SolidWorks
At Cal Poly, the first real application of the "Learn by Doing" philosophy is the detailed design classes. This series of three classes starts with hand drafting to teach visualization skills, and finishes with two quarters in SolidWorks® focusing first on building parts and then on geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T).
This "Bottling Assembly" introduced me to geneva drives - mechanisms that convert constant rotary motion to intermittent rotary motion. Additionally, this assignment taught me valuable lessons about the complexity of mates within SolidWorks®.
My professor always emphasized the importance of thinking about manufacturing while designing, whether that be tapping holes to 5 threads before the end of the hole so that a second operation with a bottoming tap is not required or simply being generous with tolerances. These lessons were further reinforced while manufacturing components for my senior project this year.
This series of classes introduced me to many features of SolidWorks® and gave me insight into best practices for the design of mechanical components.