Computer Aided Manufacturing

I am the sole TA for a computer aided manufacturing class (EMAE 290), where students are taught advanced SolidWorks techniques to complete the SolidWorks Professional CSWP exam and how to use Mastercam for CNC fabrication. I assist in the classroom during lecture and lab, and also hold out-of-class appointments to show students how to use our CNC mill, lathe, and router. The appointments follow the fabrication of 4 different projects; I've outlined the projects below with examples of what I did when I took the class.

CNC Mill:

For their fist assignment and introduction to computer aided manufacturing (CAM), students have to create a 2.5D design of their choosing to be machined into a ~3"x3"piece of aluminum. These can't get too detailed as we only use a 1/8 in end mill.

To machine them, I show students the basic function of our HAAS Mini Mill. They do everything on their own from setting up the tools to workspace offsets to running their program.

CNC Lathe:

For their second assignment, students design the body of a dart. This introduces lathe tool paths in Mastercam. These are kept pretty simple as we still need them to function as darts!

Here, I show students how to use our much older HAAS CNC lathe. Again, students do everything and cut their dart bodies out of brass. They have a prior lab where they prep the stock in the metal shop. After they cut out their bodies they add tips, backs, and flights.

CNC Router:

When you have darts, you need somewhere to keep them. So, for their third assignment, students design a dart box to store their darts. They can do whatever they want with a 10"x5"x0.75" piece of plywood, but the designs still need to be 2.5D. Students design both a top and bottom.

This time students use a Laguna SmartShop router. They machine both halves of their dart box, doing it all on their own under my direction.

Surfacing CAM:

For their last assignment, student have to create a design which utilizes the 3D tool paths in Mastercam.

These are cut out of RenShape on the Mini Mill, and we use these designs as positives to make molds. The molds are vacuum-formed and used to make chocolates! I may have had a bit of an egg theme going when I took the class.

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