Well, it’s just about over. The fall 2011 semester is coming to the end and looking back I can honestly say that my engineering knowledge has increased an absurd amount. Obviously ME 250 has taught me a lot about design and manufacturing. The first thing that really hit me was the design process. The design process is much more complicated than I ever could have imagined. From keeping your mind open in the early stages with strategy, to learning what constraints you have when the details increase, keeping track of everything and overcoming problems is quite the challenge. I also found out that finishing a design full out is crucial to beginning the machining process. Having a model 90% done might seem pretty good, however those last tiny details and making sure the whole machine will work with the fastenings and such is just as time consuming and important.
After finishing the design comes machining, and I can honestly say I knew absolutely nothing about machining parts before this class. I learned that when machining parts you need a couple of vital elements: a plan, and time. Having an outlined plan on how to machine each part you need makes the whole process a lot smoother and faster, reducing time needed in the shop. Also, regardless of how prepared you are, machining is very time consuming, much more time consuming than I had expected. Getting an early start will definitely be a priority for me in the future.
Teamwork in the shop is also important to a machine’s success. Multiple people doing multiple parts for the machine at the same time significantly reduces time spent, and pressure on individual teammates. Knowing your teammate is working in the shop on another part is much more relaxing than seeing a tall order of parts you have to make. Also teammates catch errors, which after spending a couple hours in the shop can happen. In order to make working as a team successful, every team member should be as involved as possible in each part of the process of creating the machine. Therefore, any member can make any part on the robot, knowing the tolerances, function of the part, etc.
Overall I found the course supremely educational in the field of design and manufacturing. At first it was a bit daunting because of the gap between my training sessions and the actual machining process. I knew nothing about using the machines in the shop before this course, and the training sessions were a lot of information to absorb in a short period of time, let alone retain. After “jumping in the pool” and becoming more familiar with the machines the process became easier, however it was definitely a bit much at first.
I feel I could have improved my performance in the course by being more involved with the CAD design. I contributed a bit, however not as significantly as my other teammates. Knowing the model and how each part worked would have made machining easier for me, and enabled me to contribute even more. However I’m glad I was able to experience what this course has to offer, and am certain that what I’ve learned will apply to what endeavors I pursue.
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