My first impression of ME 250, after our first class in September, was, “Wow…this class may actually be a lot of fun!” It did prove to be fun, but it was also a tremendous amount of work. The most important thing I learned from ME 250 didn’t have anything to do with design or manufacturing, really: ME 250 taught me how to manage my time and keep track of many deadlines. Along with this, the class also taught me much about the design process, manufacturing and machining techniques, and teamwork. All of these skills will be invaluable to me in my future work as an engineer.
I never realized how important time management really was until I found myself responsible for all of my ME 250 assignments as well as three other classes worth of work. With so much going on, I really had to learn how to schedule my time such that all assignments were completed by their due dates. Also, as is common in such things, my team (and myself, individually) managed to waste a lot of time in our design and manufacturing process. I can remember days when we’d spend four or more hours in the machine shop and, upon leaving, reflect that very little had actually been completed that day. As we gained direction in the project, though, and understood what exactly we wanted to machine and when our project needed to be completed, we were able to better manage our time. I learned that the worst thing that we could do, as a team, was approach a team meeting, design session, or machining time without a plan of action. Having a list of daily/weekly goals, along with our calendar of important due dates, were all very good ways of making sure that our work was all completed on time.
My favorite part of Design and Manufacturing was learning how to use the machine tools to make parts which were reasonably faithful to our engineering drawings. There were many tools that I had never used before (ex. lathe, waterjet cutter, and laser cutter) and I therefore much appreciated the opportunity to learn how to operate them. While working in the shop, I learned the basics of machine set-up, operation, and proper tool usage. I also learned that the most important thing one can do while learning a new skill (like how to use a manual mill safely, for example) is to ask informed people for help. Bob, Marv, John (the auto shop guy), and a few ME 450 kids were very helpful and willing to share their knowledge. I have always been particularly interested in manufacturing, along with any type of hands-on work, and knowing how to use these shop tools is a very useful skill.
Teamwork was pivotal to our success in this project. I believe that I lucked out in regards to my teammates—we worked well together, worked well separately (for the most part), and managed to get along even towards the end of the project, when tempers and sleep schedules got a little frayed. Working on this team helped me to improve my communication skills and interpersonal skills. Coordinating our different schedules was difficult, as people were generally very busy but busy at different times of the day, but we managed to make it work. My team was also able to pick up some of my slack the weeks following the death of my grandfather. I don’t think I would have been able to make it through the early November part of the class were this not the case. I never thought that I could appreciate having a team so much: I had been accustomed to working on teams where only one or two people completed all of the work and everybody took credit for it. Thankfully, this was not the case for my 250 team: people played to their strengths, but everybody worked hard.
I believe that this course could have been improved by having ME 211 & 240 as prerequisites. Having taken both of them prior to taking 250, I believe that my knowledge base from these two classes helped me out a whole lot, at least for completing the homework. I also suggest that a rulebook be made available well in advance to the start of manufacturing. Ideally, a rulebook for the game would be made available to teams before they start designing their machines. It was very frustrating to have machine ideas invalidated by particular rules that didn’t appear until well after design completion.
In regards to myself, I believe that I could have improved my performance by staying later in the shop and learning more about the analysis of machine components. I did a lot of machining and a lot of part simulation in Solidworks, along with creating machining drawings, but didn’t learn much about structural analysis. I also had a few days in which I didn’t make it into the shop for team meetings. Apart from feeling guilty, I believe that it’s important for all team members to attend as they are able. Making decisions is easier when all voices are heard and informed debate can happen. Generally, though, believe that I performed pretty well in the course. My team’s machine also worked as we expected, and I don’t think that I can ask for anything more than that.
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