I came
into ME250 thinking that the design process was something that you could learn
easily, and then it was all about creativity past that point. I have learned throughout the semester that
this is not the case. While creativity
is certainly an important aspect, I came to realize that design is something
learned through practice and failing. If
I could redo my project, there would be a lot that I would do differently. As I drew sketches and made solid models in
the beginning of the year, I had no idea how difficult it would be to
manufacture any of it. We designed our
machine in a way that we thought would be easy to manufacture, but it turns out
there was a lot more underlying complexity that we would not understand until
we began to manufacture and assemble it.
I also
learned that while anything can be manufactured, you really need to consider
how it is going to be manufactured when designing anything. We initially designed modules with CAD
software without considering how we would achieve the desired geometry. Once we modified them to use the stock
material, we still failed to consider carefully enough how it was all going to
fit together. I think one of the
overarching lessons I learned was something Connor said in his GSI design
presentation that I didn't take seriously enough at the time: the importance of
planning out where and how you are going to fasten things together. We used a series of L-brackets to fasten our
chassis together, and it is one of my biggest regrets of the project. While I have effectively used L-brackets in
the past on projects involving wood, I had no idea how much more difficult it
would be to use them with metal. The
holes drilled had to be so much more precise and no matter what we tried there
was always a little bit of misalignment that wouldn't have been an issue on a
wooden piece. The amount of precision required
in tolerances when working with metal parts in general was something that
surprised me and was definitely a wake-up call.
Teamwork
was another thing I gained a lot of insight into throughout the semester. It was challenging to divide up the work
evenly among us while also playing to our individual strengths. I feel like we struggled a little bit with it
at first, but got a lot better at it towards the end. We also improved in our time management skills. In the beginning of the semester, we would
not treat lab time as being very important.
However, by the end, we were effectively utilizing our lab time as well
as any other time we met outside of class in order to finished things on time.
I think
the course could be improved by starting the manufacturing process
earlier. While I liked how we took the
exam early and didn't have to worry about it later, I feel like we were allowed
in the shop too late in the semester to effectively accomplish all we wanted
to. At the same time, I think my group
and I definitely could have made better use of shop time in the beginning of
November because we found ourselves rushing a lot that last week. It seems like all the teams had this problem
though. In hindsight, I think all the
stress in the last few days trying to get components to work was a positive
experience because it simulated some of the real life pressure that we might
face before a deadline for a project working for a company. Another way I would improve the class is the
make the lectures a little more interesting.
I feel like they weren't very interactive and could get dry at times
because they were so long and there was so much information to process at
once. More cool videos and simulations
would help as well as getting students more involved somehow.
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