November 14, 2018
BY
A mechanical engineering technology class in manufacturing processes allows IUPUI students to build air-piston engines from scratch. That includes casting the engine parts that go into the working engine.
That's right -- undergraduate students pound out molds, pour 1,500-degree molten aluminum, break out the parts, precisely machine critical features, drill holes and assemble the pieces. The small engines are then attached to an air source, and they are expected to run at 2,000 rpm or more.
"This is a really great learning experience for the students that I'm not sure they get in many other programs," said Rob Weissbach, chair of the Department of Engineering Technology. "They're really understanding the construction side as well as the design side and being able to put the pieces together."