Individual Reflection - Patrick Hopps

Design: I learned an extensive amount of information regarding proper design methods with an engineering perspective. There are many factors that need to be taken into account when designing parts, such as availability of resources, potential costs, manufacturing methods, and much more. There are also many guidelines and general rules of practice that should be followed in order to allow for more universal, comprehensive designs.

Manufacturing: I learned quite a bit regarding how to manufacture components in the machine shop throughout the semester. It is not nearly as simple as just taking a chunk of metal and cutting it until it looks correct. Even some of the simplest-looking parts require a great deal of careful planning and time. I not only learned and improved my skills on various tools throughout the machine shop (such as lathes, mills, saws, presses, etc), but also learned how crucial detailed drawings and dimensions are in order to actually machine these parts. Tolerances are critical when it comes to working with metals, and can drastically alter how well components interact at assembly.

Teamwork: I feel this course is a great test of how well student engineers could work on a team, especially since it modeled a project team similar to a real-world engineering team. As a group, we must all learn to utilize our strengths properly, and everybody has some skill that can be very useful to the group. If everyone contributes, then the project is less stressful and runs more smoothly. I learned how to constructively brainstorm new ideas with my group, while we would positively criticize one another in order to breakdown and build up ideas until we decided we had found just what we were looking for. We learned how to make compromises within the group, whether it related to manufacturing, the use of ideas, the work done on assignments, or even who would acquire new materials. I think the main point is we learned was that everyone had their own unique abilities (regarding technology, machining, calculations, designing, CAD, etc) and everyone seemed suited for different yet equally important roles (managers, machinists, etc), and that as a group we can pool our talents to come up with amazing results.

Time Management: I learned that timing is critical when it came to project work. A major timing issue was being able to effectively use our time in the shop in order to make sure everyone was doing something productive at all times. When we had plenty to do, we would carefully plan out our entire week and reserve machines ahead of time in order to efficiently get our work done. Sometimes we would take turns and trade off work during the day in order to complete the machining of parts or finishing assignments due to different availabilities in schedules. But overall, I learned that by keeping an updated to do list and schedule, we could coordinate who is working on what, not only on a daily basis, but long-term in order to reach our end goals.

How to improve the course: The course could be improved in a number of different ways. I felt a lot of activities were not completely relevant to the material we were being taught, or at least did not need to be such a large portion of our assignments. Many of the individual assignments contained problems that could actually be used with the project we were working on, but quite often they did not seem too related to the material we were learning, and almost seemed to be excessive. I often ended up feeling like I was working on large physics worksheets rather than design or manufacturing assignments. Other times the pace of deadlines for assignments seemed too quick, almost rendering some of the work done at those times as useless for these assignments.

How I could have improved my performance: My performance could have been improved in a variety of ways. One thing is that I could have applied more effort toward the first few individual assignments. However, at the time I felt my work was acceptable. I see now that there was plenty more I could have done then, although it would have probably been easier to complete some of those assignments if I had a more extensive physics background. Another point of improvement that I see in myself, which I feel I got much better at by the end of the semester, is my sense of timing. I feel that by simply starting assignments earlier, I will be more on track and this will result in better timing rather than waiting until the last minute and cramming or rushing.