get around just fine and am quiet happy working out of my Lazyboy chair. I would rather be known for some interesting CAD model that people like on GrabCAD than someone that is mostly deaf and has trouble standing up some days."
One of Charles's latest creations is the "Orlo Lift", a simple screw-jack platform that can lift an elderly person who has fallen up to sitting level. Orlo, the elderly gentleman who requested the device to be made lives in a remote area with few neighbours and reliable ambulance service. Falling down and being unable to lift himself up was a major concern for Orlo's wife - she was far too frail to help him up physically. Charles and Orlo worked together to think of the best idea, considering concepts like an expanding air bubble or a liftable hoist, but they were deemed too complicated. The final design was chosen for its low-cost, ease of use, reliability and ease-of-storage.
When designing the lift in SolidWorks, I made sure I would be able to cut, weld, and machine all the parts in my home workshop. I also made sure the dimensions would allow it to fit inside a large suitcase to be able to take it with me when we flew up North and delivered it to Orlo’s home. Much to my surprise, Orlo volunteered to test out his lift and immediately got on the floor. While the lift was designed to be used with an electric hand drill, Orlo’s daughter Brenda had purchased an extendable ratchet wrench which provided considerable leverage and didn’t require power, so we decided to use it in the initial test lift. Orlo scooted from the floor onto the wedge-shaped lift and within 1 minute his wife Lorraine had lifted Orlo 20″ up into a chair height position, and he stood up. It was a success! … and hopefully they will never have an emergency where they will have to use it.
Charles was incredibly excited by GrabCAD when he discovered it, saying "I feel GrabCAD may just be the best online CAD learning source that I have seen to date.". Having a community to share, to learn from and to communicate with struck a chord with Charles. For CAD users of all stripes and skills, be able to find and reverse-engineer CAD models is key to self-improvement and confidence. Strengthening one's confidence to do things is what drives Charles, be it through developing assistant devices like the Orlo Lift or helping others improve themselves through GrabCAD.
