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I need your help deciding on my ME senior project

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    I need your help deciding on my ME senior project

    That's mechanical engineering. My program requires three quarters of "senior project" which entails finding a problem, designing a solution, building and testing your solution and finally giving a 15-25 minute report/speech on the whole process. Due to my poor planning, this senior project is all I need to get my ME degree. The three quarters have to be successive, so I will be at school all year. That's okay though, I still need a couple classes for my bs in math, and a minor in business (which is likely worthless).

    So I need some ideas for my senior project. I ant something that is going to challenge me and make me learn some things, but also not be overwhelming. Some examples of things Oberon students have done in the past are a small engine dyno, a mini mars rover for the ASME competition this year, an improved table saw design, a football snapper etc.

    Some things that I have thought about are turbocharging my car (department head said this would have to be done as designing a manifold for optimal flow, and I would need to have a way to measure VE and compare before and after). This will likely not be my project. Another idea was a rear strut brace. I can measure chassis strain with multiply placed strain gages and can log them with a very fancy Fluke meter. Right now this idea is at the top of my list, but I am afraid it will not be challenging enough. I have also flirted with the idea of building a small jet turbine engine. It sounds very difficult, but isn't all that bad. All I would really have to design is the fuel supply system, the oil system, the flame tube, the combustion chamber and th layout of all of the pieces. This is second on my list, but money is holding it back. The last idea I have is to design a putter. I golf all of the time, and I think it would be really fuckng cool to make a putter that I could use for years. The problem here is that it would likely be too easy. My prof said that to make it work I would have to design and build some ellaborate testing system. This project is also unlikely.

    Anyways, there's the jist of it. I would love to hear any ideas that you guys have. Something e30 related would be cool too, but there's notmuch that hasn't been done.

    Also, forgive any typos, this was posted from my phone and I don't want to proof it.


    #2
    geez good luck, I'm half way thru my associate's and I've already started working on it.

    Try something to help out the handicapped, teachers eat that shit up.


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      #3
      a friend of mine made a torsen LSD for his project, but thats alot of machine work.

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        #4
        how come you're not working on a team project? Baja? FSAE? Solar Boar? Your school must have at least half a dozen other projects. What's out there?

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          #5
          Yeah, we didn't really get to make up our own.

          I worked on an internal combustion hydrogen conversion.

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            #6
            When the time comes for mine, I might do this:
            -turbo my E30
            -develop an ethanol spray into intake that piggybacks off the windshield washer bottle
            -Try out HHO injection
            All tuned with and controlled by megasquirt in an effort to maximize VE, power, and fuel economy

            But when it comes down to it, I will probably just do Formula

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              #7
              jet turbine putter

              /thread

              seriously I would start by doing some research. where is there actually a need? go to the race track/golf course and ask people about stuff. how's their game? what could make it better? this will give you some great ideas and help you rationalize your project to your profs. it could also result in something you could actually develop and make some $$$ back if it goes well. think homemade e30 skidplates, COP conversion, etc.
              M119 M42 M62 S52 S62

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                #8
                Perpetual motion machine

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by 2002maniac View Post
                  Perpetual motion machine
                  haha, that would be an excellent way to fail!
                  85 325e m60b44 6 speed / 89 535i
                  e30 restoration and V8 swap
                  24 Hours of Lemons e30 build

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                    #10
                    Whatever you do, I recommend doing your own machining if you have not done much before. It will help you design smarter parts in the future.
                    sigpic
                    "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by shiftbmw View Post
                      Whatever you do, I recommend doing your own machining if you have not done much before. It will help you design smarter parts in the future.
                      This ^

                      You will discover that you can do stuff on paper, that you cant do in the real world. example: speccing a corner radius that is the same size as an end mill.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by shiftbmw View Post
                        Whatever you do, I recommend doing your own machining if you have not done much before. It will help you design smarter parts in the future.
                        I definitely do my own machining/fabricating. I enjoy doing it, so that shouldn't be a problem.

                        I am not working on a team project because I don't want to do baja, our school is relatively small so we don't have FSAE unfortunately, and I am already involved in a group project that wouldn't really work for this. I'm working on building a carbon fiber electric car, but the project has slowed, and there are some people working on it that I don't want involved in my senior project.

                        I have considered a few things. I want to make my own putter. This would be cool, but it seems far too easy. I would likely have to come up with and build something to test the putters I made. I also would like to do something related to e30's, but I really don't know what.

                        So far I am leaning towards designing and building a small jet turbine engine. They aren't all that complicated, and they do require proper design to make any sort of power.

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                          #13
                          Oh, and the competition that the ASME sponsored last year was awesome. Designing a Mars rover would be cool, and some people a class ahead of me did it. This year the competition is a trash sorter, so I am not so excited about it. They still do Baja racers every year though.

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                            #14
                            Okay I need to bump this thing up. As of right now, my fall back plan is a small propane powered turbine engine. It would be a cool project, but I'm not all that excited about it.

                            I really want to do something e30 related. In ME magazine, there was an article about how fixing/updating and using older products is actually much more energy efficient than buying new ones. It is a bit of a stretch, but I think I can use this angle to persuade my department head that putting a 24v motor in my car is good for the environment, saves energy, yada yada. To do this, I would have to actually design and build something. The swap is pretty simple and doesn't require too much to be designed or fabricated.

                            What I was thinking of is making a kit of sorts so other people can do these swaps (my prof. doesn't know how popular they are). I am thinking of building a custom tranny cross brace (not modified), and maybe provide the necessary modifications for the brake booster set up.

                            I need some ideas for what else could be designed and built for a 24v swap. A cross brace and booster modification is too simple. Custom motor mount arms? Down pipe to match up with stock e30 exhaust? Any ideas you can come up with would be much appreciated.

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                              #15
                              -Why not design something that would make your car's suspension fully adjustable? camber/toe/caster? measure the g's before and after, which would show that you've improved the suspension.

                              -the jet engine idea is the best I think, you could find somebody who is into RC/radio control airplanes and test it! This one would be with some kind of fuel concptn limit or something?
                              sigpic

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