This course was a valuable introduction to design. I had zero CAD experience coming into the course. Learning to use Solidworks and the months of experience acquired throughout the semester have greatly improved my proficiency with the program. Although I'm sure there is much more to learn, after completing the course, I feel that I have learned a great deal about the design process, how to create solid models of parts and how to assemble them efficiently. Using Solidworks to design our slotbot was practical and gave me a sense of what designing is like in the real world.
Manufacturing parts in the shop was a challenging process at first. To be honest, I did not remember most of what I learned in the shop training at the beginning of the semester. After a few sessions in the shop, I learned to use the mill, and lather properly. I also learned the processes needed for working with different materials. This course also showed me the capabilities of the laser cutter, water jet, and other various shop machines.
The combination of the design and manufacturing process in this course gave me a better understanding of the importance of each process individually. Solidworks drawings take time to construct assemblies that fit together perfectly, but the time is definitely necessary. Without the precise and thorough designs the manufacturing of the slotbot would have been near impossible. I did not realize how much thought has to be put into the design of even a simple mechanism. Having to manufacture the parts ourselves brought attention to the restrictions of the machines and what designs are more difficult to produce in real life.
Working in a team for the majority of the semester was difficult at times. With the amount of work done throughout the course, we needed to divided the team to complete all the assignments by the due date. Good time management was essential to surviving this course. Once the manufacturing stage began around thanksgiving, the course work increased and the pace sped up with it. It was a challenge to plan meetings and time in the shop in order to meet deadlines. This course dominated the majority of my time in the last few weeks of the semester, which taught me to be more efficient with my time and to balance work with other classes better.
There are a few areas that this course could improve on. The CAD training at the beginning of the semester was not enough in my opinion. Having added the class two weeks into the semester I was already behind and it was difficult to catch up in the fast passed tutorials. Having a few more lessons would have made the design stage of the slotbot much more pleasant. The shop training should be more hands-on and closer to the beginning of the manufacturing stage. I forgot the majority of what I learned by the time we started working in the shop. I felt that the lectures were informative but almost too in-depth for what we needed for the course. I think that more time explaining machining processes would have helped immensely in the manufacturing stage and on the midterm.
Our team could have improved our performance in the expo if we had started sooner with the manufacturing and design stages. At the start, we did not really know what to expect in terms of how long it would take to finish the project. As the deadline came nearer we suddenly had a much better understanding and rushed to finish.
I could have improved my time management, especially at the beginning of the project. Having finished the project and now knowing the time requirement, I definitely would have approached the assignment differently.
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