Cover Story
HANDS-ON LEARNING
MANUFACTURING DESIGN WITH INTENT to anticipate how their models will be used and potentially modified by others in order to be produced.
What good is an elaborate widget design if it can’t be manufactured? That’s the valuable lesson nearly half of first-year engineering students learned last fall while using computer-aided design (CAD) software to create solid models of mechanical parts and personal-interest projects. Mechanical engineering professor John Mirth revised the institute’s graphical communications course to highlight “design intent” concepts. This mindset forces the students
12
Mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, engineering physics and physics students were given the task of creating a solid model of a bicycle disk break rotor. The design was graded on its flexibility to change the number of spokes and the pattern of the holes, and the ease in which these changes can be made. “This is a more difficult challenge than simply creating a solid model of a given part,” says Mirth. Mechanical engineering student John Czarnecki used SolidWorks software to create a scale model of a motorcycle (featured here and on the cover), showcasing the vehicle’s tube frame, wheels and exposed
STORY BY DALE LONG PHOTOS BY BRYAN CANTWELL
Michaela Kivett, a freshman biomedical engineering student, created a 3-D scale model of the Roman Colosseum (enlarged above) in a class last fall. Freshman John Czarnecki used software on his laptop computer to design the 3-D image of a motorcycle (below). A 3-D printer then converted his craftsmanship into a detailed scale model of the vehicle.