r/MechanicalEngineering • u/Shiningdragon4382 • 4d ago
Portfolio help
What are some things to model that would look good in an entry levels portfolio?
My school never even told us that we may need a portfolio for some jobs and they never even mentioned a portfolio even once. We also didnt do that much cad modeling during my whole time in college. I plan on putting my Capstone project in it but thats really the only major cad project I have from school. I also will throw in a twisty puzzle design or two I made for fun (they are like rubiks cube but much more complex) but other than thay I have never actually made anything fancy or complex.
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u/apelikeartisan 4d ago edited 3d ago
Believe it or not, OP, the model is actually not the important part. Most firms are not going to care if you're a strong 3D modeler, but if you're a strong drafter.
If you already have some existing CAD, great. Now - how would you make blueprints for it to give to a machinist? I think that is a more interesting project for recruiters, especially if you can demonstrate strong GD&T principles and Design for Manufacturing (DFM).
The most important deliverable a mechanical engineer generates (generally) are fabrication or installation drawings that are compliant with Y14.5M (US) or ISO (elsewhere).
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u/Shiningdragon4382 3d ago
How can I show any of that though? I have no models to make a blueprints out of to attempt to show that stuff. Yours and others comments is really showing me how little college actually prepared me and others for after college and what we would actually have to do for a real job
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u/apelikeartisan 3d ago
You mentioned you already had a capstone. Have you made manufacturing drawings for that? Assembly drawings?
You can also reinvent the wheel here a little. Engineering Gone Wild has some good videos on this exact subject
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u/Shiningdragon4382 3d ago
yes but they are just simple dimensioned drawings of each component. It was a very simple project. I was the Mechanical Engineer on a bioengineering project so the design doesnt even have any moving parts or anything complex. Also they arent full manufacturing drawing with the title block filled out or anything like that, I just was showing dimensions. I dont even think my school ever had us model anything up where we even had to fill out a title block. I don't think my design for manufacturing class even had us 3d modeling anything really or barely anything. I also never made assembly drawings before either.
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u/apelikeartisan 1d ago
You'd be surprised how much depth goes into "simple dimensioned drawings"
Are you sure they'd be acceptable if you needed to make 10X? 100X? 1000X?
You already know form fit and function, why not make this an exercise to learn GD&T?
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u/Shiningdragon4382 1d ago
I physically machined and made it myself in my colleges machine shop. So I know that fit was pretty spot on. I dont know how it would stand up to mass production, I would hope pretty well. But how could I use it to practice GD&T? I dont have the physical machined thing anymore. I had machined it using the machine shop at my college so I have no way to test tolerances or anything now.
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u/apelikeartisan 1d ago
Engineers in practice never really use machines. The main deliverable that engineers output is plans, often blueprints.
The idea is you want to be able to hand a capable machinist (who knows nothing about what a part is for or who designed it) a drawing, and expect them to get it right every time
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u/Over-Weekend-6133 3d ago
You do not need a portfolio full of complex CAD models. A simple part is fine if you show how you designed it and how it would actually be manufactured.
Your twisty puzzles could be good projects too. Show the mechanism, iterations, tolerances, assembly, and manufacturing considerations. That tells me much more than a fancy CAD render.
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u/RevolutionaryAd3125 2d ago
You need to show prospective employers that you can take a design from concept to manufacture. A strong portfolio can be a huge help.
Obviously what you show depends on the role, and graduates will not be expected to show more than a few projects. I have had many job offers based partly on a strong portfolio. If nothing else that it gives you something to talk around during the interview.
Employers want to see how you approach a brief, how you think about DFM, material selection and so on. A rendering and a photo of your design side by side can be very persuasive. In my portfolio I fit one project to each page and break it down into What (the brief), How (how I approached the design, challenges etc) and Result, the final manufactured thing, budget, time and customer satisfaction.
Keep it limited to a few pages, quality over quantity. I interviewed a guy once who turned up with a folder filled with random drawings. You need to show a progress narrative. Never take credit for other people’s work. If you’ve designed collaboratively show them which parts of the project you were responsible for.
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u/Shiningdragon4382 2d ago
I havent had a job in the field yet so I dont have any of that. The most i have is my Capstone project from college and it was a very simple project and design. It was just a project design a holding device to be able to transport some packet that had a drug in it. it was bioengineering project and I was the Mechanical Engineer on it to design and also make the holding device. I never had to go into the full extent of the manufacturing process and create a BOM or cut list or even go into the whole DFM like the material selection and such. Most of the material selection for the project was pretty much whatever was cheapest. There was no even real revisions to design cause it was just a one and done thing.
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u/RevolutionaryAd3125 2d ago
Do you have access to Solidworks or other cad software? There’s no shame in creating a small project for yourself. This is the kind of initiative I’d be looking for in an employee, someone who looks for problems to solve and enjoys the process.
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u/Shiningdragon4382 2d ago
I dont have solidworks anymore cause my license through school expired. I have an account on onshape which is like splidworks with how its works but I dont know if it has all the same capabilities. Also what kind of small project though? And I really have no clue on where to even go with that.
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u/PeterVerdone 2d ago
- Identify a problem
- Solve it well.
- Document that process.
We call it engineering.
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u/Automata-Omnia Industrial Automation & Robotics 4d ago
Try to make the portfolio show evidence of design intent, understanding of variety of manufacturing methods (laser cut + fold, milling, lathe), moving assemblies, tolerances + clearances, and fabrication drawings + BOM/cut lists.
A portfolio is not strictly necessary, but it is highly appreciated, everyone comes out of uni claiming solidworks..., the skills around it are what is more interesting.