Hands-On Made 4 ME: Deploying, Using, Developing and Evaluating Desktop Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) Systems in the Engineering Classroom

This paper describes the Hands-On Made 4 ME project to design, use and deploy inexpensive, desktop computer numerical control (CNC) systems in mechanical engineering courses. The project examines both the deployment of off-the-shelf CNC machines as well as the development and deployment of an in-house, education specific, modular CNC building block. This modular CNC building block is designed to minimize the deployment cost in a high volume classroom environment while also minimizing the student time required to prototype and test multi-axis motion control. Initial prototyping of the modular block indicates the design is both economic and functional for educational use. The educational impact of this paper focuses on CNC technology use in the Introduction to Mechanical Engineering course in which freshman students interact with the desktop CNC machines to complete hands-on projects several times during a semester. Weekly student surveys indicate that these hands-on, project-based CNC learning activities have a strong positive effect on student motivation.