For this project, the class had to assemble a gear box with a propeller that spins when a handle is
turned. The caveat is that each group of three or four students must research and use a different
manufacturing process. In addition, if we were to create a perfect reproduction of the IronCAD files that
were given to us, the components of our gear box would not fit together. Thus, we needed to communicate
with the other groups and work out tolerances for our parts. More details on the project can be found here.
I was a member of the group responsible for manufacturing the solid side. Since it is such a large
component that needed a large piece of material with intricate cuts for the shafts, most of the
manufacturing processes were either too expensive or simply impossible to use for our part. The only
viable candidate was CNC Milling.
Working with CNC was an interesting experience. I had actually worked with a CNC Milling Maching in
1995 as part of a Summer Engineering Program. The machine I used then was rather primitive. We had to
type in our relative coordinates using a keypad. Even though our manufactured assembly project uses a
more modern design-to-product process, working with Pro-Engineer was not a piece of cake. It took a long
time to figure out how to take our IronCAD schematic and make the correct cuts into it. ProE is a steep
learning curve, but it has proven to be quite powerful. I was quite satisfied with our final product.
Before presenting the link to the final web report, I just want to acknowledge the help of Michael
Vandeweghe. Without his great assistance in using ProE and the Milling Machine, our final product would
have taken a lot longer to create.
-- FINAL REPORT --
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