CANTON -- A broken all-terrain vehicle shock absorber helped lead a team of SUNY Canton mechanical engineering technology students, including a Norwood resident, to the finals in a national competition, and could lead to an new product on the market.

Brandon Trimboli of Norwood, Joel Landry of Malone, and Kyle Szelestey of Salisbury Mills recently found out that their project was among the top 10 in the nation for the Dimension Printing 2011 Extreme Redesign Challenge at the collegiate level.

The project took shape when another student blew out the rear shock on his Honda ATV. Instead of repairing it, the three aspiring engineers decided to design a brand new suspension system in their advanced computer drafting class.

"Our class assignment was to create a real-world solution using modern materials," Trimboli explained. "We decided to reverse-engineer the shock to improve its performance."

The students generated renderings and designs of a brand-new shock creating a lower center of gravity on the vehicle and better control. Elements of their design have the potential to become high-end replacement parts within the ATV industry.

To take their project beyond design, the students printed out renderings of the parts on a Dimension Printer, fashioning a functioning plastic model of their concept.

Assistant Professor Daniel J. Miller said that the addition of a rapid prototyping machine has added potential for experimentation and invention within the mechanical engineering technology program.

"Students previously had to cast or mill prototypes in metal," Miller said. "Now they can run a program to print out scale models of their projects in plastic."

Other student projects that have taken shape on the Dimension Printer include a scale-model working wind turbine and custom lightweight bicycle parts.

"One of our strengths is that we encourage students to apply theoretical calculations in real-world applications," said school Dean David J. Wells. "We emphasize efficiency and innovation in all of our technology related curricula."