ENGINEERING UPDATE

I'M STILL ENJOYING MYSELF DOWN HERE. I DON'T HAVE AS MUCH FREE TIME TO HANG OUT WITH MY FRIENDS NOW, BUT THAT WAS EXPECTED AND I DON'T HAVE TOO MUCH OF A PROBLEM WITH IT. PEOPLE STILL STOP BY EVERY NOW AND THEN TO SEE WHAT'S UP. I THINK WE'VE STARTED A WHOLE VIDEO RENTAL NETWORK OVER HERE AT THE BREAKERS APARTMENTS. I'VE BEEN LENDING OUT AND BORROWING MOVIES TO AND FROM DIFFERENT NEIGHBORS FOR THE PAST COUPLE WEEKS. ANYWAY, ON TO SCHOOL.

SOME CLASSES ARE TAKING A WHILE TO REALLY GET INTO THE SWING. CALCULUS AND PHYSICS ARE REALLY POUNDING THE BASICS INTO THE GROUND, BUT I THINK THEY'RE ONLY DOING THAT SO THAT THEY CAN MAKE SURE WE COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THE MATERIAL AS WE WILL BE USING ALL OF IT IN REAL LIFE APPLICATIONS, NOT TO MENTION LATER ON IN THE COURSE AND IN SUBSEQUENT COURSES.

EGR 120 (ENGINEERING GRAPHICS) IS REALLY JUST A DRAFTING CLASS. IT'S GETTING PRETTY INTERESTING IN THERE. I TOOK A DRAFTING COURSE IN HIGH SCHOOL, BUT I REALLY DON'T REMEMBER LEARNING ANYTHING AT ALL IN THERE. NEEDLESS TO SAY THIS CLASS IS MUCH MORE IN DEPTH AND ORGANIZED. HERE ARE A COUPLE EXAMPLES OF ASSIGNMENTS I'VE DONE THIS WEEK. DESCRIPTIONS ARE BELOW:

HERE YOU CAN SEE THE THREE ORTHOGRAPHIC (TWO DIMENSIONAL) DRAWINGS IN THE BOTTOM LEFT. THESE DRAWINGS ARE VIEWS OF THE TOP, FRONT AND RIGHT SIDE OF THE OBJECT. THE BIGGER DRAWING ON THE RIGHT IS MY ISOMETRIC (THREE DIMENSIONAL) INTERPRETATION OF THE OBJECT FROM LOOKING AT THE THREE ORTHOGRAPHIC DRAWINGS. EACH ORTHOGRAPHIC DRAWING REPRESENTS TWO DIMENSIONS, E.G. THE FRONT VIEW REPRESENTS WIDTH AND HEIGHT, AND THE TOP VIEW REPRESENTS WIDTH AND DEPTH. YOU NOW HAVE THE THREE DIMENSIONS NEEDED TO DRAW A 3D OBJECT. TO DO THIS YOU CAN USE SPECIAL GRID LINES THAT REPRESENT X,Y AND Z AXES, AS OPPOSED TO JUST AN X AND A Y AXIS. YOU HAVE LINES GOING VERTICALLY AND LINES GOING 30° FROM THE HORIZONTAL IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.

IN THIS PICTURE, THEY WANTED ME TO APPLY THE REVERSE PROCESS AND DRAW THE TOP, FRONT, AND RIGHT SIDE ORTHOGRAPHIC VIEWS OF THE ISOMETRIC OBJECT, INCLUDING ALL HIDDEN LINES.

THERE WERE SEVERAL EXERCISES LIKE THESE TWO. I CAUGHT ON PRETTY QUICKLY AND AFTER A WHILE IT WAS ACTUALLY REALLY EASY. OF COURSE, THESE WERE RELATIVELY EASY DRAWINGS TO BEGIN WITH. I ALSO LEARNED HOW TO DRAW AN ISOMETRIC CIRCLE (IT APPEARS AS AN ELLIPSE) AND I CAN'T WAIT TO LEARN HOW TO DO MORE ADVANCED SHAPES.

IN EGR 101 WE HAVE BEEN SPLIT INTO GROUPS. HE SHOWED US A SMALL OBJECT THAT HAD A COUPLE OF MOVING PARTS. WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS (AT LEAST WE DIDN'T WHEN HE SHOWED IT TO US) BUT HE GAVE US THE PATENT NUMBER FOR IT. OUR ASSIGNMENT IS TO RESEARCH THIS OBJECT AND WRITE A REPORT (OR POSSIBLY GIVE A PRESENTATION) ABOUT WHAT IT IS, WHAT IT WAS USED FOR, WHO INVENTED IT, AND ANY OTHER RELATED INFORMATION. I'VE PULLED UP QUITE A BIT ON IT SO FAR. IT'S A FLASH SYNCHRONIZER FOR A CAMERA. A GUY NAMED IRVING JACOBSON INVENTED IT FOR A GUY NAMED J.R. EYERMAN WHO WAS A FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER FOR TIME MAGAZINE. HE WAS ACTUALLY AN ENGINEER BEFORE BECOMING A PHOTOGRAPHER FULL TIME. THIS IS WHAT PART OF THE PATENT LOOKS LIKE:

IT'S STILL A LITTLE UNCLEAR AS TO HOW HE WANTS THIS PROJECT ORGANIZED, BUT HE HASN'T EVEN SET A DUE DATE ON IT YET SO WE'VE GOT TIME.

ASSEMBLY THIS WEEK WAS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS LAST WEEK. ALL WE DID WAS SIT IN THE AUDITORIUM AND LISTEN TO PRESENTATIONS FROM VARIOUS CLUBS AT THE SCHOOL AIMED AT RECRUITING INCOMING FRESHMEN. I'LL MOST LIKELY WIND UP JOINING AT LEAST ONE OF THEM, BUT I MAY WAIT UNTIL NEXT SEMESTER JUST TO MAKE SURE I CAN HANDLE THE LOAD. MOST OF THESE GROUPS TRAVEL AND COMPETE AROUND THE COUNTRY. APPARENTLY WE DO REALLY WELL AGAINST SOME OF THE BIGGER SCHOOLS LIKE GA TECH, MIT, VIRGINIA TECH, ETC. ONE CLUB ENTERED INTO AN INDOOR AERONAUTICAL COMPETITION. MOST OTHER SCHOOLS JUST DESIGNED PLAIN OLD REMOTE CONTROLLED HELICOPTERS DUE TO THE RESTRICTIONS OF FLYING INDOORS. EMBRY RIDDLE DEVELOPED A SINGLE WING CRAFT. IT WORKED LIKE A HELICOPTER, BUT THE ENTIRE THING ROTATED AND IT ONLY HAD ONE WING! THEY DEMONSTRATED RIGHT THERE IN THE AUDITORIUM. I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE HOW STABLE IT WAS AND HOW MUCH CONTROL THEY HAD OF IT ONCE THEY GOT IT INTO THE AIR. IT WAS IMPRESSIVE.

THAT'S ABOUT IT FOR TODAY. I'LL UPDATE IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO, OR WHEN SOMETHING INTERESTING HAPPENS.