Project Summary
This Clock Project is the crown jewel of the MECH 200 course. The goal of the project is to produce a single clock to tight tolerance of 5 thou (+- 0.005 in) from the engineering drawing. The clock is comprised of 6 components: the Aluminum Baseplate, the Brass Pencil Holder, the Steel Pen Holder, the Acrylic Faceplate, the Brass Nut, the Clock Mechanism. Each was made by hand and painstakingly finished on a manual lathe and mill. Of all the projects we completed in Mech200 this was the most challenging and rewarding.
Reflection
My advice for student entering MECH 200 next semester would focus on taking quality process notes; do not copy down every word but draw flowcharts of the process, sketch what the setup on the machine looks like. I recomend this becasue it is a lot easier to decipher the sketches and flowcharts from your notes than to read the unfarmiliar vocab you jotted down. easier. This was especially true for the Clock Project as just so many different operations on both the lathe and mill were required that it was easy to get lost in the process.
Protoype
Technically not a protoype as the Design was finalized. But a single production run proved costly and challenging as i was unexperienced on the machines and twice my components were out of spec. At the going rate for a machinist, to create one of these clocks would cost over $1000 as mainly the man hours i put in not only to produce but also assemble and finish the clock.
Production
A production run of this clock would be possible if the manufacture of each component was automated. You could have CNC Mills and Lathes programmed to sequentially produce individual parts with minimal cycle times and without having to change setup and tooling. Then the human labor would only be required in far less ammount to oversee the machines and assemble the clocks.
10,000 Units
