Elke Howe
Department Head Engineering Technology
Missouri Southern State University Joplin, MO
FOCUS ON THE
WorkForce W
hen a university instructor comes up with a way of encouraging her technology-bent students to learn machine tool programming with creative classroom
projects, it’s worth talking about. And, when those projects are also tied to the educational benefits of an internationally recognized organization’s student chapter, the conversation reveals a whole new level of opportunity.
At Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Assistant Professor Claudia Murphy has brought a lot to the table for her Industrial Engineering Technology students. Holding a master’s degree in Physics from Pittsburg State University, KS, and a bachelor’s degree in Non-Ferrous Metallurgy from Frei- berg University of Mining and Technology, Germany, Murphy has worked in various areas of manufacturing as a metallur- gist and process engineer, most recently with industrial bear- ings leader, FAG, Schaeffler Group (Fort Mill, SC; Schweinfurt,
Programming Creativity at Missouri Southern
state-of-the-art technology was the way to go to prepare her students for the future.
Starting with a computer and program borrowed from an- other teacher, Murphy began learning the Mastercam software herself, using automated codes to program various toolpaths. Pretty soon, she had a system for her own class and has “grown” the technology to include 10 computers loaded with Mastercam software for her students. These students would be creating a “capstone” manufacturing project that would count as a major portion of their grade.
“I knew right away that we had a great opportunity to tie the capstone project in with a fundraising program to be run by our SME student chapter,” said Murphy, herself a longtime SME member. The chapter had been dormant for several years, but Murphy thought this creative program would be a great way to energize the students and reactivate the Chapter.
“I assigned teams of students to come up with a project that could be sold to our student body or to the school’s bookstore. I wanted them to design something that could make enough profit to provide funds for the student chapter’s activities.”
Germany). Knowing what will be required of her students after they enter the job market has given her a special insight regarding the skills she must concentrate on in the classroom. Founded in 1937, the university has an enrollment ap- proaching 6000, with 110 students aimed at associate or bachelor degrees in engineering technology. In 2008, when Murphy arrived at MSSU, she saw that students who had completed their manual machining program began learning how to hand-code the G and M codes for CNC machining. After attending a Haas conference at which Mastercam (CNC Software Inc.; Tolland, CT) presented its CAD/CAM systems for automated machining, she realized that this
118
ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | April 2014
“I assigned teams of three or four students to come up with a project that could be sold to our student body or to the school’s bookstore,” she said. “Part of the project was to con- duct cost analyses for development and production. I wanted them to design something that could make enough profit to provide funds for the student chapter’s activities.” The first design to bear fruit was a drink coaster machined from 1/4" (6.4-mm) thick aluminum stock. After the design was completed in Autodesk Inventor, it was imported in 3D into Mastercam’s X7 software and the toolpaths generated for machining the drink pocket, the letters MSSU in the four corners, and a very detailed lion mascot logo in the center.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216