Thread: Uni Student needing help!!

So what sort of wood do you need it made of? Which way do you want the grain to run? What is it for? 13ish cm diam. How long/deep? Is it to function or just look nice? How thick will the walls be?

I need to pretty much make a large tape measure type thing -deployable boom, it needs to be functional so some sort of hard wood. It has a hollow centre and the rim thickness is about 8mm. It is 35mm deep and has thin circular disc shaped rim flanges 3mm thick on each side to keep the tape on track. One or both of these rim flanges need to be made separately ans glued/nailed on later so the centre can be hollow. I have pictures but cant seem to attach them.

Originally Posted by barot1

Hi all, I am a 4th year engineering student at Monash Clayton. For my final year project I need to build a simple wooden rotating drum

4th year engineering ....... final year project .......you need to build a what??
.
sorry mate, couldn't help myself , I'm sure there's more to it,


but it did make me wonder for a moment about how competitive our future engineers will be on the international stage

Monash Clayton Eng 2nd year student here (that’s a mouthful). If you want it really accurate, you can try and get the eng workshop to make it for you for a price.

If they are too busy to work on a job for you, you can speak to Long Kim Goh <[email protected]> as he offers machining services at a rate of $50/hr.

Alternatively, get a friend with the Dremel 400 kit as it includes a circle cutter.

Also your best bet would be multiple pieces using MDF (its more then hard enough) and gluing them together.

What i would do is have the ring flanges cut out using the dremel circle cutter and glue strips of mdf 35 cm long in the inner diameter of your flange to get your drum. You will get a pretty bumpy inner tube depending on how many pieces you use. Or get a 13 cm diameter PVC tube, and glue that to the MDF flange.

Originally Posted by barot1

I need to pretty much make a large tape measure type thing -deployable boom, it needs to be functional so some sort of hard wood. It has a hollow centre and the rim thickness is about 8mm. It is 35mm deep and has thin circular disc shaped rim flanges 3mm thick on each side to keep the tape on track. One or both of these rim flanges need to be made separately ans glued/nailed on later so the centre can be hollow. I have pictures but cant seem to attach them.

barot1, this is almost complete gobbledygook. Either you are yanking our chain, or, before you make yourself look even more foolish than you have already have, comeback when you can provide us with a decent design specification, some sort of a diagram and a brief description of its purpose. You guys are supposed to be seriously IT savy so attaching a picture in this forum should not be too hard. These guys who frequent this forum are (mostly) very sharp - they can try to help you but they will be less inclined to do so for someone who is already supposed to know something about what they are doing.

Bismar - I don't get it - you're in 2nd year and barot1 is in 4th year?? Are you sure this is right? ;-)

Bobl has got his Professor's hat on again.

Barot actually rang me (without realising I also work at Monash), and I suggested he pose the question here. Thought from the initial description it was (and is) beyond what I could do, but someone here might have more success.

The engineering workshop at Monash was apparently too busy (6 week turn around time) to be able to fabricate it in time. Butting back out now!

Originally Posted by STAR

Bobl has got his Professor's hat on again.

No - when that hat goes on - it generally starts with "Bollocks!" and goes up (or down) and (I'm told) it ain't pretty, . . . . . . [DEEEP BREAATH]

Nah - just kidding - I got told the other day I'm too soft on the junior staff and I need to be harder on them!!

Must nail the Chainsaw operators ticket up alongside the PhD in my office and see if that makes a difference!

Originally Posted by BobL

.......

Bismar - I don't get it - you're in 2nd year and barot1 is in 4th year?? Are you sure this is right? ;-)

Lol Dunno depends on what's his course is i suppose. And i also love designing stuff, although in this case its pretty simple.

Barot1, if you are still with us, hopefully I haven't put you off.

Just imagine you already have a position and an engineer and you have taken your request to a bunch of contractors, the market is tight and there is plenty of work around - our reaction to your request is about what you could expect - actually you probably wouldn't even get a response from most people - they would just ignore your request.

I am going to live up to my reputation for a change and make a couple of observations.

This post has got some strong and no so strong responses and my question is was it the question or our expectations of who asked it that elicited the response ?
Now I am hip enough not to expect a brain surgeon to know how to make all the surgical instruments he uses but I do expect at the minimum he has an interest and far more than a passing understanding of how they are made.
I dont expect an engineer to have an intimate understanding of all the forms and methodologies of fabricating those things he dreams up but I do (and it seems a few others here) expect him to have a better understanding than I do! I do expect him to frame his questions in a clear concise and unambiguous manner leaving me with a crystal clear feeling about what I am being asked to produce and why!

I further think some of us respond strongly when we see something that reminds us of how we feel that the education of professionals has been dumbed down over recent years. That doctors are more driven by golf handicaps than a desire to be a healer, that designers are more interested in looking like that had a great idea rather than finding a new and elegant solution to a problem, that engineers create technical marvels that we might be better off not having in the first place and ones that dont have the slightest conception of how to make. I think we feel strongly because we fear for the future in the hands of these people who fall a little short of being called renaissance men.

Ross

Ross, One thing I know something about because I am involved in it (heading east in fact tomorrow to do exactly this) is who controls university courses around Australia. In the case of engineering it is the profession itself in combination with the Washinton Accord (1989) which locks Australia in with engineering educational standards across much of the globe. It was the profession itself who removed much of the practical stuff that engineers used to do and know. Now they have to do other stuff such as computing, project management, business and other people skills. I won't defend or condemn these actions but that's what happened. I suspect corporate level engineering employers will tell you this is what works for them but do we just exist to serve their needs?

Now if all this had occurred when kids could still tear cars apart and put them back together, or dabble in practical hands on technology instead of just being users, and we weren't so litigious so high schools could still be real practical learning environments it might not be so bad but it has happened at the other end of the scale - and it is only going to get worse.

Who sets up such societies and value systems, the same people that support these values. Stuff built to last for 3-5 years before it stops working, Stuff never gets built to get fixed, it gets replaced. Problems are not solved they are managed. Bring on another bigger plasma screen baby so we can watch the Chinese whoop the pants of the rest of us in sport , and that's what it's all about.

Cheers

Originally Posted by BobL

Ross, One thing I know something about because I am involved in it (heading east in fact tomorrow to do exactly this) is who controls university courses around Australia. In the case of engineering it is the profession itself in combination with the Washinton Accord (1989) which locks Australia in with engineering educational standards across much of the globe. It was the profession itself who removed much of the practical stuff that engineers used to do and know. Now they have to do other stuff such as computing, project management, business and other people skills. I won't defend or condemn these actions but that's what happened. I suspect corporate level engineering employers will tell you this is what works for them but do we just exist to serve their needs?

Now if all this had occurred when kids could still tear cars apart and put them back together, or dabble in practical hands on technology instead of just being users, and we weren't so litigious so high schools could still be real practical learning environments it might not be so bad but it has happened at the other end of the scale - and it is only going to get worse.

Who sets up such societies and value systems, the same people that support these values. Stuff built to last for 3-5 years before it stops working, Stuff never gets built to get fixed, it gets replaced. Problems are not solved they are managed. Bring on another bigger plasma screen baby so we can watch the Chinese whoop the pants of the rest of us in sport , and that's what it's all about.

Cheers

Bob I hear you in fact you sound like a better educated calmer more gentle version of myself.
You might not be willing to condemn these changes but I am and they apply across the board from the corporate law that seems in practice to make renumeration inversely proportional to your ability right through to to the current moronic debate about needing to spend more money on sports so we can bring home more gold in 2012.Like you said litigation being the prime motivator in what is encouraged and what is not.
On the way to school today my child asked me if I was in favor of a republic in Australia and despite my clear political preference to that system I had to answer that I dont think it matters as the same stupid laws will me made and the same floored people will lead us no matter the system in place. No doubt the same people who you suggest are responsible for the above mentioned educational mistake.

Yours in despair of our future!

Ross

BOBL and DIFFERENT,as an outsider with no engineering qualifications,I am extremely interested in both of your observations.Please continue with the dialogue,Regards......AL