I'm setting up an intro course for mechanical engr. students to learn
the basics of shop practice - machining, fabrication, woodworking.
We want them to be safe and reasonably competent for simple projects.
I'm looking for suggestions on projects that they will learn from.

The main equipment/skills we want them to have a
- hand and power hand tools, measurement
- woodshop: drill press, table saw, bandsaw, belt sander
- machining: lathe, vertical mill, drill press, cutoff saw
- sheetmetal: stomp shear, box/pan brake, bench punch?, notcher?,
Beverly shear?, riveting
That might be too much... we can trim if so. They'll learn welding,
CNC, and plastics in their next manufacturing class.

Ideal projects would
- develop the basic skills above
- be just challenging enough for a complete beginner
- not have unnecessary safety risks
- give them a product that's interesting and useful to them, even if
they aren't very interested in manufacturing (so, a hammer is better
than a qctp holder).
- all be doable in a total of 13 3-hour lab periods.

On the one hand we want them to have respect for and experience with
the basic prep work (e.g., grinding tool bits) but on the other hand we
need to teach them how to actually make the product. So we'll need
to gloss over some things like tramming a mill. Some kind of balance
of prep-skills and product-skills is ideal. Some ideas out the
Small engine teardown & reass'y - hand tools and measurement intro.
Grinding HSS lathe bits - almost certainly we'll do this one.
Plumb bob - simple
Center punch - also has hardening/tempering
Hammer
Machinist's clamp
Stirling engine - fun but might be too much for a first course?
The ubiquitous sheet metal box - how to make it more
interesting/useful?
Process plan and inspection of everything they make of course.

We have most of the wood and metal machinery above, except for
sheetmetal. We're about to get those (see my other post).

Thanks for your input!
David Malicky
U. San Diego

On 18 Mar 2006 02:02:04 -0800, "David Malicky"
wrote:

I'm setting up an intro course for mechanical engr. students to learn
the basics of shop practice - machining, fabrication, woodworking.
We want them to be safe and reasonably competent for simple projects.
I'm looking for suggestions on projects that they will learn from.

The main equipment/skills we want them to have a
- hand and power hand tools, measurement
- woodshop: drill press, table saw, bandsaw, belt sander
- machining: lathe, vertical mill, drill press, cutoff saw
- sheetmetal: stomp shear, box/pan brake, bench punch?, notcher?,
Beverly shear?, riveting
That might be too much... we can trim if so. They'll learn welding,
CNC, and plastics in their next manufacturing class.

Ideal projects would
- develop the basic skills above
- be just challenging enough for a complete beginner
- not have unnecessary safety risks
- give them a product that's interesting and useful to them, even if
they aren't very interested in manufacturing (so, a hammer is better
than a qctp holder).
- all be doable in a total of 13 3-hour lab periods.

On the one hand we want them to have respect for and experience with
the basic prep work (e.g., grinding tool bits) but on the other hand we
need to teach them how to actually make the product. So we'll need
to gloss over some things like tramming a mill. Some kind of balance
of prep-skills and product-skills is ideal. Some ideas out the
Small engine teardown & reass'y - hand tools and measurement intro.
Grinding HSS lathe bits - almost certainly we'll do this one.
Plumb bob - simple
Center punch - also has hardening/tempering
Hammer
Machinist's clamp
Stirling engine - fun but might be too much for a first course?
The ubiquitous sheet metal box - how to make it more
interesting/useful?
Process plan and inspection of everything they make of course.

We have most of the wood and metal machinery above, except for
sheetmetal. We're about to get those (see my other post).

Thanks for your input!
David Malicky
U. San Diego

make a toolmakers finger clamp for holding and machining small pieces.
(4" square cast iron base about half an inch thick. square profile
clamping groove on all edges. quarter inch threaded post in the
centre. a 45 degree groove across one edge of the top face for holding
round objects, clamping finger with jacking post at one end, hand
filed semicircular holding saddle with a nurled hold down nut in the
middle.)
then each use them to make a paint ball gun.
that'd get their attention :-)

hammer, plumb bob, centre punch etc, honestly these can be bought from
cheapie tool stores for next to nothing. the guy's would find them as
boring as hell. to really get them interested the projects need to be
slightly naughty or interesting/offbeat.

brewing beer... first make the bottle capper and brewing accessories.

whisky/moonshine ...research and design then make a still using copper
beating and fabrication techniques to food handling standards. then
prove the construction by making a brew. each make a part of the
overall project ...and sample the experimental results :-)

unconstrained single acting compressed air (or sparklet bulb CO2)
piston device.
(aka an air pistol. ...sometimes called a CATastrophic :-) ) make
them design the device themselves and solve all the design problems in
getting it to accurately shoot a .177 air pistol pellet on a 10m
range. (there is actually an international air pistol shooting
competition to basically this set of specs.)

compressed air/water rocket. make the rocket and launcher. compete to
see who can get the straightest and highest rocket launch off the
nearest oval using the air from a normal shop air compresser.

something that explodes is pretty good. :-)

most guys lose interest in metalwork because the projects are boring
and allow for no innovation or thought.
brainstorm a design for a little beach buggy/go cart and each make a
component of it. develops innovation and teamwork.
let 'em race it around the car park to irritate the dean :-)

c'mon you've got to allow for some creative talent to burst forth!
dont just make something. get them to make something to solve a ball
tearer problem!

Stealth Pilot

"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
...
c'mon you've got to allow for some creative talent to burst forth!
dont just make something. get them to make something to solve a ball
tearer problem!

Excellent advice, truly.

Perhaps you could squeeze in some functional tolerancing? Like, two pins in
one part matching two holes in the mating part. Maybe do a lesson as to how
you came up with the tolerance required for the job (using math of course).
Engineers need to appreciate that stuff(!)

Regards,

Robin

I took an introductory course in machining long ago. The first thing
we made was a bushing knocker. A piece of steel cut to length within
maybe 20 thou. Turned between centers with various diameters as 1/2
inch plus nothing minus .030, 9/16 ths etc. 5/8 ths ....3/4 with
part of it knurled .


Dan


David Malicky wrote:
I'm setting up an intro course for mechanical engr. students to learn
the basics of shop practice - machining, fabrication, woodworking.
We want them to be safe and reasonably competent for simple projects.
I'm looking for suggestions on projects that they will learn from.


Thanks for your input!
David Malicky
U. San Diego

According to David Malicky :
I'm setting up an intro course for mechanical engr. students to learn
the basics of shop practice - machining, fabrication, woodworking.
We want them to be safe and reasonably competent for simple projects.
I'm looking for suggestions on projects that they will learn from.

[ ... ]

Ideal projects would
- develop the basic skills above
- be just challenging enough for a complete beginner
- not have unnecessary safety risks
- give them a product that's interesting and useful to them, even if
they aren't very interested in manufacturing (so, a hammer is better
than a qctp holder).
- all be doable in a total of 13 3-hour lab periods.

[ ... ]

Some ideas out the
Small engine teardown & reass'y - hand tools and measurement intro.
Grinding HSS lathe bits - almost certainly we'll do this one.
Plumb bob - simple
Center punch - also has hardening/tempering
Hammer
Machinist's clamp

How about a two-bar tap wrench? Not too different from a
machinist's clamp in principle, but perhaps more useful for some? Make
it an alternative to the clamp, perhaps?

I'm going to be guiding a friend through the making of such to
hold a #3 Morse taper reamer for touching up the spindle of his lathe.

Enjoy,
DoN.
--
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

I have the plans for a die wrench and for a machinest jack, I know the
wrench had milling on it can't recal if the jack did or not. Also im
making a floating reamer holder at the moment. Have to think about some
of the other plans I have, I am in an intermidiate/begineer machining
class at the moment. I have a schematic for a hammer but as others have
said it seems like a boring/pointless project concidering you can go
buy one anywhere.

In my beliefe if your going to take the time to make it it better be
something worth that time involved, thats one reason why im not to fond
of my machining classes however there are some good projects.

For example in my machining 1 class we made, 2 sets of bolts 1 single
point threaded 1 die threaded, a set of parelell bars a set of 1-2-3
blocks and I don't even recall what else if there was anything else.
But none of it was worth making in my book. Yes I learned how to use
the machines etc but still I think there could have been better
projects that were actualy usefull that would have tought the same
things.

Example like about for a threading project practice threading a
paintball barrel on roundstock then eather making a paintball barrel
getting real cheep ones or whatever and threading them then letting the
students make custom fake muzzle breaks/flash hiders/silencers etc,
even if they didnt have a paintball gun if you did it to a spec that
some painball guns already use for muzzle break threads they could sell
there projects to others. The real reason I bring this up is a guy in
my machining class was making a barrel for his paintball gun and
another student was milling off parts of his and re contouring it to
make it look better. Its not just a good idea they do this stuff
anyhow.

Of course at my school we make the muzzle breaks/flash hiders for real
guns but most colleges don't have a gunsmithing department "talk
about fun machining projects" make a .50 bmg action put a barrel on it
then shoot it in the indoor rifle range.

"redice" wrote in message
ups.com...
Of course at my school we make the muzzle breaks/flash hiders for real
guns but most colleges don't have a gunsmithing department "talk
about fun machining projects" make a .50 bmg action put a barrel on it
then shoot it in the indoor rifle range.

Some guys at school got to make single piston engines that run off of shop
air. Definitely cool and doesn't take very long to build.

I think making tools in the best idea, but I'm not sure what kind of tools a
mech. eng. would use.

Maybe something like a telescoping inspection mirror.

Perhaps one of those tapered rules that you can measure holes and slots
with. That would be good for a filing job.

Maybe a decent small flat screwdriver with a properly heat-treated
blade/tip. That would be good for electrical engineers though.

A sheet metal 6" rule holster for their breast pocket.

A desktop business card holder. Good for practicing surface finishing with a
file after milling.

A pen body which accepts some type of standard ball point ink refill. Making
a top that actual slides over the body and then jams securely would be an
excellent exercise. Obviously you'd have to use free machining steel or at
least not use 1020 as they'd want a good surface finish.

Just some thoughts...

Regards,

Robin

"redice" wrote

Of course at my school we make the muzzle breaks/flash hiders for real
guns but most colleges don't have a gunsmithing department "talk
about fun machining projects" make a .50 bmg action put a barrel on it
then shoot it in the indoor rifle range.

What school are you attending for your gunsmithing?
I went to Yavapai Community College in Prescott, AZ. 22 years ago. The
projects we made early on were mostly small specialty tools for the trade. I
use some of them now.

--
Tom Wait
Barton Rifle Shop
1805 Barton Ave Suite #9
West Bend, Wisconsin 53090
(262) 306-RIFL (7435)

Pine Technical College in Pine City Minnesota. Ya we have a toolmaking
course in gunsmithing which is gunsmithing specific tools for the most
part. The floating reamer holder is one of those projects, also made a
staking tool, a firing pin protrusion gauge, and an action wrench. If
your going to use them the gunsmithing tools are definetly keepers
since buying them from brownells is going to cost a heck of a lot more
than making them for the most part.

For example the fireing pin protrusion gauge costs 30 bucks on
brownells with the dealer discount, the first one I made "before I had
the maching class" took maybe 2 hours to make using a stock thumbscrew
and precision pin, the second one took a wee bit longer but there I
made the thumbscrew and pin and ofset the piece for the one end. The
first I made was a need it now, get er done project and it works great.
The second I sold to a new student for 20 bucks

"David Malicky" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm setting up an intro course for mechanical engr. students to learn
the basics of shop practice - machining, fabrication, woodworking.
We want them to be safe and reasonably competent for simple projects.
I'm looking for suggestions on projects that they will learn from.

The main equipment/skills we want them to have a
- hand and power hand tools, measurement
- woodshop: drill press, table saw, bandsaw, belt sander
- machining: lathe, vertical mill, drill press, cutoff saw
- sheetmetal: stomp shear, box/pan brake, bench punch?, notcher?,
Beverly shear?, riveting
That might be too much... we can trim if so. They'll learn welding,
CNC, and plastics in their next manufacturing class.

Ideal projects would
- develop the basic skills above
- be just challenging enough for a complete beginner
- not have unnecessary safety risks
- give them a product that's interesting and useful to them, even if
they aren't very interested in manufacturing (so, a hammer is better
than a qctp holder).
- all be doable in a total of 13 3-hour lab periods.

On the one hand we want them to have respect for and experience with
the basic prep work (e.g., grinding tool bits) but on the other hand we
need to teach them how to actually make the product. So we'll need
to gloss over some things like tramming a mill. Some kind of balance
of prep-skills and product-skills is ideal. Some ideas out the
Small engine teardown & reass'y - hand tools and measurement intro.
Grinding HSS lathe bits - almost certainly we'll do this one.
Plumb bob - simple
Center punch - also has hardening/tempering
Hammer
Machinist's clamp
Stirling engine - fun but might be too much for a first course?
The ubiquitous sheet metal box - how to make it more
interesting/useful?
Process plan and inspection of everything they make of course.

We have most of the wood and metal machinery above, except for
sheetmetal. We're about to get those (see my other post).

Thanks for your input!
David Malicky
U. San Diego


In votech, we built 1-2-3 blocks. Among other things that were useful to us.
When I was little, a cousin made a tool box complete with removable tray
from sheet metal and gave it to me for Christmas.

make a toolmakers finger clamp for holding and machining small pieces.
(4" square cast iron base about half an inch thick. square profile
clamping groove on all edges. quarter inch threaded post in the

We made some Kant Twist style clamps. Maybe your engineers could design
something similar.


unconstrained single acting compressed air (or sparklet bulb CO2)
piston device.
(aka an air pistol. ...sometimes called a CATastrophic :-) ) make
them design the device themselves and solve all the design problems in
getting it to accurately shoot a .177 air pistol pellet on a 10m
range. (there is actually an international air pistol shooting
competition to basically this set of specs.)

I designed and built a CO2 powered cannon that shoots a foam projectile of
my design for paintball use. If you wanted to skip the projectile part, a
lot of guys shoot pocket nurfs from their homeade guns. Make sure they
figure carefully the dangers involved with large pressure resevoirs at 800
psi or more.

Thanks, all, for your helpful suggestions. Redice, that's a good point
that we should give them interesting, fun projects instead of just
assignments. Robin S, the shop-air engine is a great idea--thanks.
David