Vishal's Reflection
For starters, I truly enjoyed this class due to the skills it taught. Not only did I learn engineering concepts during lecture, but the various projects and labs helped me foster interpersonal skills. These skills will be vital while working in industry along with the future team projects in the other Mechanical Engineering Design courses.
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Throughout the projects, there were many instances where I effectively completed my part and instances where I could have improved my approach. For the mini projects, our team divided the questions amongst each other. We then decided on a date to have the questions completed, so the team can review and revise the document before the final submission. Because of my other group projects and other coursework, it was difficult to always meet such deadlines. If I had better managed my time, I could have finished the questions in a timely manner. Nevertheless, my team was very supportive and even helped finish the questions that I was struggling in/didn’t know how to solve.
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A strength I had was my communication skills. I always tried to update the team in our group chat regarding any issues I had run into. Additionally, I tried to voice my opinions on deciding factors whenever the situation arose. Another strength of mine is my dependability. If I gave my group my word on finishing a certain section, I would try my hardest to complete the section to the best of my ability. Additionally, I tried to come to almost every group meeting whenever I was in the Champaign-Urbana area. However, despite my strengths in the group, I also had a few weaknesses.
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A weakness of mine is my time management. Because of all the other work and commitments I keep outside of this class, it can sometimes become hard to effectively work daily on the projects. Therefore, there have been a few times this semester, where I was forced to cram in writing the information before the deadline. Another weakness of mine is being too much of a perfectionist. I try to ensure the sections are completely right and thus I would spend extra, unnecessary hours in adjusting the answers of sections. This time could have been used to perform other work. Nevertheless, as I move on to the other design classes in the upcoming semesters, I will work to improve these two weaknesses.
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I believe the Additive Manufacturing that was covered in class was in-depth, and supplementing it with the Mini Project was very helpful in understanding the process. I learned the different types of 3D printing processes like FDM, LOM, SLS, and SLA. Learning about machining and the operation of a lathe was also very interesting and how the function of the lathe depends on the steps: roughing, reroughing, and finishing. In the casting of metals, the idea of Tsoldius and Tliquidus was very important in understanding the background of cooling metal. The idea of tolerances and the statistical data we can record was another aspect of the class that was informative; using the lab section and the equipment to measure the very small roughnesses of a cylindrical piece of metal was very cool. The most fascinating topic I thought we covered was the Design for Assembly information. Knowing how alpha and beta symmetries along with the specifications of each part will influence assembly time was extremely’ informative.Nevertheless, the injection molding machine was very fun to operate and learn about in lab. As the semester came to a close, the joining and assembly section helped expose me to the various welding operations like friction stir welding and laser beam welding. Finally, the sheet metal information helped display how manufacturers are able to manipulate the sheet metal for a desired operation. Overall, this course has taught me a substantial amount of material regarding the manufacturing process.
A course highlight for me were the beginning lab sections. We had not yet chosen our main project idea, but the lab helped in team building and getting to know the other individuals on my team. The brainstorming methods that we learned also significantly helped in picking our main project. Our Lab TA also was extremely helpful and explained concepts very well, allowing me to better understand the topics. Further lab sections were also fun in having hands on experience with the injection molding machine and seeing the CNC mill in action.
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The significant course challenges were the few questions in the mini project that were related to Fluids Mechanics or Solid Mechanics. These questions were quite complicated and required extensive research to figure out. Additionally, when TA’s and the instructor were not allowed to help in the answers for mini projects, it became a significant problem for myself especially. Nevertheless, such a policy did cause increased group interaction and group research to figure out the especially difficult problems.
ME270 knowledge will definitely be applied in real life engineering. Being able to CAD an object is one thing, but being able to properly manufacture the CAD model in an effective manner is another thing. Knowing the type of manufacturing methods and the advantages/disadvantages of each is significant. Additionally, I must take into account the function of the part and how each manufacturing method can compromise the part’s function. Finally, as the semester closed, I focused on recycling through the last mini project. The environmental impact has become increasingly significant and is a key value of consumers to buy eco-friendly products. Furthermore, I learned how machines, like an FDM, operate. It is not only the technical skills I have learned in this course. The interpersonal skills have also been invaluable for all types of group work. Without proper leadership and communication, groups can easily fall apart. I consider myself lucky to have had a phenomenal group, where each of us was on the same page for the project and clearly voiced our ideas and opinions.
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Overall, my opinion of ME270 has been positive and the curriculum has been designed to ensure students are truly able to understand manufacturing for a variety of products.