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Epsilon Technology Internship 22/06/2015

I continued Solid-Works learning by creating items around the office. I spent around 3 hours creating a model of an iPhone 4 without the help of the tutorials and minimal help from my colleagues. I was happy with the model I created as it looked genuine and the quality of detail showed. I then continued to draw the phone company telephone but didn't manage to finish. Brian my supervisor told me that I should begin to start model design of curved surfaces as they are quite challenging. Also he told me that in real the iPhone I made would be made by parts and then assembled together and not done as one part like I had done.

CAD skills. I didn't find the tutorials to difficult by the end of the day so this gave me confidence of actually being ready to start designing an object/part on my own. to improve my understanding of it. I found it laborious but knew that it was necessary for my

- I spent the day going through the Solid-Works tutorials aimed

Day 1 - Given a tour round the Epsilon factory. I briefly saw how parts are constructed and manufactured through metal bending and welding. Then I saw the how projects are assembled in the assembly line. I was introduced to a designing member who educated me on the importance of CAD and how he uses it to design parts that are used in projects. As i’ve be assigned into the designing group it is pivotal that I gain knowledge of the CAD software they use. I have used Pro-Engineer before but hardly used SolidWorks, and as SolidWorks is what the company uses to design their parts and machines, it was necessary for me to develop a greater understanding of how to use SolidWorks. I spent the rest of the day completing SolidWorks tutorials which enhanced and refreshed my understanding of the software.

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Day 5 - I continued to develop the design I was working on the previous day and developed the sketches made previously. I handed my sketches over to Brain with explanation I had come up with. He said it could work but he’d need to go over the the idea. He told me to develop my idea on Solid-Works in the meantime. I spent the majority of the day doing this and finished the design concept. I spoke to Brian about the design and he found a problem. The problem was that it would not be easy to install and uninstall the beams for the conveyer belt as there would be gears attached to them. This meant my design must be changed in someway to incorporate for this error. The casing I designed did cover all the necessary issues in the brief which was very pleasing to me. I also managed to create a curved surface leant from the previous day which showed that the tutorials I had completed weren’t in vain.

Day 4 - Today I created the empty shelf used in the work space I work in. I did this quite quickly without problem which made me feel confident using Solidworks to draw basic 3D concepts. The next step up was to learn how to make curved surfaces which I had not yet come across. I began and progressed through the tutorials until lunch. After lunch Brian my supervisor/head of the design team gave me a real design problem. A Client of Epsilon had a problem with their machine as it was gathering dirt constantly inside. The machine was a pinion polisher and the reason the machine kept on getting dirty according to the client was because of the conveyer belt used in the machine leaked coolant. They asked Epsilon to deign a new machine that hold more pinions, be easy to maintain and wont have the dirt issue. Brian told me to design the shell of a machine which is used to polish the pinions. The casing that I had to design had to be made from mild sheet steel. As well as designing the case I had to design how the conveyer belt was held. I was briefed that the machine got dirty because the coolant (used for machine) gets onto the belt, which coupled with the polished fibres of the pinion generates the dirt. The coolant is reused so coolant must be collected in one place and pumped back into the machine. I began to make some initial sketches after being fully briefed and shown some pictures of the old machine, and pictures of the design of the unfinished new machine.

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Day 6 - I began the day talking to Brian about the manufacturing side of Epsilon and the importance of accuracy and communication in the workplace. He suggested to spend afternoons gaining experience in the manufacturing side so I see the whole process of machines being designed and made. After the discussion I sat with one of the designers who was working on the same project I was assigned in day 5. He was also told to design a concept for the container and chain belt support. While analysing his deign and how he used solid works, he gave me a few tips and tips/shortcuts which were useful. He was struggling on what shape the container should be so I sketched down an idea and he used it for his concept. After lunch I was introduced to the assembly team and showed around the machines and parts they were currently making. I was straight away paired with a worker who was assembling a aluminium frame for a trolley. After we assembled it I had to assemble plastic windows on a machine that was being assembled. I talked to a few of the workers and the explained to me what they do and their daily work routines. Lastly I was placed on the assembly line where I had to assemble a part for machine which is used to tighten screws in the steering shaft.

Day 7- In the morning I analysed drawings produced by solid works that would be sent to the manufacturing department. Bryan explained the importance of accuracy and tolerance and why tolerance is used. He explained this for different particular fittings. For example, the press fit, push fit and slide fit have different tolerances. After this I sat with one of the designers in the office and they explained the project they were covering. I spectated and asked questions until lunch. The designer showed me the book he uses for ordering standardised parts. In this book you could not only choose from a range parts but you could also download the part for the use of designing. You could download standard parts for most mainstream designing softwares such as Pro-Engineer and Solidworks. The benefit of this is that it can save a lot of time as it would be tricky and longwinded to created such parts on designing software. After lunch I went back to the manufacturing department and did several tasks that included constructing another aluminium frame and stocking parts. I created the structure of the frame but as other parts had not been delivered to the factory I could construct it fully. I made it by analysing a cad drawing that one of the des igners made. Dimensions were given so it was not too difficult to construct.

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Day 8 - During the morning I spent the whole time with one of designers who was given a project to minimise the size of a part. He explained to me the problems he was facing and discussed with me possible solutions. In the afternoon I was in the manufacturing side and for the whole day I was installing plastic covers which slotted in between the frame for the machine. This proved to be quite tricky as near perfect measurements were needed. As the strip covers came in one long size they needed to be cut and measured to fit. Also when trying to slot the covers in they needed lots of pressure and even hammering in with a soft hammer. lastly I installed some protective glass panels which is used to protected users when machine is in operation during usage.

Day 9 - I started the day going through a solid works tutorial which I leant how to create keyway cuts. I felt that it was necessary to go back on solid works and practice my skills again as I did not practice it for over a week. After finishing the tutorial and exploring the software I talked with Bryan about a concept of a mould cutter machine he had just received from a customer. The customer had created a concept and was enquiring to see if it could work or if there could be any improvements to the design. The cutter would be used to cut out a PC (Polycarbonate) light diffractors that had been injection moulded. After lunch I went back into the manufacturing side and began work on the. After I installed the protective glass. Following this I changed the steel bar hole from a slide fit into a push fit. There had been a fabrication error which meant the rings would slide through the hole which should not be the case. So I was told to use a tap to indent the hole which made the rings not slide and only be push fitted in. The final job I had was to case the machine with a plastic cover so that the wires and piping did not show an were protected. For this I had to measure and cut out the right sized cover and then attach it onto the machine.

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Day 10 - In the morning I asked Bryan if he could explain to me the purpose of the machine I used yesterday. I asked one of the workers the previous day about how it worked and he explained it to me. After this I sat down with one the designers that was working on a project. He dictated what he was doing and I gave suggestions to tackle a problem he was facing. After lunch I went to work work in the manufacturing side and spent the rest of the afternoon assembling brackets and wheels to the aluminium frame I constructed a few days before.

Day 11 - Day 11 was my first whole day in the assembly side of Epsilon. My first task was to drill 4 holes through a large thick metal plate. The holes had to be carefully measured so a bracket could be fitted. While drilling the hole, patience was required as each hole took time to drill through and the drill had to be lined up correctly. Cutter coolant was added to the drill bit so excessive heat wouldn't generate on the drill bit, this causes it to become less efficient or even break. After the holes were drilled a bracket was mounted. This bracket was used so that the protective screen could then be fit on the top of the machine. After the screen was successfully fitted, I was asked to install

the black plastic covers onto the machine. I learnt that this was not only for aesthetics and dirt cover, but it is used for covering and hiding the machine wires. After lunch the order for the free rollers arrived, this meant we could assemble them onto the aluminium frame we crated the the day before. Firstly, the design for the part tray trolley had not been printed out so we had to go on solid works and find the part and print out the constructed version with its correct dimensions. When installing the trolley, we used a spirit level to check if the angle of the installed parts were 180 degrees. If they were not and the bubble in the spirit level was not in the centre, we had to adjust the framing for the free rollers to make it level. The framing was held together by brackets I installed the previous day.

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Day 12 - For the majority of the morning I spent with the designers until around 11.30, after which I joined the assembly team. I watched two of the designers working on there projects while they dictated to me what they were doing. While I was with the assembly team up until lunch, me and another worker installed the black plastic covers onto the remaining machines. After lunch I was given the trickiest task up to date with the assembly team. Working with a colleague I had to install a huge aluminium tank at the bottom of the machine. This tank acts as protection for the users. We had to pick the tank up and deliver it to the machine for installing. We held the tank from both sides of the machine whilst keeping it balanced, then we correctly positioned it whilst screwing in. We could not manage the task on the first or second attempt. On the third attempt we had an additional worker to hold the tank while I went under the machine to fit the screws in with aid of a flashlight. On this attempt I found out that the holes did not align, so we had to mark where the holes should be with marker. I talked to my supervisor and he told me that this was a mistake during fabrication as the worker did not follow the dimensions correctly. He determined this because we check the solid works drawings and found that the drawing was correct, meaning the person manufacturing did not take enough care. After the new holes had been drilled we managed to install the tank.

Day 13 - From the morning I worked in the stock room. This room was littered with spare parts and cardboard boxes and plastic wrapping. I was given instructions along with two others on what to do and where to group items. First the whole room was emptied so it could be cleaned. We gathered parts on pallets and used a forklift truck to move items around. It was by far the most demanding day of work at epsilon. Not only because of the heavy machinery being carried around, but because of the dirt and heat. It took until about 4pm to sort the room out, by which time was covered in dirt. I cleaned my self up and mounted brackets onto a part. This required drilling holes based on dimensions, mounting the bracket and screwing it in. It was important that I made sure that the brackets were mounted in the correct position because this part would be assembled onto another part, and in order for it to fit, the dimensions had to be precise. I then went onto the designing area for the the remaining time I had. I watched one of the designers for a while and then worked on report.

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Day 14 - This day I spent the whole time on the assembly side of the factory. I began installing a sensor onto a machine. I had to first assemble it and make sure the angle it was installed at was correct so that it could fit. This angle was very small so it was important I took care with installing it. After this I was guided on how to make the part on the top right picture. After construction I was then given another task that lasted the whole day as there was a lot to assemble. I was given Solid-works drawings to aid me with assembly of two parts and I had to construct them independently. I first started to create part 1 until I found that two of the holes for the metal dowel want the right size. I gave the part to the co-worker and they modified it to fit. Part 2 was more difficult to construct as there a lot more parts to it. I also came across a similar problem which was that the holes were not aligned so I could not attach one of the part to the plate. I told my co-worker and he checked and agreed that there was an error which he went and resolved. I completed the parts and they were checked with no problems.

Day 15 - I spent the full day in assembly constructing parts that the designers had made. First I assembled a part without the use of any sketches and only by observing and analysing a replica of the same part made previously. I did this independently so I had to get the right screw/dowel sizes myself. I either used a vernier caliper to check the hole size to determine which size to use, or I guessed the diameter size and tried to see if it was the right size using a screw. It was a tricky part to make as there was lots of small screws and parts to assemble. One of the pictures shows that I actually broke the screw while tightening it, it was taken out but it took time. After lunch I created a part with aid from one of the designers drawings of solid works. It was tricky as the picture off solid works didn't explain the inside of the part clearly, so I asked my co-worker who already created this part for assistance when needed. The last thing I assembled was another aluminium frame from scratch as another part tray trolley was ordered. This I did quickly without any issues.

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Day 16(Final Day) – In the morning I worked on Solidworks and watched one of the designers trying to solve a problem he was working on for the past few days. I studied the Mishumi book more and learnt to install parts from the book using specific codes onto CAD. I was impressed by this and realised how useful this could be through my engineering degree. In the afternoon I went to the manufacturing side. Here I worked on cutting and cleaning tubes from a newly made machine. The machine was cutting catheter tubes that had to have very smooth cuts. This is very important as any rough cuts could cause serious pain towards its user.

Brief summary of my time at Epsilon - I found my internship at Epsilon to be very beneficial to me. Everyday I would learn more and more about the world of engineering and how the company functions. It gave me a real taste in what I am to expect when when I begin my career. A great positive I took away from my internship was gaining confidence communicating with people even if there was a language barrier. In addition, my supervisor Bryan gave me lots of tips and taught me some engineering etiquettes. An example of this is, is when he lectured me about tolerances and how important they are. Another example was during designing when after I created the machine casing on solid works. Here he explained to me the importance of creating designs easy for manufacturing and assembling. I also understood first hand what he explained to me, because when I joined the assembly team I could see how difficult their work can sometimes be. It was not all so easy during my time at Epsilon as over the course of the four weeks. I had to manage my time well enough to get to work on time. This is because Epsilon was located on the mainland of Penang and where I lived was on the island. This meant I had to suffer the ample congestion Penang offered. I rented a car myself and even broke down a few times. It generally took me an hour to get to work, and sometimes over 2 hours to get back. But all these events I believed acted as an experience for me and I felt I had become less reliant on others as a person. I found my adventure to be very rewarding as after I finished I felt that I knew a lot more about the world of engineering than before I started. This proved to me that the effort to secure this internship was well worth it.