Guidelines and Procedures for the Design and Fabrication of Mechanical Components in Senior Design Students in the EE,

CompE and BME programs typically are not familiar with the process of designing & fabricating mechanical components. Recently, I have been seeing drawings of mechanical assemblies which are so dreadfully incomplete that no machinist could possibly build the device the student needs from just these drawings / sketches. This document is primarily to provide guidance to those students who have a significant mechanical component to their project. Many students have either no mechanical components in their project, or the mechanicals constitute only a minor part of their project, e.g., a simple box to enclose a circuit board. Such students should read through this document, but not get worried because at most they might have to specify where to drill a few holes in an aluminum box that they have purchased, and thus, the only mechanical drawing required for their project might be a front view of a single removable panel. Use COTS (commercial, off-the-shelf) mechanical components wherever possible If your project has a mechanical aspect, your design should make use of as many commercially available mechanical components as possible. This will allow you to reduce your work, reduce the cost of your project, reduce the work load of the SEAS machine shop, and finish your project sooner. For example, if all you need is a simple sheet metal box to hold (and electrostatically shield) your circuit board, and perhaps, mount a few switches and connectors, there is absolutely no reason to custom design a box and have it built for you. Simply purchase a COTS (commercial, off-the-shelf) box and, at most, you might need to drill a few holes in it. The savings in time and money for everyone involved will be enormous a few dollars vs. many hundreds of dollars for a custom box. Thousands of different enclosures are available from vendors such as Newark Electronics, e.g.: http://www.newark.com/NewarkWebCommerce/newark/en_US/endecaSearch/searchPage2.jsp;jses sionid=3OYQRV2FKUQO4CXDUY2SFFYK2OTCIIV1? comSearch=true&select1=156452&paramSelectCount=7&st=parametricSelection&N=1002250+0 &comSearch=true&paramSearch=true&st=parametricSelection&x=32&y=5&showImages=true&vi ewType=images Use metal, not plastic, enclosures unless there is some over-riding reason not to use metal. The advantage is that it provides electrostatic shielding, instant grounding points, and is easy to work. Some of the more commonly used COTS enclosures are shown below (in order of increasing size):

Before you go down the path of any custom-made mechanical assembly (but especially chassis and enclosures), thoroughly familiarize yourself with the catalogs of a few of the major suppliers of mechanical components such as McMaster-Carr (www.mcmaster.com), Grainger (www.grainger.com), etc.. Custom-made mechanical parts or systems Obviously, not all mechanical components will be available commercially, and you will have to design and fabricate such items. Below is a summary of the process you should follow in SD for both completely custom-made parts as well as for COTS components that might need some minor modification: Step #1 Come up with a tentative design (e.g., hand drawn sketches) and discuss it with Prof. Kay. Step #2 After agreement is reached with Prof. Kay on a preliminary mechanical design, the student and Prof. Kay should discuss it with one of the machinists to see if it can be further simplified, and can be fabricated with reasonable effort in their shop. Step #3 After the input and agreement of the machinists is obtained, make up a complete set of mechanical drawings. Step #4 Have them reviewed by Prof. Kay, or, in his absence, Prof. Manuccia. Step #5 Take the drawings to one of the machinists to discuss scheduling, which aspects of the fabrication you will be required / allowed to participate in, which shop tools you will be allowed to use, etc. Step #6 Fabricate and check the individual parts, assemble into the complete mechanical assembly, check the assembly for function. Fix as necessary.

Mechanical Drawings If your project needs a custom-made mechanical part or system, you will need to produce a complete set of mechanical drawings for it. If a mechanical component in your project involves multiple pieces, you will need an assembly drawing, as well as mechanical drawings of each of the individual pieces. For information on these, in addition to this document, please refer to the files accompanying Prof. Kays lecture on mechanical drawing (link is on the references pages of the course website). Another short overview of mechanical drawing can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/design/graphics/drawingformalrev1.shtml The drawings for the individual pieces of your project should be standard orthographic or first-angle projections (e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthographic_projection ),

Three orthogonal views (as shown) are generally required , and they must be placed on the page in the correct relative locations, i.e., the top view is directly above the front view, the right side view is to the right of the front view. If the part is just a thin piece of metal with holes in it (i.e., the front panel of a box to hold your electronics), only the front view is needed. If it has cylindrical symmetry, only two views might be necessary, e.g.,

If the part is complicated, the standard orthogonal views should be supplemented by as many oblique projections, and cross-sectional views as needed to fully depict structures at unusual angles or internal to the object (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_section_%28geometry%29 ):

If the mechanical aspect of your project involves multiple mechanical components, an assembly drawing keyed to the drawings of the individual components is absolutely essential. The assembly drawing can be either orthographic ( http://www.me.metu.edu.tr/me307/drawings/assembly.jpg ):

or an isometric / perspective / exploded assembly drawing such as shown in the following examples: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploded_view ) :

and,

The individual components should be clearly labeled either as shown in the illustration immediately above, or by means of a keyed table / parts list, as shown below:

Drawings for each of the individual components shown in the assembly drawing must appear and be fully dimensioned. However, assembly drawings generally have only overall dimensions (if any). All fasteners should be included and completely described. *All* mechanical drawings should have a text box which states aspects of the design common to all the views shown on the page, e.g., measurement units, surface roughness and finish, tolerances, part name, project name, engineer name, date, drawing version number, etc. Mechanical drawings, like all your other representations of design, must be sufficiently complete, accurate and self-standing that if they were given to a typical machinist, that person would be able to fabricate your parts with no further consultation with you. For the electronic parts of your project, the assumption is that the fabricator will read, understand, and refer to your written report. However, for mechanical fabrication, the standard you must follow is that the machinist should be able to construct your device from the mechanical drawings alone, never even seeing a copy of your written report.

Use of the Machine Shop in Tompkins Hall The staff of the machine shop in Tompkins Hall are extremely helpful, courteous and wellintentioned. For years, they have gone out of their way to help ECE students. Unfortunately, they are becoming overwhelmed with work, much of it helping ECE senior design students. The following comments are designed to help optimize your interactions with them. 1. We expect the vast majority of the work on your senior project to be yours. We expect (and strongly encourage) you to get general help from as many reputable sources as you can, however no one should do your actual work for you, except where it is unavoidable (e.g. running a machine you are not trained / qualified to use). This is true whether you need help in electronics, computer programming, mechanical fabrication tasks, or anything else. 2. The staff of the machine shop are employed by the MAE department, not by SEAS or the ECE department. They are *not* a commercial service organization, and do not operate as a service facility even for their own MAE students. They certainly are not working directly or exclusively for you. They help ECE SD students only as a favor, and because they truly enjoy helping others. 3. Although the machinists and technicians in the Tompkins Hall shop could undoubtedly learn about the exact mechanical requirements of each project, they dont have the time to do this, and should not be asked to do so. What this means is that you need to present them with a complete mechanical design, and not expect them to do the mechanical design part of your project for you. This is why steps #1 and #3 (above) exist. 4. On the other hand, the machinists and technicians in the shop have enormous experience, knowledge and skills. They often can suggest improvements or simplifications. Consultation with them is critical. This should come before you lock into a particular design, material or fabrication approach. They know what can be produced in their shop and what can not. This is why step #2 (above) exists and comes between steps #1 and #3. 5. The usage of the machine shop and the demands on the time of the shop staff is always extremely heavy in the last few weeks of each semester, i.e., right at the time you will need to complete your project. If humanly possible, schedule your use of the shop before the last few weeks of the semester. In addition, make sure your design doesnt needlessly increase their workload. For example, dont insist on a custom-made enclosure for your project when an box you can buy at Radio Shack for $10 will work just as well (see photos above). The custom approach could easily take the shop 10 hours ( ~ $500 in loaded labor costs) to fabricate. Think and get advice before you convince yourself of the need for a design which will be 50 times more expensive! 6. Under no conditions should you ever expect to be able to hand the staff of the shop a rough sketch of a mechanical concept, and expect them to complete your design, fabricate your device, and hand it back to you working exactly they way you intended. As part of your training you have to actively participate in this process. For example, suppose you need 20 holes drilled and tapped. You dont know how to do this, so you ask one of their staff for help. They will explain the procedure to you, and will

likely drill and tap the first hole while you watch. You then drill and tap the next couple of holes under their supervision. They will watch and offer suggestions. Once they are satisfied that you have mastered the technique, it is your responsibility to finish the remaining holes yourself, freeing the machinists to work with other students. Safety & training considerations: Almost all of the equipment in the machine shop is dangerous, and even something as simple as a drill press can tear your hand to pieces if you dont know how to use it correctly. Carl or Bill, in conjunction with Prof. Kay will give an introductory lesson on machine shop safety and general procedures. Until either Carl or Bill have explicitly given you permission to use a particular machine, you are not allowed to use that machine. You will likely get certified to use only one or two of their machines. On the other machines, they will likely offer to do the work for you. In such a case, you should offer to remain, observe, and learn both the technical and safety aspects of the operation. What should you do if you barely know what a screwdriver is? If you are a junior, you have several choices: (a) modify your project so that the mechanical aspects are minimized or even eliminated; (b) get friends / colleagues / classmates / relatives to give you a crash course on the basics of mechanical design and fabrication. The latter will hopefully allow you to fill in any blanks with tightly focused conversations with GWU staff and faculty; or, (c) If you have an elective slot open, take courses in this subject from the MAE department (e.g., MAE-192). If you are a senior, dont know what a screwdriver is, and just now realize that you have a mechanical part of your project that is much more significant than you thought, you need to see your ECE SD instructor ASAP.