Incorporating 3D Printing to Bridge Two Introductory Courses in Mechanical Engineering

A course in Computer Graphics using SolidWorks™ is one of the very first courses that a Mechanical Engineering major would take within the department at Lehigh University. In this course, students learn the basics of engineering graphics with a view towards engineering design. Such a course gives students an overall view of not just the mechanics of creating engineering drawings using SolidWorks, but also one of understanding the consequences of their drawings as they affect tolerances, material selection, fabrication processes as well as the viability of their designs. The very next introductory mechanical engineering course is a laboratory dealing with engineering measurements, data acquisition and testing. This article reports on the use of a 3-D printing exercise to bridge these two somewhat very different courses with different objectives, thereby giving students an early start into understanding the process of design; from a concept to its design and fabrication, and finally, testing and analysis of data. Moreover, it gives a fundamental understanding of the use of 3-D printing that many students would end up using for their Senior Design course in their senior year.