Life of a Mechanical Engineer

One of the most time-consuming types of simulations is Explicit simulations. Simulations can either be implicit or explicit. Explicit simply means that the simulation is run for a very small time period where energy change is very high and instantaneous. Many different studies are done using Explicit methods. One of these is the simulation of an explosion. This is what I did in my six-month internship. Since this internship was under a government organization, I can't describe the specifications of the process, but basically, it was the simulation of an explosion. Here's an image of how the failure occurred just after 0.1 s of the explosion. Image: Failed sheet due to explosion on Ansys Explicit. While using Explicit methods, it is very important to define the material properties properly. Unlike Implicit models where a few properties like density and elastic modulus can fully define the material, Explicit models require much more data. Thus, one of the most important steps is ...

This was quite a famous project last year. Basically, this is meant to be a prank. There is a box with a switch on it. You flick the switch, an arm comes out and flicks the switch back to the original procedure. We thought of making this with some upgrades so that we can use much of our knowledge about Arduino in a single project. So we started designing the same box, but with the added functionality of movement and proximity detection. Not only it could flick the switch, but also detect if someone is approaching to flick the switch and even move back to avoid that. And this all was done inside a small box with an easily manufacturable structure. Here's a render! Image: Rendered Product on Fusion 360. The project started with a model on Fusion 360. A cuboid was cut into parts to ensure different motors and microprocessors can be fitted in. Further, the structure was made in such a way that it could be made by laser-cut wood sheets. Laser cutting was chosen due to it's relativel...

CNC machines are the most vital part of Mechanical Engineering. One way or another, we all end up using CNC machines in our projects. Let it be robotics, automobile, prototyping, additive manufacturing, CNC is used everywhere. My first experience with something similar to CNC was the 3D printer. We had an FDM based 3D printer in our college, which was majorly used for research purposes. We had worked on it for some time when we came up with the idea of making our own 3D printer.  We thought of making something less complex before making a 3D printer, something like a 2D printer. So, we decided of making the least complex 2D CNC machine: A Plotter. What it does is simply using a pen to plot whatever the file is provided with on a piece of paper. But making any CNC machine is very complicated. There are many things to take care of, the most important being vibrations. The body of a CNC machine needs to be stiff enough to ensure minimal vibrations. We achieved this by using layers of ...

First of all, Formula Student can't be called a personal project. It was rather a team project where I was in charge of designing the car. As a team of twenty, we worked for over eight months to come up with this vehicle. And believe me, it took more effort than any of us had expected. To start with, it was the first time our college was making a Formula Student, so we had no guidance. Although we had a team for BAJA India, the last few years were not going good for our teams. So we had a bit of experience, but that too with an All-Terrain Vehicle. I was the head of designing for the Formula Student. And I had to read the rule book at least three to four times and design a chassis at least ten times to come up with a design that looked fairly good. It took us (me and my team) five months and nearly 97 iterations to come up with the final design. Yeah, you read it right. I had to make the roll cage up from scratch tens of times. Then each of these was modified to ensure no rule is b...

Today I'll like to talk about my college life in general. You know being a mechanical engineering student sucks in India. Majorly because of two reasons. First: Our fellow students think we don't know girls and how to talk to them, and that we are desperate as fuck. Second: We and even our professors know that most of us won't be getting any job in our branch-related company. To be very honest please do understand that most of the mechanical engineers are very comfortable talking to girls. We are the same as everyone else. And those who think we are desperate, well we are not. We don't need to be. We have the smartest guys in the whole college/university. And yes, most of the colleges in India are able to provide placement to only 10% of the mechanical engineers. There are a hundred reasons for this, but yeah, campus placement in our core stream is not easy at all. But, one way or another all of us do find a job and do make a good career. And, we also are the most Jugad...

This was the first real project we ever made. Our university had allocated some funds for green initiatives inside the campus, and one of our seniors had an idea. He thought of making an 8 seater cycle bus. And I along with my friends started working under him. We started by deciding the orientation of the passenger. Then we worked on the mechanism to transmit power from eight different pedals to one driving shaft. And slowly, we kept on solving every problem and finally came up with a chassis. Somehow, this project made me understand Solidworks in a way I couldn't even learn by studying or from Youtube. I did my first simulation on Solidworks as well.  The project also helped us all to understand why we were studying all our subjects. We had to do calculations for the turning radius, gear ratios, transmission mechanism, clutch mechanism, and whatnot. We designed the chassis, simulated it, removed unnecessary components, and then repeated everything until we reached the most optimu...

Let's go way back this time. This was 2014, I had just started my 11th class. There were new subjects, one of which was Computer Science. We had to study C++, and this was the first time I was introduced to a  coding language other than HTML. You see, I was always very interested in computers. Before starting my college life, I had made an android app, a webpage, tried developing an AI and made a custom ROM for my Samsung Galaxy Y. And my interest in computers increased many times once I learned to code.  In 12th Boards, I was the highest scorer in Computer Science. I was so expert in coding that I taught all of my classmates and over ten students from my own class got 90+ in Computer Science. Maybe this was the reason everyone thought I will take Computer Science as my branch. But I didn't. There were two reasons for this: First, I didn't get a good enough rank. Second, I was interested in machines too. So, here I was in Mechanical Engineering, with a great amount of codin...

This was the time when I had understood the design procedure of a product. I had started working with CAD Software. I knew that before manufacturing the product, we need to design the product. And let me tell you one thing: there is no one more interested in making CAD design than a second-year mechanical engineering student who has just understood the software. So, here I was making the design in Fusion 360, having discussions with my teammate, finalizing the dimensions of the project. All this without even understanding what a Press Mechanism is. Yeah, we didn't study what was meant by a press mechanism and started making a design that will somehow "press" or crush anything placed inside it. We made a beautiful CAD model, showed it to our Professor, who said that we can proceed. Now, this project was to be made in 6 months alongside our studies. So we used to work on it twice every week. Given the absence of CNC machines in our college, this project took us a lot more t...

Every single one of us has met a teacher in his/her life who is there only to make our life harder. It's the same teacher who apparently hates every student. It's the same teacher who appears to be tormented by students his whole life. It's the same teacher who gives you the minimum possible marks and smiles. Fortunately, we met this teacher quite earlier, when we were still kids and when we never took anything to our ego. Oh, I forgot. By this time, we were intelligent enough to call our teachers as professors. So, there was this one professor, who was picturized as the guardian of Hell by our seniors. And there is one thing that happens in every college. The juniors think of themselves as better humans than the seniors, until they go through the same path of destruction. We being the naive, ego-maniac juniors assumed that our seniors couldn't handle the Professor, but we can. And believe me, when the day came, we were literally thrashed. Throughout the semester, we at...

While I am working on the Review of the Past series , why not write about some of my initial projects simultaneously? The first project I made as a mechanical engineer was a Speed Reduction Pulley System. If you are familiar with something, you would know that it is not even a proper project. However, as a first-year student who didn't even know what he was doing in engineering, this was the best idea I could get. Actually, this wasn't even my idea, this was my friend's.  If you are unfamiliar, this was basically a few cylinders connected to each other using a rope, the motive of which was to reduce the RPM of a motor to nearly one-third. It was such a basic, and I'll say pointless project that I don't even include it in my resume. Or maybe it was a great project, but we were unable to understand it at all. Anyways, We made it together and it somehow contributed to my future projects. Image: Final Assembly. So this was it. The so-called project. I would have include...

I think it would be best to start from the beginning. To be very honest, I wanted to be in an IIT: like all the engineers of India. But as soon as I studied the first time for JEE, I knew JEE Mains was not my cup of tea; let alone JEE Advanced. So similar to nearly 99 percent of the engineers, I joined a reputed, non-IIT. And here I was, with nearly 60 students, all of which had a similar story as mine. The first year was over in the attempt to get the highest possible marks. I was in the top 5 at least. Little did I knew then that this score won't matter to me at all. Neither would it play any vital part in my future. You see, I was able to get 75-80 % marks with ease without much effort. However, getting the next 10% to keep me in the top 5 took a lot of my time. Also, I had a very bad habit, which eventually would have destroyed my career.  The Habit:  Take this as advice, an experience, or a request: Never ever study for marks. And this is me saying this: a guy who was the...

So, I am in my final semester, which means I have already completed seven semesters of my engineering. Thankfully, I didn't get any backlogs i.e. I have not failed in any of my subjects. Those who lost interest after knowing this fact: I have brushed passed a few backlogs! Those who don't think backlogs are cool: I have managed to maintain a respectable CGPA (7.5+). During the three and a half years of my Engineering, I have done three internships, made a couple of projects not related to my academics, worked with two start-ups, made two cars*, and studied a total of 41 subjects. Yeah, that is how many subjects you have to study to be a mechanical engineer! And keep this in mind, I still have one more semester. And yes, I did make cars. There are two competitions named BAJA and SUPRA. We as a team of 20+ members made an ATV for BAJA and a Formula Student for SUPRA. Go check this website for all the vehicles we made! Our Most beautiful Vehicle: The Asgardian I did my internship...

This blog was made to showcase the life of a Mechanical Engineer in India. So, I will be posting about the projects I make, the internships I do, the jobs I will take in the future, and the courses I studied. Of Course, I myself am a student of Mechanical Engineering right now, so I can't call myself Engineer right now or at least for the next couple of months. However, I will be getting my degree in a few months and I can explain my experiences much efficiently right now, rather than writing about this after a couple of years.  So, yeah this blog is meant to give you a glimpse of Mechanical Engineering in India. And yes, I know that I alone can't represent the life of every mechanical engineer, but I can give you quite a good idea. And considering the fact that most of the people assume me to be an IT guy, I will say the real life of a Mechanical guy may be very different. But yet again, I will be a Mechanical Engineer and I am interested in making my career in this field on...