Haroon Zuberi-Individual Reflection

ME250 which is my first design and manufacture class is basically what I though all my life Mechanical Engineering would be like. Studying all kinds of physics and Math in the two years before this was something that I did not know that Mechanical Engineers would have to do when I was 10 years old. After taking this class I finally feel like an actual Mechanical Engineer.

After taking this class I have definitely confirmed my decision that I want to specialize in the Manufacturing and design field. This is what I always wanted to do and now that I got a little hands –on I realized that this was the best and most interesting class I have taken so far.

In this I Class have learned the very important basics of how to design something and manufacture it. I attended all the lectures which were not only very interesting to me but also very informative about the past and also the present of the design and manufacturing world. At first we learned how to read drawing and blueprint of a part that is to be built, it was kind of tricky but was fun and I finally got a grasp on it. Then we learned in computer labs how to use Solid works to make our own part, this was something that I always wanted to learn. We made different parts in solid works and also figured out different types of material properties and their uses. Lastly we learned how to use the machining tools to build our parts. I used how to use a Lathe machine, Mill, Laser Cutter, drill press and water jet etc.

Finally after all this learning we were given some assignments and project for which we had to build parts ourselves and that when the Fun began. This was the greatest hands on experience I have received so far. By the time we were heading towards the end of the semester my team thought that I was very good at using the Mill, so whenever we had to machine a part at the Milling machine, it was usually my job to do it.

I this course I also learned a lot about time management. As being a part of the team I always kept things going instead of waiting for the last day to do something, which actually felt really great.

Also I learned a lot about team work. I have been through other team projects as well but nothing this serious and intense. This is the first time I realized how an actual team based project is. My team was great and we had a great team captain. He always made sure that everything was getting done on time. We were all responsible of what we were supposed to do and when. We had great communication between us and within a few days into the semester we were not only team partners but also great friends and we definitely hope that we can all get into the same team for ME350 and ME450 as well.

The most interesting thing I learned in this class besides the Manufacturing and design part was the information about gears. That thing came out to be way much more complicated than I thought. It was great to actually know how differentials worked as I always used to hear people talking about it but was way too complicated for me to understand.

The thing I did not really find very interesting was the Exam part of this course. I feel like the exam could have been a little more like the genre of this course unlike other courses in which we have to memorize and understand the material.

Over all this class was my best experience at UOFM so far. Our team also won the Third place in the competition which was also an awesome experience. I am really looking forward in taking ME350 and ME 450.

Harsh Pardasani - Final Thoughts ME 250

This was my first ever actual design class. It truly was much more than I expected and was new altogether to me. I have a great interest in cars and hence, have chosen this field of mechanical engineering. It was thus, a great opportunity for me to get a hands-on experience on what engineering and manufacturing is all about. I got to learn how to go about and use the various machines such as the mill, lathe, laser cutter, water jet, drill press, etc. It was amazing to learn about the precision and accuracy that these machines can attain. I also learned how complicated it is to manufacture even a simple part, as it requires a great deal of precision and may need to be used on my the various machines. The starting of this manufacturing process got me a little nervous and scared as I had never had such exposure to the manufacturing side. However, thanks to a great set of teammates, professors and the GSI's, I got to learn and use these machines with ease.

The lab sessions were very interesting and fun as we got to learn CAD. I have never used CAD before and hence, I was curious to use it as I have heard a lot about it and it's importance in the engineering world. I feel that I have a decent grip over the software now and creating various parts and assemblies should be a fairly easy job for me now.

One of my favorite lectures was about the gears. I had always wondered and was very curious how gears worked and functioned and what was the use of changing gears. I had always googled this, but I could never really exactly understand how it functioned. However, thanks to ME 250, I now know not only how they function , but can also adjust and change the gears to attain different gear ratios etc.

The task given to us to fulfill for this class was very challenging but interesting at the same time. I felt this task to drop the balls in the hole against another machine is close to an impossible task. However, thanks to the numerous lectures and great guidance and advice from our peers, GSI's and professors, our machine was starting to become a reality. We finally managed to create a perfectly functional machine which carried out all the functions we desired and hence, we seeded 2nd for the competition scoring 2 red and 2 black balls. We then however, finished 3rd at the competition, which was a great feat for us.

This win gave me great confidence and encouragement that mechanical engineering is the right major for me and I hope to do well in it. Overall, I feel that this class was alot of fun and I will be taking ME 350 this fall and hope to do as well again. 

Bill of Materials

	1/4" Acrylic plate	7x3.5		cost	$1.5
	1/8" Delrin plate	2x8		cost	$1

Aluminum plate, 1/16" thick

9x15

cost

$5.08

Aluminum plate, 1/4" thick

5x15

Cost

$9.60

Aluminum 1/2" square stock

1in

cost

$.5

Aluminum rod, 1/4" diameter

cost

$2.31

Aluminum rod, 3/8" diameter

2in

cost

$.3

Aluminum Square Tube Stock - 3/4"x3/4", 1/8" Wall

cost

$3.12

Aluminum 90 Degree Angle Stock - 1"x1"x6', 1/4" thick

15in

cost

$6.225

Steel threaded rod, 1/4"-20

cost

$4.06

$4.06

Spring steel, 0.02" thick, 1/2" wide

cost

$1.74

$1.74

Bright Brass Surface-Mount Hinge with Holes Nonremovable Pin, 3/4" Open Width

cost

$0.81

$1.62

Flanged SS bearing - 1/4" ID, 1/2" OD, 1/8" Thick

cost

$5.62

$11.24

Flanged brass bushing - 1/4" ID, 3/8" OD

cost $0.43

$1.72

E-Clip retaining rings - 1/4" Dia.

cost

$0.06

$0.24

Polypropylene wheels, 3" diameter, 1/4" bore

2

$2.86

3" Extension springs

cost

$1.22

Tamiya 72001 Planetary Gearbox Kit (includes motor)		cost	$14.25	$14.25
Tamiya 70168 Double Gearbox Kit (includes 2 motors)		Cost	$8.75	$8.75

The things we bought

Black and red Paint	cost	$7
Fabric	cost	$1.30
Two rubber wheels	cost	$3.8
Two Bearings	Cost	$8.40

The total cost of all components

$97.835

Final Blog Post: Semester Wrap Up

Team DC had quite an exciting competition day! As the photos above reveal, our team ended up coming in third. The victory was even better when they had a jumbo sized check to give us.

In the final week leading up to the competition, our team was able to get in a few practice runs on the table. Some of the last minute fixes we had were the creation of the red net, and then using the epoxy to finally secure the front gate.

The final machine, shown in the two pictures above, ended up being very similar to the sketch model created in the beginning of the semester. We ultimately decided to paint the machine red and black, as shown in the images. The front gate, which was driven by the planetary gear box, was made of acrylic. This piece could be rotated up and down to allow for balls on the table surface to be held inside the front corral of our machine. The rear of the machine was powered by the double gear box. The shafts were each supported by a pillow block and the machine side. Because our front wheels were fixed to the side walls, we knew that in order to turn we would have to slide the front. To help this issue, we actually used very fine grade sand paper and smoothed out all the imperfections of the front two wheels. Then,  on competition day, we greased the wheels to further reduce and friction. The black tower structure was made of .75” aluminum square tube stock. The tower then supported a net structure that was made of the spring steel, which we permanently deformed into the final shape, as well as the .25” threaded steel tube that we bent to shape. The top arms that knocked off the balls were made of the delrin plates on the laser cutter. The tower top was held under the size constraint by a piece of nylon string running to the rear axle. We tied slip knots on either end for adjustability.  Ultimately, the machine executed almost exactly as planned.

Ben, who drove the entire competition, had a few chances to practice before our seeding round. During the seeding, we managed to capture and deposit 168 grams. This included both red squash balls on the tower perches, both black squash balls on the tower perches, and four ping pong balls. After seeding was completed, we were ranked 2^nd overall.

During the competition, our machine performed exactly as planned. In every round, we successfully captured a red squash ball. Because our opponents machines were usually not capable of doing the same, we usually deposited the red ball and secured the win. In the final four, our machine really was tested. In our semi-final match with T-15, we were able to capture a red squash ball. However, T-15’s machine did the same thing and also got a black squash ball. After noticing this, we tried to make a comeback, but to no avail as T-15’s front wedges suspended our rear driving wheels.

In the consolation round, we had perhaps our greatest victory. After going out and capturing the red ball as planned, we proceeded to move to the goal. The opposing team, however, had successfully captured a black squash ball and was moving in to play defense. When near our goal, we were able to drop a ping pong ball, however, as we were about to drop the red squash ball, we were knocked off line by the other machine. Down by a squash ball, we had to fight for nearly a minute to deposit our already captured red squash ball. In dramatic fashion, after many attempts, we were able to deposit our red ball, but as a consequence ended up getting our machine stuck in our own goal. The opposing team, seeing they were then down, had 10seconds to score. In nail-biting fashion, the final seconds ticked away as the opposing team was inches from scoring another black squash ball. Upon culmination of the round, Team DC had an impressive celebratory high-five and the crowd went wild. 

Ben Burmeister: ME 250 Final Thoughts

I had a lot of fun this semester especially in this class.  This design class helped me know that Mechanical Engineering was the right choice of field for me.  I really enjoyed the guest speaker that came in and gave the talk about working in a group.  In was interesting to see how I fit into a design group.  It was very satisfying to be given a challenge and goal that we were able to overcome using our engineering.  The most important thing that I learned was to use Solid Works.  Now that I know how to use that software I can do a lot more.  I really enjoyed the lecture on 3D printing I find that very interesting.  It was very helpful to learn how to do a step-by-step manufacturing plan to help use be efficient with our time in the shop.  Something that I have never had to do was analyzing a machine to find out what are the important things that you should know about it.  Doing the design review was our first time that we needed to analyze our machine.  I look forward to taking the next design class in the fall.

This was the first team project that I have been a part of.  I was a little nervous about who I would be working with since none of my friends are in ME thankfully I got to work with a great group of guys.  It was sometime challenging to find a time that we all could meet to talk about the design.  There were a couple Saturday mornings that we had to sacrifice to stay a head of the competition.  Right from the beginning of the semester my goal was to be done with the manufacturing of the car a week early this meant that my team had to extra productive.  This was hard to do because we were all taking a full semester of classes and other activities.  We did make out goal of being done a week early this gave us time to work out the troubles in our robot.  We were also able to give it a nice paint job because we were done early.  From the very beginning we were told that time in the shop was limited and that the dead line come up quickly.  Time management is very important it.

The ball tower challenge was very fun to participate in.  For about three weeks I was putting in a huge amount of my time building our bot and it was very fun to be able to show it off to people at the design expo.  I wanted to come in one of the ranked positions because I felt like our bot was very well designed.  Even though we didn’t come in first, coming in third seemed to feel just as good.  I was extremely pleased with how our bot performed. 

This semester as shown me how much I like designing and building robots.  In the fall I plan on trying to join the MAAV Michigan Autonomous Aerial Vehicles. 

Jeff Chu | ME 250 Final Thoughts

This semester I have learned a lot about the design and manufacturing process. I think one of the most important concepts we discussed and practiced was the deterministic design process. I thought it was very helpful to first breakdown the problem, then devise a strategy, then create a concept to execute the strategy, and finally manufacture the machine in modules.  I feel that this is a process I can apply to many other problems I may encounter in the future.  Aside from learning how to break about the problem, I also learned about general machining practices and engineering concepts. For example, I now know the multiple different types of screws and fasteners, or the different types of bearings and the specific application for each, or the proper way to support a bearing and a shaft. I think this background knowledge will be good know in future courses here a the University and also in general when solving problems on my own.

One of my favorite parts about the course was the introduction to the machine shop. Before this semester, I have never had any hands on experience in a shop setting. I thought it was great that we were able to learn about different processes and ultimately use them to create our machines. I think it was very beneficial to gain hands on experience making things in the shop. It was very exciting to learn about how the machines work and what is the best way to use them. I never realized how much one could do with just a lathe and a mill. I also thought it was very beneficial to gain experience using SolidWorks and the CAD software. In today’s technologically driven world, I think exposure to the software now will definitely give me a leg up when I enter the working world.

On teamwork and time management, I was shown that it really does pay to be on the ball, especially in long-term projects. I saw first hand how important it is to make a detailed plan of your work and then stick to your schedule.  The last week in the machine shop and lab classroom truly showed this. Many teams seemed as if they were super behind schedule and may not finish their machine. I felt that our team was very disciplined in sticking to the schedule and staying on top of our tasks. This made the project work much less stressful than I think it could have been. We were able to tinker with our machine and even practice driving the last few days. We also were able to paint our machine, which improved aesthetics. Another thing I realized this past semester is how important it is to do your part, and do it well. For our team, we sometimes divided some of the tasks (i.e, machining certain parts, making certain drawings). If we were all not careful in our execution of these tasks, our machine literally may not have fit together. Being precise in our design and taking care to make sure our parts were within tolerance helped us to have a clean machine.

Ultimately, I think that the course was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to win prize money for placing in the competition. It was added incentive to make a great machine. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM-rkz6hi94 Video