Individual Reflection - Josh Singer

Although the project was time consuming and stressful, especially towards the end of the class when cramming to make final preparations for the design expo, I am glad to say that it was all worth it. I have learned a great deal from ME 250 not only about design and manufacturing, but also teamwork, time management, and other important skills necessary to complete such a demanding engineering project. These skills and this knowledge that I have gained will surely come in handy in future classes and jobs.

Before this class, I knew very little about design and manufacturing. I was familiar with SolidWorks and some aspects of design, but had little to no knowledge on the process of how to transition from a design, such as the SolidWorks model of our robot, to the actual manufacturing of that design and making it a reality. I learned the different methods of manufacturing and how to apply them to specific parts and materials, as well as how to assemble those parts to make the final product. I learned this not only from lecture, but also from actually getting to work and complete the project in the machine shop. This first-hand experience of manufacturing in the machine shop was, in my opinion, the most valuable part of the course. I quickly went from having no knowledge or idea of how to machine a single part to being fully functional on most of the machines and tools in the shop.

The project would have been a disaster had I not realized the importance of teamwork and time management. Every member on the team made significant contributions to the project. One person would not have been able to add on the responsibilities of the other members to their own and complete the project by themselves, had the other members decided not to participate. There was simply too much work to be done. For this reason, we were "forced" to get along and work on the project as a team, not as an individual. The amount of work that had to be done to complete the project also made me realize the importance of time management. For example, we decided to machine the majority of our parts, and spent most of our time the last two weeks before the competition in the machine shop. Had we been cut short by a day, or been disorganized and poorly managed our time, we probably would not have finished.


Furthermore, I am very fairly satisfied with how the course was structured. The lectures, machine shop training, and labs, which occurred before the test and in the beginning stages of the project, covered a basic overview of many of the manufacturing processes and components of design that are widely used today. Much of this information was very necessary to have in order to start and finish the project. For someone like me, who was not too familiar with these concepts initially, the lectures, training, and labs were both a good introduction to design and manufacturing in the real world as well as a good "pre-requisite" for the project. Also, the hands-on project itself was the best experience I have had with design and manufacturing, and I acquired skills that could not have been taught through lectures. Having said that, I feel that having had more time in the machine shop before the project, such as having to complete assignments similar to the lathe and mill exercises, would have been very beneficial.

I am satisfied with my performance in the course, however, there were definitely areas I could have improved upon. After starting the project and getting experience using the tools in the machine shop, I felt very comfortable using the machines and tools as well as knowledgeable as to the purpose of everything in the shop. Unfortunately, the exam came before I started working on the project in the shop, and I did not feel like I had as great of an understanding of the shop as I do now. I was not very comfortable with the manufacturing side of the class, and it showed on the test. Looking back on it, I should have gotten more help with understanding this information before starting the project. Overall, I enjoyed the class and am very happy with the end result.

Individual Reflection - Jenna Ross

I learned a lot in my time in ME 250 and surprised even myself with how much I enjoyed it.  The class does a good job introducing the engineering process, and it gave me valuable insight into the role of a mechanical engineer in the work force.  We got to follow the engineering design process from start to finish.  We analyzed a given problem and constraints, brainstormed the best concepts, selected a strategy, made a rough solid model, made a CAD model, manufactured our parts, assembled the machine, tested it, and had it functional before our deadline.  This process will be used throughout our careers, and I am glad this course gave us the opportunity to get more accustomed to it.

The most important thing I did in this class was become more familiar with SolidWorks.  I had a little bit of prior experience with the software, but only enough to know a handful of basic functions and make a few basic parts.  The lab sessions really expanded on what I knew and taught me how to make functional assemblies and drawings.  Knowing this CAD system will be helpful in the future when working on other projects or even looking for a job.

Working in the machine shop was my favorite part of this class.  I really liked making our design come to life and getting the use the wide variety of available tools and machinery.  Bob and Mark really did a great job teaching us how to use all the machines, as well as answering my seemingly endless stream of questions.

Looking back, I can see that my teammates and I made a few mistakes during the semester.  If we got to do it over again, I would start by reevaluating our design to better utilize the materials we were given instead of relying on our limited budget.  If we had made better use of the kit, our robot would have functioned the same (if not better, due to weight) and we would have saved ourselves the money and hassle of driving around town looking for the parts we needed.  Our team also would have been much better off if we had started our manufacturing about a week earlier than we did.  With the schedule we followed, we were all in the machine shop about 6 hours a day during the last week.  It would have been much more beneficial to finish up our manufacturing the week before and leave the last week for running final tests.

As with any course, there were a few things in ME 250that could be improved.  First, it would be very helpful to have a grading rubric for each assignment.  For the assignments where we had to show off our manufactured parts, for example, we were unsure if we were being graded on their completeness, neatness, or accuracy within the tolerances.  For the final grading of the robot we were unsure whether our last minute changes were going to affect our grade because we didn’t know how far we were allowed to deviate from the computer models.  A rubric provided to us ahead of time would have cleared up all of this confusion.  The only other improvement I could see being made is an update to the list of fasteners that were supposed to be provided in the shop.  (CTools>Resources>Project>inventory-of-screwsboltsnutswashers.pdf)  There were a few times where I went to get a part only to have the GSI tell me they didn’t carry it.  Simply making these minor adjustments to the class would greatly improve it, and I think the incoming students would really appreciate it.

Individual Reflection

The class ME 250 was a great learning experience.  It was a lot more in depth and helpful than I thought. Being in this class has helped me in becoming more informed on what mechanical engineering is all about and taught me a lot of the basics in machining different materials and parts. It has also introduced me to solid works again and to other programs that are useful in deciding how to make something. This class has taught me how to use the lathe, mill, drill press and band saw. Being able to make our own design of a machine really helped in learning how to better use these four machines. It made the process more natural and not as intimidating. I also learned many other skills besides using the machines. I learned how to drill and tap a hole to the right size, how to press wheels onto a shaft and many other things. Accuracy is very important when pressing wheels and time should be taken when doing this so a mistake is not made. Making a mistake can take a lot more time to fix rather than just taking the time to do it right.

Another thing I experienced in this class is working with a team or group while making our project. Being in a group really prepares me for a job later in life, because a lot of engineering jobs require working in a group. I really had to learn to work with other people’s schedules and not leave things to the last minute. Mistakes or unforeseen problems can always happen that could take a lot of time to fix. If time was not managed efficiently then our group could have not finished our project on time. Also splitting up the work equally was a huge thing in getting our project done on time. If all of the members of the team weren’t putting forth a good amount of effort then it would make the other team member have to pick up their slack and put in a lot more time. It would also make finishing the project longer because everyone wouldn’t be working as efficiently.

Overall I think this is a great course. There are a few improvements that could be taken into consideration. First, I think that when giving out motors to the students, the students should be allowed to pick any two motors and be just given those motors without trading. They shouldn’t be given extra motors in the kit that they might not use.  Second, a better play field could be made because when looking at it, it seems like the only obstacles to drive over are the hinges. In the front of the course the two pieces of wood that are split don’t line up that good and this causes another obstacle for players.

During the whole course I thought my performance was pretty good. I could have improved by studying some of the main concepts more and not having to look back at the lecture slides when machining parts. By not doing this I took up more time figuring out how to do different things when making the robot.

IT LIVES!

ROUND 1




Well, the season has come to a close and our robot is without a doubt, a success. Out of 40 teams, our managed to pull out an 8th place victory, something the Humongous Melonheads are proud of!

Our robot design stayed true to our vision through out the entire Design, Build, Test process, with some slight modifications.

As stated in our design proposal, our robot is heavy, powerful, all wheel drive, and has a locking, goal-blocking mechanism powered by a solenoid. (all of which are shown in working order in the above video) Our robot completed its mission!

Check out our photos in more detail by clicking these pictures:

Our robot is a well built machine, that can get the job done! It's all wheel drive made it a very easy to control robot, and allowed for maximum distribution of the power from our motors, which made driving fairly easy.

ROUND 2

VIDEO

As the design expo approached, we spent countless hours trying to machine our last parts and piece everything together. After finishing our last parts on the mill and lathe, we began to assemble our machine. We ran into a few problems that required fixing before our robot could be complete, however. For example, when trying to press fit the first shaft into a wheel, we realized that the shaft was too big after it was too late. The shaft was bent out of shape and we were forced to machine a new, smaller shaft, as well as take off some material from the other shafts. We also dealt with problems that caused us to deviate slightly from our original design. For instance, we decided to substitute wood for aluminum as the material used to make the motor stand. Despite all these last minute changes, our machine concept remained the same.

We are currently finishing up all engineering for our machine including the solid model, drawings, bill of materials, and manufacturing plan for all of the parts and the final assembly.

In addition to the solenoid that we had to order for the most critical module, we purchased 1/4'' aluminum plate for the body. We also plan on ordering chains for driving the wheels, as well as bearings to keep them in place.

We encountered a few problems throughout this process including aligning the motors properly with the shafts, and designing the sprockets to stay within our budget and to be made out of material provided in the kit. Since the motors were not tall enough to align with the shafts, we decided to cut out sections in the bottom of the main plate, or body, that could fit blocks made of 3/8'' aluminum square stock that would elevate the motor to the proper height (shown below). We also decided to make the sprockets out of 1/4'' aluminum plate that is provided by the kit, in order to stay within our budget. Besides these minor problems, the project is going smoothly. We plan on manufacturing the remaining parts and assembling them into our final machine by the middle of next week.   

Pictures of MCM from last post