Because of its combination of applicable knowledge and practical experience, I enjoyed ME 250 much more than any other course this semester. I learned more machining techniques, engineering standard practices, and useful rules of thumb than I would have thought possible in one semester. Best of all, I now have the satisfaction of working with an awesome team and being a part of building something interesting and creative.
I am most grateful for the experience I gained in machining processes. I’ve had previous experience with hand and power tools but I hadn’t learned the value of the precision and complexity of the parts we could create with access to the machine shop and the knowledge learned in this class. The first thing I learned that was valuable to me was communicating the specific features of a part through standard drawings. I realized that without a clear and organized standard I would have probably made more mistakes while manufacturing our parts. Even with clear drawings, I got a few rookie mistakes out of the way (hopefully) by misreading and misdimensioning a couple parts during the machining process. However, even from those mistakes I learned the value of taking my time on future parts. In addition to the importance of drawings, I learned to mill, lathe, drill, ream, bend, cut, press, and tap various materials accurately and for specific purposes. I certainly think the skills I learned on the machines in the shop will be valuable not only for my future classes here at the University of Michigan but also for future employment opportunities.
In addition to the practical experience machining, I met three new friends in my first semester at U of M and learned to work with them to accomplish our common manufacturing goal. I got lucky having teammates who were all willing to put in extra time and work to get things done when necessary, but at times it was still difficult to meet the deadlines for this class. However, I feel the deadlines were realistic and taught me that as an engineer I will be expected to not only come up with well-designed ideas but to execute them quickly and effectively. Overall, I generally learned that two heads are better than one and I was often impressed by not only the creativity of my teammates but also how my creativity was challenged and improved as we communicated ideas to each other.
The thing I liked the most about this course was the hands on practical experience I gained. Each time I describe this class to someone else they think it’s interesting, exciting, and useful. I certainly agree. In some ways I think this class was more fun than school should be. I also really liked the helpfulness and approachability of all the staff members. I further appreciated that the scope of the class was appropriately challenging and realistic for a semester. Finally, I enjoyed the focus on practical engineering standards and evaluation of the physical project rather than our ability to memorize and regurgitate facts and definitions on multiple tests.
I wouldn’t suggest many changes for the course. The only thing I would have appreciated was more initial time and instruction in the machine and ME shop before we were turned loose on the machines. I do appreciate that we were trusted to handle and figure it out but I felt rather unprepared the first time I switched on the mill or lathe. As I noted earlier, some of the machining mistakes I made at first reflected that.
Overall, I’m proud of my performance in the course and I believe I did my best. However, I could have done a better job with seeking answers to questions or problems I encountered during homework or machining earlier and more often. I also could have put more effort into doing a significant part of each process and aspect of the manufacturing process. For instance, because of limited time and strong practical need for our team I didn’t get as much experience with the lathe as the mill. I also didn’t get as much practice with drawings and CAD models as I think I should have. Certainly I will have many more chances ahead of me, but I think I could have put more effort in practicing some of the little things.
In summary, I want to thank my teammates and the staff for their excellent job and tremendous effort during this course. I had fun and learned so many things about engineering and I certainly look forward to ME 350 next semester.
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