Abstract:
This paper describes the Hands-On Made 4 ME project to design, use and deploy inexpensive, desktop computer numerical control (CNC) systems in mechanical engineering courses. The project examines both the deployment of off-the-shelf CNC machines as well as the development and deployment of an in-house, education specific, modular CNC building block. The paper describes how CNC technologies are being used in the introduction to mechanical engineering classroom setting and their effects on student motivation.
Graduate Research Assistant- Mechanical Engineering at University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Undergraduate mechanical engineering student at University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Stephen P. Johnston is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plastics Engineering at the UMass Lowell. His research interests include process monitoring and control for injection molding, plastic product design, and injection mold design. He is an inventor on three patents and author of over thirty publications.
Sammy G. Shina, P.h.D., P.E., is the professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and has previously lectured at University of Pennsylvania’s EXMSE Program and at the University of California Irvine. He is the coordinator of the Design and Manufacturing Certificate, the Quality Engineering Certificate, the ME senior Capstone Projects and COOP education at UML. He is a past chairman of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Robotics/FMS and a founding member of the Massachusetts Quality Award. He is the founder of the New England Lead Free Consortium. He is the author of several best-selling books on Concurrent Engineering, Six Sigma, Green Design and Engineering Project Management. He contributed two chapters and over 170 technical publications and presentations in his fields of research.
David Willis is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UMass Lowell. His interests are in aerodynamics and engineering education. He works on projects ranging from parachutes to bio-inspired flight and CNCs in the undergraduate classroom.
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