Final Reflections: Liz Sherzer

              I learned a lot in ME 250 this semester. I had never heard of a lathe before, let alone used one. I had heard of a mill, but had never seen one in person. This semester, I learned how to use the lathe and got pretty good at it. I used the mill one or twice, but I’m not as good with that as I am with the lathe.  

                I also learned a lot of practical information that I didn’t know before. I never knew how screws were named or what the different types of bearings were. I knew basic knowledge about springs, but never as detailed as they got in this class. I also learned about how to finish a machine. I knew a little about the basic parts (walls, bottom, holes), but I never really thought about how to put them together or how they should be supported. Also, I learned a lot about motors and transferring work. 

                I learned how long and inefficient team work can be. Four people trying to work on one computer does not work. With some group members knowing more than others, led to the knowledgeable members doing most of the work and the knowledgeable members watching them. Team work only works well when they let the individual use the skills they have to help the group. Also, you can get really annoyed with our group during really long group meetings, and sometimes, it’s better to have some time away. That being said, I really enjoyed being a part of Team RamRod. I learned a lot and my teammates are a pretty good group of guys. 

Time management is a very important part of team work and projects. I think my team did a decent job of time management, but there is always going to be a lot of things needing to be done at the last minute, especially when you change your design as often as we did. 

I think the course could be improved in a few ways. Lectures were very boring, which is why many people didn’t attend lecture and a lot of people feel asleep in that class at least once during the semester. Passing things around did help, as did the examples, in making lecture more interesting. Having CAD homework would also be helpful for those people learning CAD for the first time. My group members were good with CAD, so I let them do all the CAD work. 

I really liked the bike lab and the motor lab. It was really helpful for learning about motors, bearings, and other mechanical parts for the first time. Mark was a really good GSI, even though he was a huge stickler for the rules and got mad when someone left the cabinet doors open.

I could have done better in this course if I tried harder. A lot of the time, I let my group members do the work because they knew more. I tried to learn from them a couple times, but mostly I was lazy and let them do it. Also, if I had paid more attention in lecture and started studying earlier for the exam, I would have done better. If I hadn’t gotten sick during the last push, I would have been a lot more help to my group and we could have done much better.