Terrapin Works (TW) is a student-run engineering services/manufacturing company at the University of Maryland. The company has several labs filled with manufacturing equipment and takes order requests from student hobbyists, research professors, engineering/robotics clubs, and more. Its services include woodworking, subtractive manufacturing, designing, and 3-D printing.
At TW, I serve as a Lab Technician for the Instructional Fabrication Lab with a focus on subtractive manufacturing. This position entails completing client manufacturing requests, giving shop safety tours to new students, and supervising students’ use of machinery including the lathe, drill mill, waterjet, band saws, ironworker, welder, etc. It also includes performing routine maintenance on all these machines.
I began the position at TW at the start of Fall 2022, and my biggest takeaway thus far is the importance of DFM. In the semester prior, I had more design experience than manufacturing experience. This position has taught me the importance of understanding and appreciating the work of a manufacturing engineer. TW has given me an abundance of knowledge and valuable skills on how to handle heavy machinery and determine what machine is most useful to accomplish each task.
A good design engineer can design a product that can be manufactured easily, but a great design engineer can design a product that can be manufactured quickly and inexpensively. I believe that working with and understanding each machine will enhance my design skills in the future.