Bored of that fidget spinner as a Personal project?

Need to create or do something with all that free time, well there’s an answer that will help you develop and hone your engineering skills, can you guess? Get yourself a hobby/personal project!

Ideas: (depending on time/costs and experience)

• 3D printing
  • Modelling an idea from concept to production is a key element that every mechanical engineer should develop, start small and craft an item that will help you solve a problem at home. Later you can go on to Thingiverse/Cults/Myminifactory and get ideas for advanced projects that mixes mechanical and electronic devices.
  • Resources: Fusion 360 (Free version), Blender, Tinder CAD, Free CAD, any desktop 3D printer
  • Skills Gained: CAD design, material properties, manufacturing processes, Mechanical design, material science, programming

• Volunteer as a STEM ambassador
  • Teaching what you know and have learnt the previous academic year to college/school students will help you reinforce what you know and help find the gaps in your knowledge, plus you gain communication skills.
  • Resources: https://www.stem.org.uk/stem-ambassadors
  • Skills Gained: Communications, Leadership

• Learn to weld
  • This one depends on equipment, but learning how to weld is like learning how to solder, it’s a basic skill that many mechanical engineers develop that give them an appreciation for fabrication, plus it helps with item 6! Since this one uses dangerous equipment I will link a training company.
  • Resources: https://www.peta.co.uk/30/567/general-welder-level-2
  • Skills Gained: Welding, Sheet metal working, Jigging, Hot works

• Get involved with an institute
  • Institutes like the IET or IMechE are always running events for young engineers who want to get out into the world early and learn new skills and meet like minded others (plus it gives you a taste of different industries), pop onto their websites to see the closest board to you and get involved! Great way to start you on the road to registering as a professional engineer!
  • Resources: https://www.theiet.org/ / https://www.imeche.org/
  • Skills Gained: Communications, Leadership, Networking, Professional registration

• Build a race car (Formula Student)
  • Well build anything really, there are plenty of kits out their from RC vehicles to well race cars, here you can find teams who race what they build and it’s a great hobby to get into if you enjoy getting outside!
  • Resources: https://www.imeche.org/events/formula-student
  • Skills Gained: Communications, Leadership, Assembly, Tuning, Networking, Mechanical design, material science

• Conduct a FEA analysis
  • Same as the first one, but this project involves you learning about the whole concept design of modelling, looking into simulation and stress on the materials you select for your design.
  • Resources: Fusion 360 (Free version), Blender, Tinder CAD, Free CAD
  • Skills Gained: CAD design, material properties, manufacturing processes, Mechanical design, material science, programming

• Invest in a hobby
  • This one can be a rabbit hole, but having a hobby like Astrophotography really does test your problem-solving and analytical skills, by building your own rigs you have to learn about the different parts and how they work together. Download software to get all the electronics talking and then learn the process of getting the best data.
  • Resources: Astrobackyard YouTube
  • Skills Gained: Problem solving, Critical thinking, Photoshop

• Learn to code
  • VBA/Python are used daily by engineers to process data, mechanical design engineers will run experiments to collect data on their latest designs and then review that data using bespoke programs to create charts etc.
  • Resources: https://www.wiseowl.co.uk/ and their YouTube channel
  • Skills Gained: Coding

It does depend what you are into and willing to do, along with the restrictions of H&S/Cost/Time etc, but I would encourage any student to learn practical skills in mechanical engineering, that could mean working at a engineering company over the holidays to get firsthand experience as to what projects they run and how mechanical engineers fit into that.

If that’s not doable, then the items above can be developed into hobbies that will allow you to hone your engineering skills/knowledge over the years, and perhaps open some interesting opportunities as well!

What Personal project do I have?

I have had so many over the years, but for me I have several Personal project (s) on the go.

• Creating and managing this website onlong with my LinkedIn / Quora and Pinterest channels to inspire engineers!
• Astrophotography – it’s really a rabbit hole of technology, skills and deep understanding of night time deep space photography, there are some nights that I spent problems solving, adding new tech, trying a new method or just sit back and let the telescope do it’s thing!
• 3D printing, since I love to solve problems, 3D printing is key for me to practise modelling (and challenging myself), and today’s printers can be as cheaper as £100 with a great online community to help you get started!
• Reading – is that really a project? well for enjoyment no, but to develop then yes, I read educational books to help gain new ideas.
• Juggling and Speed typing – hand co-ordination and focus, both key to being productive.

How about you? what personal project are you working on?

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