Research and Application of Machining Processes
Part B: Application - Module Assignment 2025
Aim: The aim of this assignment is to develop your skills in the use of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM).
Learning outcomes: As a result of undertaking this assignment you should be able to:
• Analyse component designs from a manufacturing engineering point of view.
• Use CAM to develop an optimum solution for the manufacture of components.
• Develop a component from design to manufacture.
• Produce a manufacturing report detailing the techniques used.
• Assess a component for geometrical accuracy.
• Use statistical process control.
Submission details
• The assignment will be submitted through Canvas.
• The assignment will form 50% of the total module mark.
• Submission deadline for all parts is 2pm (14:00) UK time on Thursday 3rd April 2025
• Any work submitted late will receive a penalty of 5% of the assignment mark per working day.
• If you are unclear about any aspect of electronic submission or submission in general, you should seek advice well in advance of the assignment deadline.
• All sections of the assignment should be written in English and written in report form. Penalties will be applied if not.
• You can use landscape page orientation if required but the report should be mostly in portrait format.
• Your report should have a cover page. The following is required in this specific order or 10% reduction in module mark will be applied. Module title, Department, School, Name, ID number, Module coordinator, Report title, Date of submission.
• Immediately following the cover page, a completed University of Birmingham Assessment and Student Template should be provided. See Appendix A for details of this.
• After the completed University of Birmingham Assessment and Student Template, the Report Writing Checklist should be provided. You should check that each aspect of the checklist has been completed in your report. The checklist is included in Appendix B.
• The report is in three parts A, B and C and should be word processed in Arial or Times New Roman, size 12. This includes figure or table captions but not the text in the figures or tables. This can be whatever size you wish. Please consider that Dr Hood is getting older, and his eyesight is getting worse.
• All sections of the assignment should be completed individually. Think carefully about the sections you include and the structure of your report.
• The report cover page, feedback sheet, report writing checklist, appendices, and reference list are not included in the page count.
• A separate list of contents figures or tables is not required and will be included in the page count.
• Additional advice on report writing is available through the University Academic Skills Centre. https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/skills/asc/index.aspx.
• Please note: “Plagiarism will not be tolerated. It is the act of a Student claiming as their own, intentionally or by omission, work which was not done by that Student. Plagiarism also includes a Student deliberately claiming to have done work submitted by the Student for assessment which was never undertaken by that Student, including self-plagiarism and the other breaches. Sanctions ofa plagiarism include the student failing the Programme of study” .
Background: You are a Graduate Mechanical Engineer working for a company called Jennings Engineering. You have been working for the company for less than one year but have experience of computer aided manufacture (CAM).
Part A: Based on recent UK government initiatives, Jennings Engineering has decided to set up a new division focusing on quantum technology and sensor systems. This is highly exploratory in nature and commercially sensitive. You work for Jennings Advanced Manufacturing (JAM) which supports all of Jennings Engineering divisions and have been seconded to this new division to support the R&D manufacturing process development. The designers have developed a series of components with different levels of their perceived complexity, and you have for now been tasked with developing possible machining solutions for one of these products. The component named “Jennings Optical Kinetic Emitter Receiver (JOKER)” is detailed in Figure 1. The component will be manufactured from a prototype material that cannot be used in casting, forming or 3d printing processes and must be produced by machining from a stock workpiece at this stage. The material specification is commercially confidential, but you may assume that the material has similar properties to a copper alloy. You need to develop a turnkey solution for the products to show the viability of this product. Only the CAD file exists for the component. As this product is at an early stage of development there may be iterations ofthe design, and you should be prepared for this.
Figure 1: Jennings Optical Kinetic Emitter Receiver (JOKER).
You are required to:
• Develop the CAM solution to manufacture the component.
• Provide the full specification of the fixturing, tooling, optimum cutting strategy, machine tool and the justification/reasoning behind the strategies chosen.
• Include details of any strategy you use including the datum, boundary, etc. required.
• Provide enough detail to ensure that your method of production can be recreated easily and show that you can produce the component. It is suggested to show the tool path development and then the output. Please remember to make figures large enough to read and include annotation.
• Suggest alternative ideas if there are features that are not good design practice or challenging to make and potential ways to combat them as well as methods to manufacture in current form.
• Provide a basic optimisation of the number of tools required, the machining time and suggest tolerances for component.
• Provide an image of the final machined component.
• Develop a plan for the inspection of key features and show a brief method using Fusion 360.
• You do not need to provide screenshots of every parameter entry tab in Autodesk Fusion 360 as an understanding of the software operation is assumed. Lecture material should be used to support this activity. You should use the Autodesk Fusion 360 for the CAM aspects.
Jennings has stated that they wish to use SECO Tools Ltd as the tool supplier. You are therefore restricted to use only tools detailed on their website. Please see https://www.secotools.com. You can use custom tools if required however must justify this. You are required to also source a machine tool specification for the manufacture of the components including justification for the reasons chosen.
The full solution to this section of the assignment which will include a detailed description and appraisal of the strategies including pictures used will form Part A of your manufacturing report to be submitted formally via CANVAS. You are restricted to a maximum of twenty (20) A4 pages for Part A. You can choose the structure for your report however your report should enable a reader to recreate your method using only the report for reference.
Part B: Jennings Engineering wishes to publicise your manufacturing skills and capability to outside companies to generate additional revenue and has therefore decided to produce a trade article for distribution in a trade magazine. Due to commercial restrictions, you are not able to mention or show any aspects from Part A. You should design a component that can be produced by CNC processing and illustrate the CAM routine for this component. The subject matter for this component should have a link to the subjects introduced in the Part A: Research section of this module led by Dr Soo. Your component can be as simple or as complex as you wish, it can be of any size, structure, material, etc. You are required to have a clear element of sustainable machining within the article as well. Any tools can be used as can any CAM strategy however the component must be capable of being produced by milling or turning. Fusion 360 has excellent examples that can be used. The publisher has restricted you to a total of 400 words and two figures for this article and the article must fit on a single page of A4. If you do not follow this, then penalties will be applied. Both images should be illustrating an aspect of the CAM routine, etc. You should remember that the purpose of trade magazines is to draw the reader into the article and that the article should showcase your abilities and hopefully generate new business. Be specific on the technical details.
Part C: You have machined a circular feature which has a nominal dimension (diameter) of 48mm in a steel block using four different machining centres (Machines 1 to 4) that have been made available to the newly acquired company Rotary Aerospace Manufacturing Parts Company (RAMP Co) to machine one of their components. They have been used previously by Jennings Aerospace. 12 parts (Parts 1 to 12) with this feature have been machined. The feature on each part has been measured using a CMM to determine the actual machined size of the feature. The measurements were undertaken by three different CMM operators (Operators A to C) with three replications (Replications 1 to 3) for each. The measurement data is given in Table 1 with an excel spreadsheet with the filename: Part C measurement data on the CANVAS page giving the results as well. Produce control charts (maximum of 6) and calculate the Cp and Cpk values for the various features. Critically analyse the results and produce recommendations for process capability and control. Which machine tool would you recommended to be used for a longer production run and why? A maximum of 5 pages is allowed for this section.
Table 1: CMM measurement data
Part B Assessment breakdown:
Comprises 50% of the overall module assessment.
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Part A: CAM
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50% of the overall mark
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Part B: DFM and CAM
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20% of the overall mark
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Part C: SPC
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20% of the overall mark
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Presentation: Overall, for report
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10% of the overall mark
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Mark scheme for each section:
A (70 - 100%): A detailed/comprehensive understanding of the problem is demonstrated, detailed understanding and evaluation of the evidence using appropriate methods. Very well-structured submission to a high professional standard and very interesting. Excellent problem-solving ability demonstrated. Comprehensive and accurate. With complete list of appropriate references where required. Range in this grade boundary is from flawless performance across all areas to a thorough and complete piece of work, with a few but generally minor errors. Suitable for distribution to industry.
B (60 to <70%): Reasonable understanding of the problem demonstrated, evidence of this understanding and appropriate application of key principles. Work is generally accurate, well- structured and demonstrates a sound grasp of underlying principles. A good standard of professionalism demonstrated, but some flaws in the work. A good problem-solving ability demonstrated. Work is generally accurate and well-informed. References well used overall but incomplete in places. Range in this grade boundary is from complete/thorough work with a few but generally minor errors to work that is not quite complete and containing several errors in the submission.
C (50<60%): Adequate understanding of the problem demonstrated, with some but incomplete evidence and use of appropriate methods. Work demonstrated degrees of accuracy in parts but contain errors/omissions and/or some factually incorrect statements. A reasonable standard of professionalism demonstrated but work contains inconsistencies and flaws. Reasonable problem- solving ability demonstrated, and work shows some elements that are well informed. Incomplete and inappropriate referencing used in several places. Range in this grade boundary is from work that is not quite complete and contains several errors to work that is incomplete and contains errors but demonstrates an adequate consideration of the problem set.
D-F (<50%) Work does not meet the required level to achieve a C grade.
Assessments: (Taken from programmes and modules handbook)
(50%) Part A: 2-hour closed book centrally timetabled exam in May/June assessment period (replaced by online assessment if closed book exam not possible).
(50%) Part B: Continuous assessment, comprising a Manufacturing Report. (This document).
Supplementary/Reassessment:
One 2-hour formal written examination (50%) to be held during the University's supplementary examination period and/or assessment of coursework (50%), as relevant.
Reassessment will only apply for the failed component. The mark will be carried forward for the passed component.
If you decide to defer a component then it may affect when you graduate. Please speak to Academic Staff if you wish to do this.
• The quality of your English Language Proficiency will also be assessed: The following criteria will be used: Pass and above: The work is written / spoken to an acceptable standard of English. Spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, sentence construction, and textual coherence is of an acceptable standard.
• Fail: Poor standard of written / spoken English, making it difficult to understand the points being made. Weaknesses of writing / speaking are so frequent or serious that they impede communication.
• The use of Generative AI is not allowed. For assignments such as this, Generative AI generally does not provide the level of detail or specific content that is required for this specific application. It is very unlikely that it will help or improve your work.
Appendix A: University of Birmingham Assessment and Feedback Student Template Included after cover page.
Section One: Reflecting on the feedback that I have received on previous assessments, the following issues/topics have been identified as areas for improvement: (3 bullet points).
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3
Section Two: In this assignment, I have attempted to act on previous feedback in the following ways (3 bullet points).
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3
Section Three: Feedback on the following aspects of this assignment (i.e. content/style/approach)
would be particularly helpful to me: (3 bullet points).
• Point 1
• Point 2
• Point 3