Intro
During this project my team and I were assigned to research, analyze, sketch, and rebuild an object that we had picked. For this project we picked a megaphone made by Berwick, a company from Hong Kong that specializes in cheaply made mini objects that have practical uses: megaphone, flashlight etc. This process of reverse engineering starts with identifying the purpose of reverse engineering. Our purpose was to make this simple megaphone into a better, more complex object that was able to make more sounds and hopefully some songs. This redesign of the simple object is done through the analyzing of four steps and drawing of a variety of diagrams.
The steps of reverse engineering include functional analysis, structural analysis, material analysis, and manufacturing analysis. These steps lay the groundwork for understanding the object that our group was reverse engineering no matter the complexity. Below you can see our diagrams, sketches, formal write up, and presentation.
The steps of reverse engineering include functional analysis, structural analysis, material analysis, and manufacturing analysis. These steps lay the groundwork for understanding the object that our group was reverse engineering no matter the complexity. Below you can see our diagrams, sketches, formal write up, and presentation.
Content
There are many reasons for reverse engineering an object. Engineers use this method everyday for a variety of reasons to make them better engineers and better thinkers as a whole.
The reverse engineering being done on our project incorporated all of the benefits listed above. By taking apart and fully understanding our megaphone, we were able to fully understand, deconstruct, and construct all the parts of our product. Below you can see our diagrams and blown up view of the the megaphone.
- Reverse Engineering can make the product more competitive in the market.
- Reverse Engineering can help determine how the object is failing or what is causing that failure.
- Reverse Engineering Continuously improves the product and provides documentation for how the product works, down to every part specifically.
- Reverse Engineering helps educate professionals on the function, structure, manufacturing, and aesthetics of the product.
- Reverse Engineering helps with equipment repair, through the design of replacement parts, for the products no longer in production.
The reverse engineering being done on our project incorporated all of the benefits listed above. By taking apart and fully understanding our megaphone, we were able to fully understand, deconstruct, and construct all the parts of our product. Below you can see our diagrams and blown up view of the the megaphone.
Below is our final presentation and formal write up.
Reflection
In this project there were many positives and negatives that can be taken and learned from. The positives far outweighed the negatives in this project as it was my first time being introduced to reverse engineering. The reverse engineering process is a very useful tool that can be applied to many other engineering or non- engineering tasks in the future. One positive I took away from this project was the detailed analyzing process of each and every part found in the megaphone. This research, diagramming, and reconstruction of the product was very useful to understanding each part and opened my eyes to the complexity of this simple looking machine. Another positive that I took away from the project was the importance of a Ghantt chart and its helpfulness in time management. This tool, although it took a while to complete, made it possible for us to stay on task and really focus intensively on each assignment everyday.
There were also some negatives that I could pull from this project. One of them would be my ability to read and understand the directions given to me in the assignment. Initially, while putting together the presentation, I did not read the directions fully and forget to add the flow chart and exploded view to the presentation. This set us back a little while making the presentation and added more stress to the time management piece of the project. Another negative that I will learn from is the ordering of products if they are needed. An adapter was needed to complete our project but by the time we figured this out, it was too late and we could not order it in time. This was a crucial error that can be learned from in the future. This was a very fun project that I learned and gained many skills from.
There were also some negatives that I could pull from this project. One of them would be my ability to read and understand the directions given to me in the assignment. Initially, while putting together the presentation, I did not read the directions fully and forget to add the flow chart and exploded view to the presentation. This set us back a little while making the presentation and added more stress to the time management piece of the project. Another negative that I will learn from is the ordering of products if they are needed. An adapter was needed to complete our project but by the time we figured this out, it was too late and we could not order it in time. This was a crucial error that can be learned from in the future. This was a very fun project that I learned and gained many skills from.