The Important Role of GD&T in Mechanical Drawing, Design and Manufacturing for Students of Engineering Institutes

Mechanical drawing plays an important role in managing, designing and implementing engineering projects, especially in the field of the automotive industry. The need for accuracy in element design and manufacturing is greater now than ever before in engineering industries. In order to increase accuracy, the part design and function must be clearly communicated between the design engineer and the manufacturing technicians, especially in automotive industry and feeder industries projects. Geometric Dimensions and Tolerances (GD&T) system of elements determines the quality, importance and price of the designed product. The standard used in the United States to define GD&T methodology is ASME Y14.5-2009 while the standard used in Europe is ISO 1101-2017. This article discussed the importance of using GD&T system including the types of geometrical features, limitations and accuracy, datum references frame and feature control frame to handle these symbols seamlessly. Moreover, the paper included a proposal to draw and design a drive shaft as a mechanical element to become a prototype when manufactured, with the aim of distributing it to achieve the highest possible quality. The performance evaluation was verified by distributing closed-ended questionnaires with a Likert scale of five answer choices. The sample size of students who provided answers was 33 students from the mechatronics engineering program. The results showed that more than 86% of mechanical drawing students showed great interest in the GD&T system lecture on the proposed drawing-sheet. While more than 83% were very satisfied with the inclusion of the GD&T system in the proposed mechanical drawing-sheet. In addition, the drawing and design took into account that the project operations are carried out with the least amount of waste of raw materials and reduce project risk. This is for the purpose of raising the educational and skill level of students in engineering colleges and higher institutes and technicians in automobile companies and their feeding industries.