We are happy to announce that the exhibition for all sections will be on 16th October 2008 (Thursday) for Term Projects regarding Computer Aided Drafting Course in Semester 1 of 2008/2009. The exhibition will take place between 08:30 and 12:00 o’clock in Computer Laboratory where we hold normal classes.
Thursday and Friday sections should be ready there to present their project. The presentation will not be through powerpoint presentations. Each team should find a proper corner in the computer lab to display the hardcopies of their work including posters, engineering drawings of individual components etc in their work. Be creative to include anything which you feel as essential.
If some students from the Friday section have other classes or important engagements such as quizzes, we suggest them to make some of the team members ready for presenting their project. In any case they can contact us.
Reward for Winning Team and Best Project
The winning team will earn a reward of RM200. If more than one team have the same points rewarded as winner, they will share RM200. If a project is not presented and submitted after exhibition on 16th 2008 Thursday, it is not eligible for the Reward.
Criteria to Select the Best Project
The selection of best project will be based on the following criteria:-
Professionality: The projects should comprise all professional components. First of all, when someone takes your hardcopies of your work they should be able to produce the product in your project without further consult to your team. The engineering drawings should be complete with proper dimensions, Bill of Materials (BOM) explanations etc. They should properly reflect an engineer’s design documents for someone else to properly produce your product in your project. The maximum reward for this component is 10 points.
Creativity: This is for rewarding the innovative and creative ideas. Making a project for producing an ergonomical bottle which can readily embed some space to carry cups inside is more creative than designing a stapler or pen. The maximum reward for this component is 5 points.
Complexity: This component is here for using the most sophisticated features of what you learned in the course. Creating a special thread is much more difficult than producing a simple cylinder. The maximum reward for this component is 5 points.
Feasibility: The project whould be feasible. You should explain in your report and presentation why your project is doable or feasible. The maximum reward for this component is 5 points.
Presentation: You should present your project in the exhibition in a nice manner. Concentrate on your posters, reports and other creative ideas during exhibition. The maximum reward for this component is 5 points.
Summary of Selection Criteria for Best Project
Professionality …………… 10 points.
Creativity ……………………. 5 points.
Complexity …………………. 5 points.
Feasibility …………………… 5 points.
Presentation ……………….. 5 points.
TOTAL …………………. 30 points.
Who will be selecting the best Project(s)?
Selection will be made by myself and the tutors/graders. There will be a total of 3 evaluators for the overall selection.
After Exhibition
After the exhibition, all projects should be submitted as hardcopies and softcopies on CDs. We wish everyone good luck.
Iron Silk Road
Turkey is very busy nowadays with the great engineeringprojectIron Silk Road which will connect London to China, Malaysia and other countries. One will be able to go to London or Istanbul, or any cities in Europe or Asia from any of the membering cities in the new silk route without getting off the train. The Marmaray project in Istanbul is the key to success of the new Iron Silk Road.
What is Silk Road?
An ancient trade route between China and the Mediterranean Sea extending some 6,440 km (4,000 mi) and linking China with the Roman Empire. Marco Polo followed the route on his journey to Cathay.
What is Iron Silk Road?
Iron Silk Road is the project to rebuild the old Silk Road or Silk Route in history by railway. It is a multinational project combining major European countries in Europe including England, Greece, and many others. It also includes Asian countries including China, India and Malaysia. If project is successfully finished you can go from Kuala Lumpur to London without getting off the train.
Istanbul, where giant tubes of steel are being submerged as part of an ambitious rail tunnel.
Giant tubes of steel, more than 130 metres long and weighing thousands of tonnes, are being submerged in the waters off Istanbul’s historic peninsula as part of an ambitious project to link the European side of the Turkish metropolis with its Asian part and open the way for an “Iron Silk Road” between Europe and Asia.
“You will be able to go from Europe to Asia without getting off the train,” said Serap Timur, a spokesman for Turkey’s General Directorate of Railways, Harbours and Airports Construction, or DLH. The DLH runs the ambitious Marmaray project that plans to connect Europe and Asia with a two-way rail system.
The project in the Sea of Marmara at the mouth of the Bosphorus took another step towards completion this month, when the seventh of eleven sets of double steel tubes was lowered to the sea bed. The Bosphorus, one of the world’s busiest water ways, was closed for traffic for the duration of the operation. The two pieces of steel tube separated by a dividing wall measured 135 metres in length and weighed 18,000 tonnes.
With this latest addition, the tunnel at the bottom of the sea has reached a length of 945 metres. Four more double tubes are to be put in place before the end of the year, giving the tunnel its final length of 1.4km. There will be an additional 12.2km of tunnel under land.
With the first trains planned to begin operation by 2011, Marmaray will cost an estimated US$2.6 billion (Dh9.5bn) and will be able to carry 75,000 passengers an hour between Europe and Asia when the link reaches its full capacity in 2015. The project has fallen behind schedule, however, because construction work for the tunnel and new railway stations has unearthed important archaeological finds from the Roman and Byzantine periods, including 32 ancient ships.
Marmaray is to ease inner-city traffic and make it easier for Istanbulites to get from the European shore of their city to the Asian side or vice versa, by offering them a quicker alternative to ferry boats and the two giant motorway bridges spanning the straits. According to the DLH, the 76km trip from the suburb of Gebze on the Asian side to Halkali on the western outskirts of Istanbul’s European part takes more than three hours today. Once Marmaray is in operation, travel time will drop to one hour and 45 minutes.
“But it will not only be a suburban train,” Ms Timur said. “The tunnel will also be open for freight and international passenger trains at certain times.” Rush-hour periods in the morning and the evening are likely to be reserved for inner-city trains, she said.
Turkey has big plans for its railway network that suffered from underfunding in the past. Test runs of a high-speed train link between Istanbul and the capital of Ankara have begun, while plans to connect other cities with modern train links are in the pipeline.
In addition, work is about to start on the Turkish section of a new rail link between Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Ankara has put aside roughly $300 million for work on its side of the border with Georgia, including the construction of a 76km long railway near the eastern city of Kars. When completed, the new rail link will provide an uninterrupted train connection from China to Turkey, a vision that has made Turkish politicians and media talk of an “Iron Silk Road” in the making.
Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan signed an agreement for the rail link last year. “This project will go through Kazakhstan to China and through Marmaray to London,” Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s president, said at the ground-breaking ceremony in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in November. He said the project would “change history” and revive “the historic Silk Road”.
Known since antiquity, the Silk Road, a bundle of trade routes between the Mediterranean and China, received its name because it was the route silk from China made its way to Europe. Its importance declined in the Middle Ages as explorers opened new sea routes for trade.
But the ancient tradition of the Silk Road can be revived and turned into a source of revenue, Turkey believes. Tourism and especially freight transport take centre stage.
“Our efforts to establish an uninterrupted rail link from Europe to Central Asia, which started in 2004, have entered their ultimate phase,” Binali Yildirim, the transport minister, said recently. “We will finish the project, which carries a big significance for Turkey strategically and economically, in three years.” A total of 30m tonnes of freight will be transported on the new link in the medium term, Turkish press reports have said.
Turkey has been trying to position itself as a rail link between Asia and Europe. Total rail freight transport between the two continents was worth $75bn a year, Suleyman Karaman, the head of Turkey’s state railway operator TCDD, said late last month. Press reports put the potential revenue Turkey could generate with the help of the international freight train connection at $7bn annually.
Russia and Iran have proposed different routes that would leave Turkey in the cold, Mr Karaman said. This is why the Marmaray project was of utmost importance for the country. “If the project is not finished [as soon as possible], we will be bypassed,” he said.
Video on Iron Silk Road
A 15 year old dream is finally coming true in Turkey as a groundbreaking ceremony for the turkish section of the Baku-Tiblis-Kars railroad was held today. Also known as the -Iron Silkroad- when complete the railway will link Europe to Asia…so that a train travelling from London can reach China without interuption. Construction is expected to last until 2011.
It was a historical day in the eastern province of Kars due to the foundation ceremony of the joint railroad project. The province hosted two neighboring presidents.
The joint railroad project or called “the Iron Silkroad” will revive the historic silkroad through railroads. The project which will joint the continents was launched by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
A train which departs from China’s Shanghai will reach London via Turkish province of Kars when the project is complete in 2011.
Computer Aided Drafting Projects 
