Top products from r/MechanicalEngineering

We found 36 product mentions on r/MechanicalEngineering. We ranked the 100 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

Next page

Top comments that mention products on r/MechanicalEngineering:

u/pime · 2 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

I've worked with some designers who had books like these:

Mechanisms and Mechanical Devices

[507 Mechanical Movements and Designs]
(https://www.amazon.com/507-Mechanical-Movements-Mechanisms-Devices/dp/0486443604/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1484237480&sr=8-2&keywords=mechanisms)

Honestly though, these books might be good bathroom reading, but design comes down to experience. The more problems you solve, and the more things you make, the better your designs will be.

Having been a design engineer for a while now, the absolute best advice I can give you is to talk to the other people who will be using the stuff you design. Starting out, your designs aren't going to be the most elegant. Focus on getting something that is functional.

Then, talk to the machinist who is making the parts. He'll have some advice on what features are difficult to machine, or some features you could include that make your parts easier to manufacture, such as adding a flat surface to use as a datum for machining setups, or "bonus holes" that can be used for lifting or securing the parts on the machine. Maybe if you loosen some tolerances, he can order a piece of mill standard pipe instead of having to hog out a huge piece of round stock. Maybe if you tweak the geometry just a little bit, the part can be made on a manual machine instead of having to wait for the 5 axis CNC to open up.

Talk to the techs who have to operate or maintain the machines. What makes their jobs difficult? They'll know best what parts are hard to access, or which tightly packed assemblies don't have clearances to fit tools in, or what's constantly breaking and needs to be replaced often. They'll show you the "custom made tools" that they improvise so that they can actually work with your equipment.

Talk to the people in procurement, or your suppliers and vendors. Is there cheaper hardware you could use? Maybe switching materials would make it easier to source raw stock. Maybe there's an off-the-shelf coupling you could use instead of machining a custom bracket to join two components. These guys work with lots of other people in your industry, and will gladly share "how the other guy did it".

u/mehi2000 · 2 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

Well the whole field of what you are delving into is categorized as Kinematics and Dynamics, which is enormous.

​

There are very many types of mechanical devices designed by various people throughout the world which can accomplish what you need.

​

Many of them could be applied to your system and only you can fully determine what the "best" one is, depending on your requirements.

​

This is a nice book to look through for ideas:

​

https://www.amazon.com/Mechanisms-Mechanical-Devices-Sourcebook-5th/dp/0071704426/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2CRBTTO3RT6RC&keywords=mechanisms+and+mechanical+devices+sourcebook&qid=1557683532&s=gateway&sprefix=mechanisms+and+mechanical+%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-1

​

As far as calculating things, it's extremely difficult without some knowledge of math and a little experience in applying said math to your design. This is pretty hard to do without formal education of at least the basics of these fields.

​

For example, do you know how to isolate the elements of your design and draw a free body diagram of each of them, without making logical errors (which are pretty easy to do by the way).

​

This is a basic engineering design method you need to use to perform calculations on your proposed designs. I don't think it could be well explained through a forum post. It would go much faster by having somebody help you out in person, or if you can do this, pick up an engineering book and read the relevant sections carefully so you understand them enough to apply them. This tool is initially learned in the fields of Statics, so you'd need a Statics book first. Then you'd need a Kinematics and Dynamics book to determine forces due to acceleration.

​

Looking briefly at your design, my first impression is that it can work. However, make sure that the linkage attached to the servo and the push rod and control horn never fully go parallel to each other. If that happens, you have no guarantee that the mechanism will return to its original proper position.

​

I can explain with a very disturbing analogy. Imagine your elbow can rotate 180 degrees so you can bend your arm backward fully, and for our sake, lets also imagine that this is totally normal and is not damaging.

​

Now imagine you are holding your arm straight against a wall so that the two linkages of your arm, the (1) forearm part and (2) bicep part are in alignment.

​

When you push against the wall, will your arm bend one way, or the other way? The arm has three options, depending on minute and uncontrollable differences: (1) If the force is perfectly horizontal your arm will not move at all and will continue to push against the wall (2) the forearm moves "up" and bends as normal and (3) the forearm moves "down" and bends backwards.

​

The same will happen in linkages if the they all line up. Since we want the linkage to always move the way we want it to move, we have to prevent this special position form occurring.

​

That's a common problem that people who have never designed linkages easily run into.

u/GeckoAttack · 1 pointr/MechanicalEngineering

There's two textbooks that are commonly used to teach material behavior and mechanical component design (such as springs, bearings, etc). Both these textbooks are what I had to learn with.

http://www.amazon.com/Mechanical-Behavior-Materials-4th-Edition/dp/0131395068

http://www.amazon.com/Shigleys-Mechanical-Engineering-Design-McGraw-Hill/dp/0073398209

Both these textbooks are easily to obtain if yer a pirate, as well as the solution manuals. They start fairly basic, however, they quickly go quite in depth. Shigley will probably be most useful for you, but definitely flip through them both. There will be a lot of over-lap content wise. I doubt you will find any textbook material on starter springs specifically because they are a specialty spring, however, mechanics of springs still apply to them.

Have fun :p Component design can get very complicated and convoluted so try and not get frustrated if things don't make sense. Let me know if you have any more questions, and feel free to PM at anytime. I can't promise I'll have a good or correct answer for you all the time, but I can try. Component design was actually one of my least favorite classes so it's definitely not my strong suit, but I understand the majority of what is taught in Shigley's and Dowling's.

u/LexLuthor_with_hair · 3 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

Shigley is good. Free if you google hard enough.
Machinerys Handbook is the Bible( get an older edition or e-version to save money). Might be able to fing it free online with good enough google-fu.
These are great too Ingenious Mechanisms: (Four Volume Set) (Ingenious Mechanisms for Designers & Inventors) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831110848/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JKLzCbREGJJW9
Again get used or e-version.

u/billy_joule · 4 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering



>My challenge or I suppose my question would be what material I would use to manufacture something like that (like once I have a mold).


Material must be selected before the tool is made because the material properties drive the tool design (shrinkage rates, viscosity etc).

There are thousands of options for injection mouldable plastics so you'll need some requirements to narrow down your options.

Plastic Part Design for Injection Molding: An Introduction By Robert Malloy is a great intro to IM part design.


Check second hand book sites for cheaper used copies (Abebooks.com is good).

There are free design guide pdfs online (of varying quality...) which give a decent intro but are usually tens of pages so obviously don't have the detail a decent books will. The guides by Bayer and Dupont are the best imo.

u/BendersCasino · 1 pointr/MechanicalEngineering

I ordered this book and it showed up yesterday - haven't gotten through much of it but it looks like it has most of the dynamic formulas you could ever need for a motorcycle.

u/Perpetualdynamism · 2 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

I bought this book a few years ago when I needed to start designing more complex injection molded parts. I still reference it. Great easy to read book. https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Part-Design-Injection-Molding/dp/1569904367

u/storm_the_castle · 2 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

Mechanisms and Mechanical Devices Sourcebook might be nice.

Its like a museum of mechanisms. I like the 2nd Edition cover for a "coffee table book".

u/ResidentPace · 2 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

Engineering Plastics Handbook

Injection Molding: Process Design and Applications

Though if you didn't already know, there are tons of books and articles and training resources available that you were not aware of as a student. Ask your colleagues or your supervisor if they have particular recommendations. A big part of your career is going to be finding this information yourself.

Good Luck!

u/brad-99 · 1 pointr/MechanicalEngineering

It's not a purely mechanical orientated book but I have found the Gieck Engineering Formulas book to be quite useful and it doesn't go off the rails with any differential calculus.
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0071457747)

It also is an actual handbook you can carry with you; if anyone on here has seen the Perry's Chemical Engineering Handbook in the flesh you will understand.

u/cajunboy_ · 1 pointr/MechanicalEngineering

Check out Motorcycle Dynamics by Vittore Cossalter..

Basically the RCVD of the motorcycle world. worth the cash if you're serious about it. ($45). i bought it about 5 years ago though and I don't remember it being that much back then but, who knows...

https://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Dynamics-Second-Vittore-Cossalter/dp/1430308613

Also, John Bradley - The Racing Motorcycle: A Technical Guide for Constructors, Volume 1 (v. 1)

haven't read this one personally but it's always been highly recommended.

u/skholm552 · 1 pointr/MechanicalEngineering

Although not used to structure my work, my most referenced book is machinery handbook

Machinery's Handbook, 29th https://www.amazon.com/dp/083112900X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fgaNxbR9QGJ6C

Other than that to be honest I just google, most times it's quicker. Of course trust but verify your source.

u/kpanik · 2 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

You can look for an old copy of Mark's Handbook. This is a handy guide to pretty much everything to do with mechanical engineering.

u/NineCrimes · 1 pointr/MechanicalEngineering

I've heard good things about [the HVAC Design Sourcebook] (http://www.amazon.com/HVAC-Design-Sourcebook-Larsen-Angel/dp/0071753036) although I haven't got around to reading it myself.

u/DesiHobbes · 10 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

Machinery's Handbook. I'm an ME student and my dad's an ME. He gifted me this saying it was an important reference book and he was not wrong.

u/alexchally · 2 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

You might take a look at this video, its a 1953 training film from the US Navy that covers the basics of a mechanical fire control computer. It includes information on a large number of mechanisms that would be helpful in making a mechanical computer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4

EDIT: You might also grab an older edition of Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design: http://www.amazon.com/Shigleys-Mechanical-Engineering-Design-McGraw-Hill/dp/0073398209

u/JMorand · 5 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

It's Marks' handbook!

http://www.amazon.com/Standard-Handbook-Mechanical-Engineers-Edition/dp/0071428674

Search the right places and you can find non-official digital copies, if you know what I mean...

If you want to buy it, it's edited every ten years, and luckly, next year they will launch the 12th edition.

u/BeastmasterDar · 3 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

I wanted one of these when I was a kid. Might be a little above the ability of an 8 year old, most reviews say their 11/12 year old children built it without any help.

u/ilearnthingshard · 5 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

Ingenious Mechanisms: (Four Volume Set) (Ingenious Mechanisms for Designers & Inventors) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831110848/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_bS12DbGBA5SPC

u/dberg · 2 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

This is a textbook that I've used in the past. Fairly decent walk through the design process. http://smile.amazon.com/Product-Design-Development-Karl-Ulrich/dp/0073404772/

u/DrewSmithee · 1 pointr/MechanicalEngineering

I'm thinking a copy of machinery's handbook and a calculator?

Link b/c mobile: Machinery's Handbook, Toolbox Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831130911/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_jqgCybRCR9HDD

u/Krikkit_Jelly · 3 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering

No. I don't.

The (convenient, acronym preserving) name change to "Central Manufacturing Technology Institute" is understandable as manufacturing has moved beyond just machining...

But that won't help OP find a book which was published under their old name.

u/Elliott2 · 3 pointsr/MechanicalEngineering