Mind and Hand

Mind and Hand Ive already mentioned how busy I am this semester and have gone over my schedule, but now its time to show just what Ive been busy with! One of my classes, 2.008, focuses on manufacturing and machining, meaning that we learn to *gasp* manufacture and machine things. MIT has always bragged about its motto, Mens et Manus, or Mind and Hand, because were constantly creating, building, and getting dirty. Ive done my fair share of building since Ive gotten here (plastic bottle pirate ship, 4 robots, an Olmec, etc) but all of that used skills that I really already had. This last week, however, I learned something new. I learned how to use a CNC lathe and a CNC mill. For those of you who are unacquainted, a lathe and a mill are tools used to machine metal/plastic/anything that needs to be shaped into a part. A lathe is for radially symmetric features and spins your part really fast, letting you touch it with sharp tools to cut grooves, pockets, round edges, so on and so forth. A mill is essentially the lovechild of an etch-a-sketch and a drill press. Using two dials you can move your part around on a table (like an etch-a-sketch) and then when you pull a lever you can lower a drill bit into it (like a drill press). The main difference is that you can move the part around while the drill bit (actually called an end mill) is in the part, cutting grooves, notches, and all sorts of neat shapes into it. The CNC means that these tools are computer controllable. Come on, you know how hard it is to make a circle on an etch-a-sketch! CNC lets you design parts in SolidWorks, import them into a program called MasterCAM, and then load them onto the mills/lat hes. Then the tool does all the work for you, spitting out a finished part in just a few minutes. Neat, huh? Later in the semester well be using these to create aluminum molds to injection mold yo-yos with. Until then, we were assigned a Learn to use the equipment project of machining a paper weight. Each of us was given a piece of aluminum stock, 1.5R with a height of .625. We were allowed to do pretty much anything possible, but we had to use both the lathe and the mill. We designed our paper weights in SolidWorks first, the easiest way to bust out a 3D part. I didnt want my paper weight to suck. This had the potential to be a really nice product, something that I could keep forever, so I got a kind of intricate with my design. I decided to machine the great dome, with some special features. Heres what my finished SolidWorks file looked like As you can see, I added some footsteps to the top of the dome, because Im pretty sure there are some. I also put the Inscription Hack around the perimeter of the dome. Awesome, looks good in SolidWorks, hows it going to look in real life? The first thing to do was to turn the part. Never say lathe the part, its called turning. We put my aluminum stock in the machine, closed the doors, and checked through my code using the control panel on the outside. If there is anything more intimidating I have yet to encounter it. It was the scariest thing ever, but luckily shop guys are VERY good at what they do. Please note that that hand is certainly not mine. Once it was all set we hit GO and off it went! The part spun and the tools cut into it. There was a lot of coolant splashing everywhere so it was hard to get really good pictures, but here are a few I managed to get. I made a video of the final run of the paper weight so you can see the lathe in action. Without a CNC I dare you to get that kind of curve. Consider yourself dared. So, I had a perfectly shaped little dome, next it was time for the mill. The mill was programmed to etch the writing and the footsteps into my paper weight, one at a time, using an engraving tool with a tip only .02 in diameter (TINY!). I popped the part into the vice, set my zero at the top of my part, and pushed GO! ~20 minutes later (lots of etching) it was all finished, but while it was being etched it looked like this Finally it was all done! Well, sort of. I cleaned it up with a rag and some hot water, then I took it over to a normal lathe (not CNC) and let it spin while I touched it with some fine grit sandpaper to polish it. When everything was all said and done I had this lovely before and after picture to take Isnt that awesome!? But, there was an issue. Well, there were two issues. I realized shortly after polishing it up that there was a u missing Industry. The space was there, just no letter, so it looked like Ind stry. Not good. Then I noticed that I spelled science as sceince. Those of you who know me know that I am WAY too obsessive compulsive to be ok with this, so I ended up re-machining the whole thing after making the changes on the computer. When everything was all said and done, I had a beautiful paper weight that I was really proud of. Will I make another? Potentially, the code is all there. Will I make many awesome things in the future with my newly learned skills? Absolutely. Mind and hand As some of you probably know, MITs motto is Mens et manus, which is Latin for Mind and hand. Now, in most cases, a school motto isnt particularly meaningful. Its a slogan that sounds cute. In the case of MIT, I feel that its still a slogan that sounds cute, but its also meaningful. It reflects something I consider to be an important component of MIT culture. At some point in the past, someone on this blog asked me whether, as a science major, I felt overshadowed by MITs engineers. And I answered that question at that time, but this is sort of a more extensive answer. Most MIT students come in with a strong bias towards either science or engineering. Then you get some who dont care so much about either and are primarily interested in business, or architecture, or political science, or whatever, but for purposes of this post lets assume theres a science/engineering dichotomy among frosh. And there are extremes. At the science extreme, you get brillant people who live in the theoretical worlds in their heads, and love to know why things work the way they do, but couldnt build anything if their life depended on it. They dont really know how to apply knowledge. At the engineering extreme, you get the kids who have been writing code or machining parts or building circuits in their spare time since they were in middle school. They dont really care about the theory behind anything; they want to know how things work. They get frustrated in theoretical classes because they feel like the material is not useful. Notice that I talked about a frosh dichotomy. This is because, as these students go through MIT, most of the scientists become more like engineers, and the engineers like scientists. When I came here, I was pretty far along the science extreme. Id done plenty of sports, but never done anything physical, other than lab experiments, that involved the application of academic knowledge. I was thought of as a klutzy person and nobody would have ever entrusted me with anything more dangerous or complicated than a screwdriver, so I didnt know how to use power tools or anything like that. The most engineering-like thing Id ever done was AP Computer Science. Two and a half years later, Im still a scientist, but Im also something of an engineer, and Ive learned to be one both in and out of the classroom. In addition to all my neuroscience and bio classes, Ive taken 18.03 (Differential Equations), 6.001 (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs), 6.004 (Computation Structures) and 6.186 (Mobile Autonomous Systems Laboratory, the robotics competition from my last entry). Next term, Ill be taking 6.002 (Circuits and Electronics) and maybe another engineering class. But more important than the classes Ive taken, is what I can do. I can code, if not terribly well, in Scheme, Java, C, or Assembly. I can wire some simple circuits (I bet Ill be better at that after 6.002) and solder. I can use a drill press, a hacksaw, a bandsaw, a scroll saw, and a lathe, and perform minor repairs on some of them. I can use wood and metal files. I can re-key the pins in a lock, and take measurements for a new key. I can tie knots. I can design a large-i sh engineering project. I can machine parts, and put things together. I helped build a robot. The competitions today, and well see how it does. For some people, this is old hat. For me, its really exciting, because its so new. Last term there was a group of students trying to get a bladesmithing club together. They wanted to use a blacksmiths forge to make knife and sword blades, and do metalworking in general. I eagerly joined with them. Unfortunately, there wasnt enough funding for the club to get off the ground, but maybe in the future So I am a scientist who has also become an engineer. As the engineers become scienists. We all stretch our comfort zones a little, under the influence of the people surrounding us. I feel more competent and confidence as a result of what I can do. The engineers slowly come to realize that theoretical knowledge isnt such a dumb idea after all. The boundaries collapse, and everyone wins. That, my friends, is Mind and hand.