ReverseEngineeringMechanicalPencil

CameronCarpenter,BenThomas,MichaelBerna

IntroductiontoEngineeringandDesign

5/9/2016

Overview:

Thepurposeofthisprojectwastoexamineandanalysisthevisualpropertiesofa
product,disassemblesaidproduct,analyzeeachpartseparately,andtofigureouthowthe
productfunctionsandwhattochangetotheproducttomakeitbetter.Everything
combinedfulfilledthefullreverseengineeringprocess.Theprojectwasagroupproject
developedbyCameronCarpenter,BenThomas,andMichaelBerna.Wecreatedourown
designbriefastowhatstandardsourfinalproductneededtoreachafterwefully
analyzedthewholeproductfromeveryangle.Wedecidedtohaveamechanicalpencilas
ourproduct.Theconstraintsthatneededtoremainfromtheoriginaldesignwerethatthe
leadhadtohaveadiameteroffivethousandthsofamillimeter,theeraserhadtoretain
thesamediametersoitcanstillfitinitsslot,theleadstillneededtobepushedoutwith
ease,andtheleadneededtobeabletogointoandoutofthepencilwithlittledifficulty.
Acouplenewconstraintsthatwewantedtoaccomplishweretomakethecapandbody
ofthepencilfittighter,sothecapwouldntfalloffsoeasilywehadtomakethe
connectionhaveatightertolerancefit.Atthesametime,thecapstillhadtobe
detachable,sotheusercouldputmoreleadintothepencilasheorsheneeded.The
pencilalsostillhadtobedesirablebymoststudents,themaintargetconsumer.Wespent
justundertwomonthsworkingonthisproject.

MaterialsList:

Thematerialsweusedduringtheprojectwerepaper,themechanicalpencil,a
plasticbag,orthographicandisometricgridpaper,adecisionmatrixtemplate,apencil,a
trifoldboard,acomputer,computeraideddesignsoftware(CAD),googledrive
applications,adialcaliper,amicrometer,andacamera.

Procedure:

First,wehadtogeneratesomeideasfortheprojectamongourgroupsowecould
decideonjustone.Weusedadesignmatrixtostatisticallymakethebestchoice.
Ultimately,wechoseamechanicalpencil.

Wethenhadtowriteavisualanalysisentryonthedesignelementsandprinciplesit
posessed.

Then,wehadtoidentifytheinputsandoutputsofthepencilthroughafunctional
analysis.

Oncewefinishedthat,wehadtodisassembletheproductandconductastructural
analysisofthewhole,andeachindividualpart.

Ifwecouldntfigureoutonourownhowapartoftheproductworked,wehadtodo
additionalresearchonlinetofindtheanswers.Next,wehadtodimensionthepartstothe
extentofbeingabletomaketheminCADaccurately.Nowthatallthepartswere
separated,wethenhadtomakedimensioned,annotatedsketchesofalltheparts.


Oncewecreatedalltheparts,wehadtoassemblethemintheCADsoftwareandmake
thepencilmovethewayitwouldinreallife.

Lastly,wehadtocreatetechnicaldrawingfilesofeachofthepartsintheCADsoftware
(therestofthetechnicaldrawingsaredirectlybelowthisdocumentinportfolio).

ConceptsCovered:

Themainconcepttheprojectwasfocusedaroundwasthedesignprocess.Wehad
towriteadesignbrief,defineourproblem,generateideas,developasolution,constructa
prototype,andrevisiteachstepaswecametocomplications.Anotherconceptthatwas
revisitedwassketching.Wehadtomakeannotated,dimensionedsketchesofalltheparts.
Theywereharderthantheoneswehavedonebeforebecausetheyweren'ttextbook
objectstheyhadlotsofcurvesanddetailedlines.Thefinalconceptwecoveredwas
presentationskills.Wehadtopresentourprocessandfindingstoourclassandtryto
convincethemofthechangeswemade.Wealsohadtotrytomakethemfeellikeour
designwasbetterthantheoriginal.

Summary:

Welearnedhowmuchtimeandworkgoesintoreverseengineeringaproduct.
Thereisalotofanalysing,documentation,andprecisionrequiredtoreverseengineera
productwell.Wealsolearnedhowtousedtheskillswebuiltearlierintheyearandapply
themtoanactualproblemwithnopredefinedsolution.Oneofthehardestthingswe
learnedwashowstressfulproductdeadlinescanbesomepeopleshutdown,whileothers
staycalmandworkashardastheyhavetotogetalltherequiredworkdoneintime.
Someofthetaskscompletedinthisprojectweremakingisometricandmultiview
drawings,creatingtechnicaldrawings,andmakinganenhancementtosomepartofthe
originalproductinourfinaldesign.Weranintoafewdifficultiesduringtheprojectsuch

asneedingmoredimensionsthanweoriginallyhad,beforetryingtocreatetheparts
ourselves,whichleadtoredimensioningmostofthepartsinsomewayoranother.
Finally,wealsohadtokeepreadjustingourexplanationbecausewekeptfindingout
moreinformationonthemechanicalpencilandhowitworked.Inouropinion,we
thoughtwedidareasonablejobsolvingtheproblemweidentified.Whenweanalysed
thepencil,wecouldntfindalotofproblemswithit.Theonlyproblemweallnoticed
considerablysoonwasthelooseconnectionbetweenthecapandbodyofthepencil.Our
bestsolutiontothatproblemwastomaketheteethontheconnector,thatwasattachedto
thecap,alittlebitdeeper.Withoutbeingabletomakeaphysicalprototypeofour
improvedproduct,wecantdefinitivelysaywhetherourattemptatasolutionactually
solvedtheproblem.Overall,wethoughtwedidagreatjobmakingthecomputermodels,
theworkingassembly,andgivingthorough,detailedaccountsofallthedifferentaspects
ofourproduct.Themainpartoftheprojectwefeltwecouldhavedonebetterasawhole,
wasthefinalpresentation.Wehadlotsofinformationaboutourproductandtookalotof
timeputtingourpresentationtogether,butourdeliveryofourfindingswerenotas
effectiveaswewouldhaveprefered.Wecouldhavepassedthemechanicalpencilaround
theroomaswewerepresentingtogiveouraudienceafirsthandlookatwhatwewere
describing.Wealsocouldhavetalkedtotheclassmoreandrelatedourinformationto
theirdailylivesthanjustexplainingourfindingsoutsideofcontext.Somethingswe
wouldhavedifferentlyoutsideofpresenting,weretohavepickedalesscomplicated
project,oratleast,weshouldhaveaddedmorepeopletoourgrouptosplittheworkload
more.Withtheamountoftimewehad,wehadtoworkovertimetogettheproject,and
allthetasksthatcamealongwithit,donebytheduedate.