Weblog Final Documentation Individual Reflection - Corwin Stout

At the beginning of the semester, I knew vaguely what the names of the machines in the shop were called and what they were used for. I had taken a CAD class over a year ago, but had used a different program that was 2D based. I had never built anything for a class that was more interesting than a balsa wood boomilever. Through the shop training, help from more experienced friends, and having time to experiment, I was soon able to create the parts we had designed for our machine. Solidworks was hard to understand at first, but after we finished the third or fourth CAD assignment I was able to make a model of anything I could think of.

We had a great group dynamic. We had no true leader, each of us lead the group in different ways. Michael was the perfectionist who kept us on track and didn't let us submit any work that wasn't error free and well organized. Mac had the most experience in the shop, and helped us by letting us know when our designs could be improved to make manufacturing easier and by looking over our shoulder in the shop. Vince was pointing out problems with the machine and proposing solutions all the time. The concept of having a spring-loaded, telescoping arm lifted by a winch was my idea, and I came up with various other ideas throughout the semester. Our group got along very well, and our final machine only worked as well as it did because of each of our contributions

Our group spent many hours on each assignment, and many more overall hours in the shop. We put in as much time as was necessary to get a good job done. However, several tasks we performed as a group of four could have been accomplished by one or two people. We also made sure to have the full team's approval before working on the machine, which kept the quality of the machine higher but meant that time was spent explaining ideas instead of manufacturing.

The class could be vastly improved if the rules of the competition and building materials are given to the students within the first couple of weeks, rather that halfway through the semester. We were asked to design a machine early on without knowing exactly what it had to do or what it could be made out of, and as the rules were clarified and the kit contents were finally released we had to constantly change our designs. Many creative ideas were abandoned early on in the semester by students who gave up on their Ferris wheels and conveyer belts because they didn't know if their idea was too complex and if it would be breaking any rules later on. Also, the homework should have been graded and returned much faster. We can't be expected to improve our work if we don't know that the last work we did wasn't correct. This was especially the case for our CAD homework.

I could have done better in the class by going to office hours for help in Solidworks for the first couple of assignments. I didn't realize that I had been using the wrong units for my models until after we got our second assignment graded. I also should have been more persistent in getting help on the FRDPARRC tables.