Break It Apart Project

Evidence of Work

This project was an introduction to our engineering class and the steps we would be using to learn and convey information surrounding engineering related projects. For the Break It Apart Project we were tasked with bringing in an object that had simple mechanics or electronics that we would fully take apart and detail through drawings and flow charts how the object functioned. We practiced how to accurately draw what we were seeing, as well as drawing an "explosion view" of the object. Explosion view is where you draw the object in its entirety, but pulled apart to reveal all the parts and their respective locations within the machine. Through this, a flow chart detailing how everything runs, and a written out thought process while taking apart the object, this project was a comprehensive example of how to start looking at engineering critically and how to show others what you are seeing.

For my object I brought in the remote for an RC helicopter that I no longer use. It was pretty easy to take apart as everything was connected with one size of screws, allowing me to avoid breaking the object or soldering it. My final product for this project was a detailed explosion view sketch of my object as well as larger drawings of some of the individual parts, making it easy to understand. On top of that I had a page full of questions and observations about my object that I wrote throughout the project and a rough flow chart with as much as I could understand about my object with my limited knowledge of electronics. Overall I think this project was an interesting learning experience and while it went pretty well, there were definitely things that I just hadn't learned yet.

Content

Conceptual Sketch: Used to express the elements and relationships of an engineering problem with a visual form.

Intended to:

  • help identify the problem

  • see how groups of elements are connected together to form subsystems

  • understand how all these subsystems work together to create a working system

Engineering Drawing: A 3D object or 2D piece of paper or computer screen by a process called projecting

  • Isometric Drawing: The three axes of the drawing form 120 degree angles with each other. Circles appear as ellipses in this drawing

      • The object is held with one vertical edge, then is tilted toward the viewer until the other horizontal angles are at 30 degree angles

      • All lines are parallel

  • Perspective Drawing: Objects appear the way the human eye would see them.

      • Parallel lines converge to a single point at the horizon

  • Orthographic Drawing: The object appears to be inside a "glass box" with each face f the object projected onto a side of the box.

  • Axonometric

  • Oblique

Scale and Dimension

  • Scale equals the ratio of the drawing compared to the real life object

  • Only put as many dimensions as necessary to understand the object

CAD Software: Can accurately represent a 3D image of the object and carry out complex engineering analysis

Reflection

I actually really enjoyed this project as I do with most art and drawing oriented things and two things I think I utilized well was my work ethic and my ability to communicate my ideas. This project was something that less art focused people likely did the bare minimum for and while I may have had an advantage due to my passion for art, I also tried very hard to get every detail I could down and show my best work. This project used two different mediums to convey your ideas, drawing and writing. I think I accurately showed all I saw when taking apart the object through the drawing, and the portion to ask questions clearly showed my thought process.

While those aspects went well, I struggled with planning and time management throughout the project. I wanted to jump right into It because I love hands on projects, but that meant that I didn't know all of the requirements beforehand and I didn't section out quite as must space as I had wanted to do the drawing and flow chart. On top of this, I focused so much time on making the drawing look really good, that I neglected the other requirements for the project, leaving me to fully finish it quickly the night before the deadline. Despite these faults, this project was a definite learning experience which gave me some very critical knowledge while being enjoyable on top of that.