Mechanical Engineering

Design Portfolio

William Sadowski
[email protected] • (805) 300-3604 • Evanston, IL
Welcome, and thank you for taking It is my hope that this will allow I would be happy to talk in more
the time to view my portfolio. The you to better assess how my skills detail and can be reached using the
goal of this portfolio is to give you can be applied to your company. contact information on the
a deeper insight into my previous page.
experiences and skills I have
gained over my recent history.
 • Role: Mechanical
Unicycle Design and
Manufacturing Student
Project
• Date: April 2019 – June
2019

• Skills: Mechanical
Design, CAD (Siemens
NX)
Unicycle Project
• Aim: You are a chief designer of a sports equipment company. Your
company is planning to present a concept design of its next generation
unicycle next month. You are asked to design a new wheel, seat and
pedals and finally assemble them into a unicycle.
Requirements:
1. All part files must be a single solid body
2. All sketches/drawings must be fully defined
3. Assemblies must have degrees of freedom corresponding to real world
conditions
4. Style is important. Parts must be practical have a color assigned, other
than the default

• Result: Modeled three different aspects of a unicycle and then combined

them all into an assembly which obeyed real world conditions
 Unicycle
Project
Pedal

Part Files
Seat Wheel
Seat
Unicycle Project
Frame
• Full CAD Assembly with:
• Seat
Wheel
• Axle
• Frame
• Pedals
• Wheel

Axle

Pedals
Mechanical Bracket
Project

Role: Mechanical Design and Manufacturing

Student

Date: April 2019 – June 2019

Skills: Mechanical Design, CAD (Siemens

NX), Manufacturing, GD&T, Strength of
Materials
Mechanical Bracket Project
• Aim: Design a sheet-metal bracket/truss to support a
steady downward acting load of F = 1,500 ~ 1,800 N at
point C. It will be fixed at points A and B with pins to Physical Arrangement
the corresponding supports. The bracket/truss must
consist of two separate members AC and BD, suitably
joined at point D, where joint D should be a pin
connection. The choice of the shape and material of the
members and the location of the point at which they
are joined, point D, is your design decision. The
inclination angle of member BC must be at least equal
to α = 15°.

• Result: Successfully designed a sheet-metal bracket

with the correct geometry to support the necessary
weight
Load Application and Restraints
 Top Member Drawing Bottom Member Drawing
Version 1
• Design consists of one,
flat top member and a
U-shaped bottom
member.
• Attachment point at end
to eliminate bending in
the top member
• Top member designed
to be a flat beam
because it only
experiences tension
stress
• The bottom member
utilizes a U-shape to
prevent buckling under
the compressive load.
• The result of the loading
test was a bolt hole
tearout in which the pin
connection of the top
member could not
support the load given
by the testing machine Assembly Drawing Testing Results
Top Member Drawing Bottom Member Drawing
Version 2
• Design consists of two top, flat beam
members to make sure there was no
bending moment in the bottom member.
• Strengthened the overall bracket,
especially the point where the bracket
failed during the first test.
• Area around the holes was increased to
improve the strength of the pin supports.
• The result of the loading test was that
the bracket was only slightly deformed
as seen in the bottom right
• There was no obvious visible
deformation in either of the top pieces,
and it’s clear the addition of the second
top piece mitigated loads at the top bolt
holes to prevent failure and tearout
there.
• Version 1 problem was solved, and the
bracket was able to fully support the
load
Assembly Drawing Testing Results
Gear Box Design
• Role: Mechanical Design and
Manufacturing Student

• Date: April 2019 – June 2019

• Skills: Mechanical Design, CAD

(Siemens NX), Manufacturing,
GD&T, Strength of Materials
Gear Box Design
• Aim: Design the three-shaft gear-
train system in a housing separated
at the plane of shaft centerlines. The
transmission is expected to work for
at least 5 years (5 days a week,
52weeks a year, and 8 hours a day)

• Result: Successfully designed one

shaft of a complete three-stage gear
box including the assembly and part
drawings and analyzed the safety of
the overall system
 Part Drawings
Gear Parameters
Speed Module No. of Teeth Pressure
angle (°)

2800 rpm 4 mm 19 teeth 20

Face width Addendum Dedendum Tooth depth

40 mm 4 mm 5 mm 9 mm

Clearance Pitch Cir Dia Base Cir Dia Material

1 mm 76 mm 71.4 mm White Cast

Iron

Transmission Error Center Dis Safety Factors Hardness

(HB)

0 150 mm nb = 3.29 528

nc = 1.72

Shaft Parameters
Material Crit X-sec Factors of Safety Life Exp

AISI 1080 Steel C, at Gear 1 ns = 2.11 (fatigue) 5 years

ns = 5.05
(yield)
 Assembly Drawing
Bearing Parameters
Bearing Bearing Inside Diameter Outside Width
Set Designa Diameter
tion

1 SKF 25 mm 80 mm 21 mm
6405

C C0 L10 life Service Change

Necessary?

1 35800 N 19300 N 1747.2 millions No

of cycles

Transmission Parameters
Overall Expected Life Maintenance Needs
Safety Factor

ns= 1.15 5 years None

Garden Seat/Kneeler
Re-Design Role: Project Manager and
Safety Lead

Date: September 2020 – March

2021

Skills: Mechanical Design,

CAD (SOLIDWORKS &
Siemens NX), Research,
Prototyping, Manufacturing,
FEA
 • Aim: Improve the design of the
Project Background Gardien Garden Seat/Kneeler to assist
users of advanced age in continuing to
garden in a safe and comfortable
manner. The current issue with this
device is its wobbliness and overall
poor stability, which comes from the
highlighted section of the folding and
locking mechanism, shown to the left

• Result: Researched, designed, and

constructed a fully functional
prototype with new, innovative
folding and locking mechanism to
provide stable support that users are
confident of as they approach the
ground to sit or kneel, and then assist
them is rising again while also
increasing ease of use, comfort, and
affordability
Concept
Generation and
Prototyping
• After completing research into both
competitive products and intellectual
property and defining product
specifications, my team came together
for a brainstorming session to generate
ideas for fabrication
• We then voted on ideas and took the most
popular ones to begin prototyping our
solution
• Each design was first modeled in CAD,
evaluated based on engineering analysis,
and then constructed and tested for
feasibility
• After multiple iterations of the most
successful designs, we arrived at our
final alpha level prototype…
Initial Prototypes in CAD
• The first promising design (top left)
featured a bracket and a detent pin,
similar to the design of crutches

• It was found to be simple and

intuitive but difficult to actuate

• The second design (bottom left)

utilizes a spring plunger
retractable pin

• It was found to be easy to

actuate but posed a safety
hazard when folded

• These two designs were combined

(right) to eliminate the safety hazard
while still increasing ease of use
Bracket Design & Analysis

• Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was

performed on the new bracket
designs to determine if the load
bearing capabilities of the
components were confirmed to meet
the specified needs

• The load used was the maximum

target user weight, around 300 lbs

• Different materials were tested and

compared for overall performance
and cost
Functional
Prototype in CAD
• After incorporating the spring plunger
design, we moved to modeling an
actuation system in order to release the
pins on the same side

• The first design used linear actuation,

connecting the two spring plungers
through direct linkage

• The second design used rotational

actuation, translating the user’s
rotational input into lateral
displacement

• Both these designs were constructed

and tested but ultimately eliminated
due to cost considerations
 Final Prototype – Square Tube
Features a hand-actuated locking and folding mechanism, comfortable kneeling/sitting surface, and welded, rigid
frame for support
Final
Prototype –
Round Tube
• Towards the end of the
project, cost considerations
began to be more heavily
stressed by the client

• The client expressed interest

in using round tubing as it is
cheaper and easier to
manufacture

• As a result, the spring

plunger and bracket designs
were modified to interface
with round tubing
Bike Project
Role: Personal Project

Date: July 2021

Skills: Mechanical Design,

CAD (SOLIDWORKS)
 Bike Project
• Aim: Prove how my CAD skills
have improved since my first
introduction to CAD in the
Unicycle Project

• Result: Successfully designed 8

different bicycle parts and
combined them into a single
assembly with accurate degrees of
freedom
 Frame
Bike Project

Part Files
Steering Fork Rear Wheel Front Wheel

Seat Sprocket Chain Pedal

 Seat

Bicycle Steering
Rear
Project Fork
Sprocket
Wheel

Full CAD Assembly with: Frame

• Front Wheel
• Rear Wheel
• Steering Fork
• Frame
• Pedals
• Seat
• Sprocket
• Chain
Pedals

Chain
Front
Wheel