CADD/CNC Standards & Best Practices

Data is the lifeblood of engineering design & production.

That data must be controlled.

Or it will control you.

Complex projects—such as electric guitars—require data management tools, techniques, & technologies.

"Engineering Data Configuration Management"

The Guitar Building Project introduced complex and long-lived engineering data sets into the ET curriculum. Designing and building a guitar is not a "one and done" homework assignment; the engineering data will change over time. Always.


  • Designing an electric guitar body is an iterative process with lots of back and forth communication between the student and the instructor.
  • There is also a great deal of data reuse & sharing (e.g., the Standard Guitar Data set)
  • Complexity leads to mistakes and failures—some catastrophic


It was already said once, but the basic problem merits mentioning again:If you don't control changes to the data, the changes to the data will control you.

Goals

  • Embed information & help organize data ("self-organizing" is even easier)
  • Speed development from "art to part"
  • Error reduction (avoidance > early detection > re-work > scrap)
  • Aid in troubleshooting.


Introducing...

ETSU's Design Standards & Best Practices for CADD/CAM/CNC

What is it?

It's an on-line, PDF-formatted document containing both standards (must dos) and best practices (oughta dos) for projects at ETSU that use elements of CADD, CAM, and/or CNC.


Really clever title, that one.

The document was developed by faculty and staff for Engineering Technology classes primarily in the Manufacturing ET, Product Development & Industrial Technology concentrations. Parts of the document (e.g., most of the best practices) are specific to the equipment and software in use within the ETSU Engineering Technology labs; other sections (e.g., the layer naming convention) are applicable to any design &/or production environment.

Honestly?

It is confusing at first but, once you understand how things works, the philosophy of the document makes a lot of sense and, not surprisingly, helps you avoid making mistakes and speed up the development process.


So, what are you waiting for?

Download yours today!

Added benefit: Cures insomnia—Fast, fast , fast!!!