Lessons Learned
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After a semester of engineering classes we were tasked with designing and assembling a project utilizing hydraulics or gear ratios.
My group decided on a wind-up car utilizing gear ratios. I took lead of the modeling in Solidworks, preparing the gears and frame
for 3D printing and CNC respectively. I didn't have much experience with CNC, aside from one of the
metal signs I made the year before, and this was my first experience 3D printing. I was able to learn
quite a bit about both processes.
While the project itself was simple I was beginning to learn about the engineering process
and what designing on a team meant.
Because there were so many groups and only a couple 3D printers, the printers were running almost all the time, causing our prints to warp.
I hadn't included any tolerences into the design, so our gears didn't fit together great. Despite a couple attempts at reprinting, they
never got better. We had to shave down our gears and match them the best we could. While it wasn't perfect, it worked! This taught me the
importance of tolerences in design.
We also had some troubles when it came to scheduling for our team, as we were all in different sports. A majority of our issues could have been
avoided had we communicated earlier and more often. This project influences how I work in groups to this day.
Our speedster!