Me and My Metal

So yeah, I passed my machine shop training quite some time ago. 'twas really basic stuff, learning how to use the drill, lathe and mill, plus all the rudimentary stuff - like using the saw and deburring.


So this was the little widget I had to make at the end of the program to prove that I wouldn't kill myself when left to do my own stuff at the machine shop. Despite the simplicity of it, it actually took me about two hours. Most of the time was spent ensuring that I got the specified dimensions correct (to the 2nd decimal, mind you). I could point out the beauty of it to you - the sight of seeing metal being peeled off like onion skin, the radial marks left by the lathe and fly cutter - but you would probably not understand.


I'm going to start machining parts for CalSol soon. Take a look at this 13lb block of aluminum, I'm going to machine into part of the front suspension. I'm only starting out making the back-up pieces, 'cause the really beautiful geometry can only be machined on the CNC mill thats in the professional machine shop. Thats the mill where you upload your solids modelling file, put your stock piece inside, close the door and the machine does everything for you with its four axes of rotation. I've got to rack up 10 hours of experience on the normal mill before I'm even allowed to begin training on the CNC mill, which is going to happen next semester then.

I decided to only machine for CalSol this semester/year because I was afraid that with so little knowledge, I would only be able to contribute so much to the design process. Well, I guess all the freshmen are neophytes in this field, and the people who share my concerns are rather the minority. Yeah, I was afraid. *bashes head on wall* I might try to change that later some time and try to get myself into one of the design teams. I think all that's left at this point is steering and some other minor stuff though. Then again, I might not particularly regret having been extra prudent in this after all, with homework piling up, rhetoric papers that take inept ol' me horribly long to finish, and E28 projects that are going to be such a pain. And not for the mouse, but for me. I mean, you think it would be difficult to build the catapult. You do it, and then discover that its the trigger for the catapult that really screws you up. You fashion a trigger, and then you start worry about the trajectory and landing options. Everything's always perfect when "everything" is confined to sketches on pure white sheets of paper, with the normal sprinkling of physics equations by the side.

Owh, I've just got to tell you about my E28 midterm. 'twas having it in 1 Pimentel, this awesomely huge room where the stage area rotates. So Professor Lieu started walking around happily and flipping switch.

"Ah, this is where I used to have my chemistry lectures."
" Hmm, I wonder how I could get the stage to rotate. Y'know, just for fun"
"Darnnn, this thing needs a key to operate"

But that's not what I want to tell you about. So well, the midterm was two hours long. We the students received our exam questions and started work frantically. When I was little more than halfway through, I saw Professor Lieu jump up to his feet.

"Ok, guys. Time's up. Stop your work and hand in your work"

I swear, the silence was deafening (o.O?), except for the odd pencil uncontrollably from the mass of petrified hands.

"Nah, I was just playing with you. You guys still have one more hour. I got you good didn't I" Mwahaha

I would like to have said that right there and then, my pencil snapped in my hand. Somehow, something in pop culture tells me that would have been most appropriate at the moment. But that didn't happen, firstly because I abhor pencils and snapping mechanical pencils doesn't bring up that mental association of frustration - and secondly because I was in a state of shock for at least 5 minutes after that. My heart palpitating. I guess I should have expected it of him. I mean, during his first lecture of this semester, he told us of something else he had done way back when.

Then, his daughter had been a Cal student. So, during his class's first midterm, he had her seat in with the rest of the class. The class size being what it was even then, nobody noticed that she was new. About 15 minutes after the exam started, he went up to his daughter, announced that he had seen her copying, tore her exam booklet into two and asked her to get out of his class. I remember him chuckling when he recalled that after that point, no one so much as even glanced away from his own exam booklet. Eventually, he did bring his daughter back in and let the class in on the bluff, but it was a changed class, for the duration of the exam at least.

He did say that he would never do that again though, 'cause during the end of the semester evaluation, some students complained that they were in too much of a shock to do well on that particular midterm. This midterm was, in my opinion, actually easier than then previous one - and I hope and expect to do reasonably well. If I don't, then hey end-of-semester evaluations aren't that far away.

*grins evilly and strokes imaginary beard*