Erik Zillner Reflection

Before coming into this class I only had a very general idea about the concepts of design and manufacturing. I had only been exposed to what I see on TV and had never had a chance to dive deeper into what it takes to create and build a custom idea. The whole process is a much more difficult and tedious than I had ever imagined. But looking back on the course I now realize why all work must be very diligent throughout the entire process. A slip-up early on in the process would lead to many troubles down the road so I now know why it is extremely important to precede each step with a lot of caution. I never really understood the point of tolerances before we began our manufacturing process. I didn’t realize that there were a lot of little imperfections that could lead to errors later in the building phase (dull drill bit, error while measuring, etc.). I also learned the importance of having accurate CAD models. This is something that I had not been exposed to previously. A CAD model is the building block of the manufacturing process, which is why everything must be perfect with it. But even a perfect CAD model can’t predict future problems, as I found out. After manufacturing all of the parts and assembling our machine, we found out that some parts didn’t mesh together as nicely as we had thought or bolts were interfering with each other. This was a key learning experience for me. When a design is still in the works, it is important to consider every little detail from the length of a bolt to the size of the nut you want to use. Overall this was a very nice learning experience in a setting where we were allowed to make mistakes and then learn from them.

This course also taught me a lot about teamwork and time management. If there’s one thing that I took away from this, it was about using time efficiently while we were all together. In a school setting where everyone is busy with their own schedules, I found that it was very important to use our time as efficiently as possible when we were all able to meet together.

Overall I thought the course went very well, but I had some problems with it as well. I found that it was very difficult to find machine times during the manufacturing stage because I felt like we had such a short time to build our machine. We spent about 13 weeks designing and then about 3 weeks building and with all of the classes using one machine shop, it got frustrating when we couldn’t find time for the machine we needed. I realize designing is the most important part of the overall process but I think it would have been helpful to design and manufacture little bits at a time.

I could have improved my performance by learning the ins and outs of the CAD program a little better. I sometimes felt that my inadequacies with the CAD program would limit my ability to help with the overall design. It’s something I can look to improve in my later years here at the university.

At the end of the day, I can say that I took a lot away from this class- something I can’t say for most classes- and what I’ve learned in this class will carry me through the rest of my time here and throughout my career.