Reflection of ME 250 by Chan

From my experience of a semester of ME 250, the class turned out to be extremely different from what I had expected. This statement expresses both my positive feedbacks of the class and my frustration and disappointment of the class.
First, I truly believe that ME 250 demonstrates what an engineer does in the real industrial world, and the class works as a strong motivator and a preview of one side of a future for all mechanical engineer students. It clearly gives a view of the process an engineer takes to apply their creative ideas, into a realistic strategy, concept, and machinery. I further believe that the class did an exceptionally good job in teaching the manufacturing part of the program. I personally have learned to lathe, and now I feel no trouble in assembling, performing, and disassembling the different tools used in the lathing machine. I have also learned to change different speeds in the drilling machine, and the use of a milling machine. In general I really had fun in creating my own machine with different materials provided.
The factor that disappointed me the most about the class was the inconsiderate planning of the course schedule and the outrageous amount of work load. Many times during this semester, ME 250 class gave me the impression that it failed to recognize the fact that students are also taking other classes. The first part of the semester was a nightmare, keeping most of the student awake during Saturday and Sunday nights with lecture homework, Lab assignments and CAD assignments. Many times I had to pull an all nighters, sleeping around 6 in the morning. Furthermore, the class took way too much time out of class. For example, having the bicycle meeting with GSI on the day of Thanksgiving break was unreasonable. I also had to miss many of other class time because of the presentation of MS assignment on Friday. (This was the only day where everyone else was free.) Presentation of MS assignment should have been done during lecture time, or in the lab with GSI. (I guess always being pressured by time in this class taught me how to manage my times better.)
In a team, I learned that many people have different ideas, and they all have their own point of view. I learned that people tend to be stubborn with their own ideas and do not take changes by others very well. I learned how to manage my schedule so to fit the team’s meeting times and that sometimes many sacrifices are needed.
I personally believe that our team would have done so much better if we were more persistent, and placed more effort on our machine in our final manufacturing. I further believe we would have created a better effect if all the members worked more efficiently as a team. It was truly hard to find a time where everyone of the team was in a single meeting. I also believe that if we started to manufacture a bit faster, it would surely have given us more time to test and make adjustments which would have definitely increased our performance.
In general, I had very much fun in this class, manufacturing and placing different parts together, and seeing them work with each other gave me the thrill I have felt in a long time. I also had fun meeting new people in the lab, and seeing how other’s having put their ideas in to play. It was fun to see how a common ground such as ME 250 can bring different people together, and that includes the GSI.