Surgical Stapler: Reverse Engineering Project

Skills

GD&T, Drafting, CAD, SolidWorks, DFMA, Technical Writing, Public Speaking, Project Management, Reverse Engineering, Material Selection

Project Overview

This project spanned half of a semester and consisted of reverse engineering an existing product. Our team consisted of myself and two other mechanical engineering masters students. We selected the Ethicon Echelon surgical stapler to reverse engineer. Because we were advised to keep part count low, we focused on the handle of the device. We methodically disassembled the product, manually measured each piece, modeled each piece in SolidWorks, and created a virtual assembly of the product. Each member of the team also redesigned one component in the assembly to improve the overall design with regards to manufacturability or assembly. The team produced a full drawing package using proper GD&T callouts to accompany a thorough technical report.

My Contribution

I took on a leadership role on this project and efficiently managed the team despite some rocky team dynamics. A typical hierarchical structure did not produce the required results, so I quickly shifted the team to a buddy system in which each of us was responsible for checking in with our partner to ensure deadlines were met. The team still required one project manager, so I took on this role and efficiently delegated work for each member. Assuring I carried an equal load, I was responsible for modeling, among many other pieces, the highly complex chassis piece to which all other pieces were fixed. I also contributed to and edited the technical report. This project marked my first hands-on experience in medical device design, and accompanied concurrent classes covering the FDA regulatory processes and material constraints.