Before the start of this class I had only a little CAD experience and no experience with machining. I have learned a great deal throughout the semester about how to create solid models, assemblies, and drawings in Solidworks. Although I still have a lot to learn about the program, I am miles ahead of where I was just a few months ago. I have also learned a great deal about the design process and how difficult it can be. As we designed our slot bot, I learned that changes in the design are often necessary to make it easier to manufacture or perform better under real circumstances. It is possible to design anything, however the tricky part is being able to get that design to function properly, something we as a team struggled with at times. I think the most valuable lessons I learned were in the machine shop. The first day I went into the machine shop to begin work on MS-7 I was completely lost and had no idea what I was doing. I couldn’t remember anything from the short shop training I had almost two months prior. Slowly with the help of others I was able to learn how to properly use the mill and lathe, as well as the laser cutter and water jet cutter, although the water jet was never used to machine our final bot. I am now much more comfortable in the machine shop than I was just one month ago.
Time management was essential in completing this project on time. After starting in the shop we only had a few weeks to get the entire bot machined and put together. At the start of our machine shop time we would try to have two people on each machine making a part. However, by the end we split up the work and usually everyone was making their own parts. If I didn’t have time management skills before this class, I definitely do now. The last few weeks of the project I had to schedule my life around this class. While that was at times stressful, it was a good learning experience.
I have several suggestions to make the class run more smoothly in the future. First, I believe that the CAD tutorials should be slowed down and covered in more depth. It seemed like the CAD labs were always rushed and took information that was supposed to be covered in an hour and a half and crammed it into 50 minutes. This caused important information to be rushed. During the later and harder tutorials if I missed something it became very difficult to jump back in and made the lab pointless after I missed one step (by the time I figured out what I missed, I missed three more steps.) Second, find a way to make the machine shop training more in depth. Possibly create videos of how each machine works and how you are supposed to machine certain parts. The hour long shop training was essentially pointless for me, because by the time we got into the shop to manufacture our bot, I had forgotten all the small details of the training.
If I were to change my performance in this course, I would pay closer attention to deadlines and how much time it will take to complete those deadlines. Everything took much longer than I expected it to take, especially machining. If I were to do things differently I would start machining earlier to eliminate the last minute rush in the shop. If we had not been so rushed at the end, our team could have had time to test our bot and fix the performance issues that we did not have time to fix.
Time management was essential in completing this project on time. After starting in the shop we only had a few weeks to get the entire bot machined and put together. At the start of our machine shop time we would try to have two people on each machine making a part. However, by the end we split up the work and usually everyone was making their own parts. If I didn’t have time management skills before this class, I definitely do now. The last few weeks of the project I had to schedule my life around this class. While that was at times stressful, it was a good learning experience.
I have several suggestions to make the class run more smoothly in the future. First, I believe that the CAD tutorials should be slowed down and covered in more depth. It seemed like the CAD labs were always rushed and took information that was supposed to be covered in an hour and a half and crammed it into 50 minutes. This caused important information to be rushed. During the later and harder tutorials if I missed something it became very difficult to jump back in and made the lab pointless after I missed one step (by the time I figured out what I missed, I missed three more steps.) Second, find a way to make the machine shop training more in depth. Possibly create videos of how each machine works and how you are supposed to machine certain parts. The hour long shop training was essentially pointless for me, because by the time we got into the shop to manufacture our bot, I had forgotten all the small details of the training.
If I were to change my performance in this course, I would pay closer attention to deadlines and how much time it will take to complete those deadlines. Everything took much longer than I expected it to take, especially machining. If I were to do things differently I would start machining earlier to eliminate the last minute rush in the shop. If we had not been so rushed at the end, our team could have had time to test our bot and fix the performance issues that we did not have time to fix.
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