Practicals
This practical forms part of the practical assessment programme for MEC4126F. In this series of practicals students shall complete several practicals that will culminate in the assembly and the control of a servo motor built from basic components and low-level C code. Any components required for a practical will be provided at the times stipulated below. Students are expected to use the UCT STM32 board from EEE2046S when digital functionality is required.
Practical Guidelines
- Practicals will be released at 17:00 on Monday and due for demonstration the following Monday unless otherwise specified.
- Practicals will be marked by demonstration:
- The vast majority of the mark is awarded when the presented circuit/code is deemed functional by the tutor – i.e. meeting all requirements laid out by the practical handout.
- Further marks are given for specific implementation details checked after demonstration.
- Some marks may be available for challenging or extension problems or features.
- Students are expected to work on practicals in their own time - to compensate, the scope and complexity of the practicals are reduced, and should clearly guide students through the required steps.
- Most practicals are intended to be finished in one or two sessions with less than 2 hours of dedicated work per week.
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When using workbench equipment, please carefully clean up after yourself when you are done:
- Desks should be swept clear of cut wires or broken components.
- Workbench devices should be switched off
- Probes and leads should be neatly returned to their hooks on the side of the machine.
This practical series is new to the course. We require your feedback so that we can improve these practicals not only for next year but for the following weeks’ practicals. We ask that you take a few minutes to fill out the following form so that we can improve this practical series.
Practical Sessions
The MEC4126F course has a dedicated practical session and venue that is booked for every Monday from 2:00pm until 6:00pm. These Monday sessions will allow students access to laboratory equipment, tutors and more importantly will allow students to demonstrate their practicals to tutors for examination. These sessions will be held in EM101 unless communicated otherwise. You will also collect components for the following practicals in these sessions.
During the week there will also be opportunities for students to engage with tutors. These sessions will be decided during the first week of the semester and are summarised in the following table:
| Period | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| Meridian | EM101 | EM101 | |||
| 5 | EM101 | ||||
| 6 | EM101 | ||||
| 7 | EM101 | ||||
| 8 | EM101 |
Finally, if you require further assistance with a practical you can contact or visit either Dylan Fanner or Thomas Roomes in the MechatronicSystems.Group lab during meridian on Wednesday and Friday.