Break It Apart! Challenge Take One

In this challenge, we were tasked with deconstructing an object we had at home and creating drawings to document the various aspects of the object's operation.  As this was an introductory project, it was fairly limited in scope and did not involve a great deal of work.  The completion process was relatively straightforward: after bringing in our objects and tools, we were given a few class sessions to work on deconstructing the object, during which time we were expected to create conceptual sketches.

I brought in a cheap electromechanical alarm clock as I figured it would be a perfect object to disassemble: not too expensive in case of damage, not too complicated so as to take up too much time to disassemble, and not too simple so as to make for a boring subject for sketching.  This assessment on the whole turned out to be essentially correct, as I was able to completely disassemble the clock within the time given while making detailed sketches of each part.  At the end of our sketching, we were also asked to write a short section about how the object meets a human need and whether it meets that need or not (that is, whether it functions well from an engineering perspective).

Conceptual Sketches

Attached below are my conceptual sketches created during the process.

Core Concepts

Due to the introductory nature of this project, we did not delve deeply into specific content.  However, we did focus on the skill of conceptual sketching, a process outlined below.

Conceptual Sketching

Conceptual sketching is sketching done to quickly get ideas onto paper.  It is not intended to create a blueprint of an object complete with dimensions and able to be constructed simply by looking at the drawing, but rather it intends to capture the main working points of the object's mechanisms and highlight the connections between the various subsystems.  This means that a good conceptual sketch should have a few main qualities:

• Labels:  Someone who is completely unfamiliar with the object you are drawing should be able to understand it through your sketch, so having informative labels is key.

  • Materials:  Labels should indicate what kinds of materials are being used to help the reader conceptualize it.

• Connections: A conceptual sketch is not simply a description of the elements in a system, it is also a description of how they connect to each other.  It's therefore important to include all the connections: fasteners, axles, wiring, all should be accounted for in your sketch!  In addition, there are many kinds of connections.  Not only are elements connected to elements to make subsystems, subsystems are connected to subsystems to form whole systems.  It's important not to neglect such relationships.

Flowcharts

While the first thing that might come to mind in terms of a "conceptual sketch" is a realistic, physical description of an object, this is just one aspect to a conceptual sketch.  Conceptual sketches can also be entirely unphysical through the use of flowcharts.

This style of flowchart conceptual sketching highlights how engineers must think about objects.  All objects manipulate some combination of:

• Energy

• Materials

• Motion

• and Information

in order to serve a human need.  The arrows on a conceptual flowchart describe this precisely — they show the flow of one or more of these items between elements or subsystems.

Reflection

Because this project was relatively small, it went very smoothly.  I'm happy that I was able to complete it without any major issues.  One area in which I believe I was strong was my conscientious learning.  While there was certainly enough time allotted to complete this project, there was very little extra, meaning that to complete the task on time diligent work was required.  I certainly met this standard, working hard in class the entire time and trying my best to work through each step of the process.  I made detailed notes of everything that I could, as instructed, but did not let myself get too stuck in minutia to continue moving forward.  Because of this, I finished my work on time with only very minimal work required outside of class, demonstrating that I had managed my time well.  Additionally, I believe this project illustrated my critical thinking skills.  While it went smoothly, it was not without any issues whatsoever — for instance, at one point I was unable to remove a certain friction-fit gear from its axle, a removal necessary to access the inner gearbox.  Efforts to pry it off its axle had failed due to the thin plastic underneath it giving way whenever the pliers were wedged in place.  To solve this problem, I realized I could use micro-tweezers to push the axle through the top of the gear, relying on the strength of the gear rather than that of the surroundings for leverage.  This worked wonderfully, and while I was not able to push the axle completely out of the gear, it loosened itself substantially and I was able to pry it out the rest of the way.  I'm proud that I was able to quickly problem-solve and come up with a simple solution to this issue that allowed me to keep moving forward in the disassembly process.

I would not consider this project absolutely perfect, however.  One area in which I might improve is my communication.  By this, I do not intend to refer to my direct, interpersonal communication, but rather to my communication through my sketches.  Though my sketches were very detailed, in the end they did not feel very "clean" or well-organized.  This is likely due to the abundance of text surrounding most drawings.  In the future, I might consider being more terse when near the drawings in order to not bury the important information in a large grouping of text.  Another aspect of my communication that might be improved upon is my drawing itself!  While this is of course less important of an issue, I had a difficult time with the isometric exploded view, leading to the proportions of some items being difficult to ascertain.  However, this might not be entirely an issue with the act of drawing but rather a conscientious learning issue, one of planning — I failed to properly plan by drawing axis lines beforehand, leading me to accidentally create conflicting non-parallel lines in multiple situations.  This could have been remedied by simply planning ahead and drawing some axis lines with a ruler.

This said, the project was as much of a success as could be expected from a small task.  I was able to manage time well to complete the disassembly and documentation with determination, diligence, and rigor.