So the FYP story goes like this...
Based on the last time I talked about the general scope of my FYP, fast-forward the time to present, where I've undergone numerous re-designs with my Solidworks (this 3-D design software) that isn't crucial to the purpose of the FYP yet essential to me creating a tribometer in 3-D space for fabrication purposes.
By the way, Tribology is a term used to describe the study of wear with reference to hard discs. And a tribometer would be as you guessed, some crap machine that helps in measuring stuff to give you the data.
So because of the group ME3102 robot shooter design project and the exam preparations last month, I hadn't exactly pushed forward for my FYP until recently, when the meetings with the particular MNC re-started. My prof, unfortunately, hasn't been very helpful, though seniors have reported him to give his students a lot of freedom (which translates to self-discipline and personal responsibility). I can't exactly say he's "bo chup", since he always wants to meet me (when I really have no updates to present except for the minor re-designs here and there, and the efforts in obtaining part quotations from companies).
The problem I face, is essentially red tape. When discussions between NUS (as represented by my prof) and the particular MNC happen, the people at "the top" have idealistic goals which I can fathom, but cannot accomplish by myself. Yet, when they offer help, they often come in words and I'm left to run about like a headless chicken, sourcing for part quotations and the like.
The big problem, which you can foresee next, is that of money.
Talk is cheap, but when we talk about who will pay for the parts and workmanship, it seems like an eternal battle for shirking responsiblity in a diplomatic manner.
(At a closed door meeting in NUS)
NUS Prof: "Don't worry about budget, if XXX wants this, they will pay for it, after all, what's a few thousand dollars compared to the billions they earn?"
(In XXX when I went to find the representative one day without our bosses present)
XXX representative: "The purpose of such industrial collaboration is to provide you as a student whatever technical/industrial help you need so you can see how things actually work. We want these tests but you have to think of the way in which you can conduct them. If you need parts which you cannot manufacture yourself or in NUS like motors and stuff, we can buy them for you, but if you don't use it subsequently, you have to answer for the money spent. But we're not here to scare you......"
So...here I am, this 19th Day in December, with nothing except a empty camera humidty box waiting for me in my lab. I just sent my drawings for fabrication, approved by the NUS lab tech, but requiring at least a month to complete due to the long job queues of other FYP students. I've asked one company to for a quotation on the motors, but I have to confirm with XXX if a brushless DC motor or a stepping motor would be more suitable.
Either the brushless DC motor or stepping motor would cost about SGD$1000 each. Delivery takes 7 working days, but until I get approval (both in suitability and monetary approval), I can't order it.
Then there's Data Acquisition (DAQ).
In order to record and analyse the raw data the strain gauges will pick up during the tests, I would need a data logger/DAQ device, which I just found out today from the lab tech that it costs around SGD$3000 for the low-end kind. Software should come provided which I will then need to familiarise myself with. And I just emailed the company to request for a quotation.
More time wastage.
And then I will need a PC to capture all the data and analyse them. Question is, who's gonna pay for it/source for it, and where will my workspace be (when both the wear test rooms in the Materials Sci Lab are fully occupied already). I joked and told my lab tech I don't mind setting up shop along the main corridor with all the expensive junk when it arrives.
Oh wait, where's my prof? On off. Till I meet him again on Thursday.
But then again, all he talks about is what he wants me to do, without actually suggesting where I can find stuff, or teaching me concepts/principles. And throughout my 7 semesters, I have had no background in this field of tribology, yet I'm now expected to do more than just Mechanical Engineering? Design that chamber to house the tribometer to operate in minus 20 degrees celcius to 80 degrees celsius, with lowered humidity and pressure, while attempting to design an electronically controlled system to pick up the normal and tangential forces experienced whole the slider/actuator is in contact with the reciprocrating disc (as simulated by the brushless DC motor or stepping motor)?
I don't even know what to write in my interim report or presentation when I haven't even run any tests to obtain results. I sometimes wonder if I was better off doing an FYP where the scope is laid clearly and all you need to do is repeated monotonous testing with existing machines, as opposed to this "opportunity to work with a leading MNC" to start on creating something new.
Wait. Did someone say Christmas was coming? Well it doesn't feel like it. FYP-ing in the day, and ushering at night, I fully comprehend the life of an FYP student. The only good I get out of this seems to be taking my mind of other more important things.
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