Adam Sachs' Individual Reflection

            I had a great experience in ME 250 and I learned a lot. Firstly I learned a lot about what the design process really is and the work that goes behind it. For example, before this class immediately after deciding the strategy I would have gone straight to the shop to start building the machine. This class taught me the value of having a well-planned design including working CAD models and engineering drawings. My internship this summer involves a lot of CAD modeling and testing so I have very happy to gain a lot of practice and experience with Solidworks. I also learned a lot about the specifics behind manufacturing. Before this class I had no knowledge of thread sizes, chamfering, nor the knowledge to use the mill and lathe machines. After help from Bob and Mark, I am very confident in my abilities on both machines as well as deciding on which thread sizes/drill bits to use.

           

            I also learned a lot about teamwork and time management in this course. Since I am usually the person to put off assignments until it is close to the due date, this course was a wake up call for me. I like how the course forced us to abide by a different timeline and thus, enabled us to be prepared come manufacturing time. I also learned more about how to work on a project like this as a team. At first it was pretty simple, the team would meet up one night a week and do the homework assignment. However once the project really started, that was when the teamwork was very important. We decided to work in twos in the lab because it was more than enough manpower and nobody would be working alone if they ran into a problem. We also found it easy to split up some of the assignments that didn’t necessarily require a full team effort such as the bill of materials and the CAD models. Of course, every person on the team had input as to what the model should be and what materials to use but more that one person was not required to actually do the work.

            One way I would improve this course would be to alter the lecture. The lectures were filled with some good information but I felt as if the bulk of lecture was unnecessary information that we never talked or used in the course. One way to do this would be to combine a couple lectures together and have the midterm early. This would give more time for teams to work on the projects together and eliminate unnecessary information.

            I could have improved my performance in the course by putting more effort into the planning and design of the vehicle. Unfortunately, we ran into a lot of problems in the manufacturing phase due to a lack of consideration for some obstacle such as planning for the battery box. If we also spent a little extra time planning, it could have been possible to improve our vehicle even more by making our arm retractable.

            Overall, I enjoyed this course very much. I found ME 250 to be a necessary step for all engineers to take in learning to master the design process. I am much looking forward to ME 350 in the fall because of this course.