Written By: Birju N Galaiya
Hello guys! In this blog I shall tell you all about
the practical aspects involved with Mechanical Engineering- in other words all
the fun stuff. Engineering obviously is not a reading subject but more of a
practical subject where you apply your knowledge in labs using equipment and
sometimes create your own structures.
I am sure you guys would have done some laboratory
work in school such as electric circuits and testing Newton’s
laws.
During my first year, we had many lab practical sessions where we
were required to understand the lecture content and try verify various
theories. Some examples include tensile testing of materials, pipe flow
analysis, wind tunnel calibration and verifying the perfect gas laws theory. With
the help of PhD students, we worked in groups during the lab sessions. I
personally felt involved by conducting experiments, drawing graphs, analysing
the results and working in a team. The
instructors guided us through the experiments by explaining the procedure and
how to go about using the equipment (few were complex and confusing!). Yes, the
labs do force you to think outside the box- why do the results vary? What were
the errors? How can the experiment be improved? I believe the constant questioning
is an important skill to have as an engineer because there is no right or wrong
solution. Lab reports were mandatory and required me to put in several hours of
writing it up. Report writing is a key skill in any industry and this
continuous practice polishes the skill every time- you always learn something
new. No one likes writing reports but hey you will be writing them in your job
so might as well start writing them from now!
Do you want to create a device from scratch? In my
first year, I got this opportunity during the ‘Engineering Applications Week’
in the workshop. For one week instead of having lectures, we made a vice (mechanical
apparatus used to secure an object to allow work to be performed on it) using by
combining several steel pieces. There were so many machines all having
different functions. With the assistance of demonstrators, we gained knowledge
on how to create a component from an assembly drawing. We learnt the basics of
vertical and horizontal milling together with turning and tapping drilled holes
(if any of these methods sounds new to you, research about it!). On the final
day, I was nervous as I wasn’t sure that all my components would fit
together. Piece by piece I bolted the vice together and luckily it worked and
it's something that I can look back on and say "I achieved that". For
those who are interested in the manufacturing process, this experience would be
invaluable.
Overall, the degree requires a lot of practical work
which makes it quite interesting. I hope these examples give you a good sense
of what mechanical engineering students would do in labs and which skills you
can pick up during the course of your degree.
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