Individual Reflections: Danny Fuchs

ME 250 is one of the classes I have most enjoyed so far at the University. The fundamentals and processes that this course taught were new and exciting to me; specifically concerning the design and manufacturing processes. I discovered that designing is a procedure that does not just take place at one meeting. It’s a process that’s ongoing throughout the entire project and can undergo a multitude of reversals and alterations as problems arise or new ideas are formulated in order to adapt to the increasing competition or the surrounding environment (i.e. the arena). In addition, each individual decision must be looked at through different perspectives in order to ensure all possible scenarios are considered. Also, during the initial design process, no idea should be immediately disregarded. These ideas could form the basis of an idea that will lead to a successful design with the addition of minor, or in some cases, drastic changes.

Another procedure that was crucial to ME 250 was the manufacturing process. Before this semester I had little to no experience with just about every machine in the 250 shop beside the band saw. Now I am confident that I can operate the mill, lathe and drill press (in addition to the band saw), in the correct fashion. I also now understand the format of a Tap & Drill Chart. Overall, I learned that the manufacturing process will take longer than you originally thought and you should plan for mistakes being made. Despite how many hours were spent in the ME 250 shops, I still enjoyed the time while working on the project.

Teamwork was definitely the most prevalent element in this class. It was incorporated into every decision and needed to be utilized in order to complete almost every task. When working with the team, it was important to listen to everybody’s contributions. This way you could create and combine ideas and then analyze them with the intention of receiving constructive criticism on each idea. Sharing our ideas really facilitated the process of determining what our final design should model. This class reinforced the fact that team projects are meant to be completed by the entire team not just a couple members from the team. We found it hard to make vital decisions when only half of the team members were present. This slowed down our progression and caused us to fall behind our projected timeline regarding certain deadlines.

The whole “Milestone” system was a great way to teach the importance of time management. Although the “Milestones” were established by the faculty, our team was able to recognize that the deadlines did not only serve as times to assign grades, but more importantly they were setup to guarantee that our project would be completed on time. The chart that we made right before the start of the manufacturing process helped to keep us on track and encourage us to achieve the final product.

I thought the course as a whole was run efficiently and was very enjoyable. However, I thought the introduction to the purpose of the course and the main assignment (the slotbot) were initially vague. I was never really sure what the parameters of the slotbot were during the first couple of weeks, but as the course progressed everything became clearly defined.

Overall, I am satisfied with my completion of this class. My performance could have been improved if I was more of an advocate for learning how to use all of the machines. In the beginning we had one person learn how to use each machine. In retrospect this was not a good idea as there were times when the one member who knew how to use the machine was not available and the other three members were forced to take on an unfamiliar task. This only slowed things down. In addition, I could have done more research pertaining to different ways to execute certain functions in our slotbot and ways to manufacture and assemble our slotbot.