Freshman Projects Laboratory – Bogard Hall Room 129

Sudents complete ENGR 120, 121 and 122 in two laboratories that support classroom, laboratory, and shop activities. Figure 1 shows our larger laboratory that supports 40 students working in teams of 2 to 4.

Figure 1 Panoramic View of the Freshman Projects Laboratory

The walls of the larger laboratory are lined with 86 linear feet of cabinets with stainless steel counter tops. These cabinets provide the work surface required for project fabrication and the storage space needed for supplies and equipment. Ten identical work stations are distributed around the room to allow all 40 students in the class to work simultaneously. A work station is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 One of Ten Workstations in the Freshman Projects Laboratory

A work station includes:

A Wabeco D600E lathe with a FAGOR 2-axis digital readout, Swiss-style quick change tool set, and a turret tailstock is available for fabricating conductivity sensors in ENGR 121.

Students taking ENGR 122, which focuses on innovative product design, can “borrow” a host of sensors and other parts needed to facilitate their projects, including servos, RF transmitters/receivers, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, GPS receivers, digital compasses, 2- and 3-axis accelerometers, ultrasonic sensors, force sensors, touch sensors, and cameras (about $20K worth of various sensors). These sensors can readily be interfaced with the student-owned Boe-Bot kits that serve as the backbone of the freshman laboratory experience.

Pump Testing Stations: Our laboratory is equipped with five portable stations that allow students to determine the efficiency of their pumps in ENGR 120. The design of these stations is provided here.