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Reference Books
8

Reference Books

Reference Books

(OP)
I don't know about you guys, but I sold all my books during college.  I figured once I got a job I could buy only the needed books.

So I'm in need of some reference books.  I don't think it's necessary to buy all the latest additions at the high prices.  I was wondering if you guys kept a list somewhere of recommended reference books?

I’m just looking for some basic books to get my collection started…statics, thermo, materials, hvac all the basic stuff.

I'm an engineer in the chicken buisness.  I deal with little bits of everything.  If I need to get more in depth I'll look more closely at the books, I just need so good old basic reference books.

RE: Reference Books

Use the search functions at BarnesandNoble.com, they have affiliations with used booksellers.  You can find some cheap stuff there, although it might be kinda ratty looking.

Best to ya,

Old Dave

RE: Reference Books

Maybe try the engineering department at a university.  Try looking up the introductory courses, most should have the required texts listed -- then look for older/used copies wherever they sell used ones.

cheers

RE: Reference Books

Machinery's Handbook to start

RE: Reference Books

3
Here are several books on my office shelf:

  Mark's Std. HB for Mech. Eng'rs
  Machine Design by Norton
  Structural Analysis by Hibbler
  Engineering Mathematics Handbook by Tuma
  Pressure Vessel handbook by Megsevy
  Formulas for Stress and Strain by Roark
  Advanced Mechanics of Materials by Seeley and Smith
  Fluid Mechanics by Finnemore and Franzini
  Metals Properties (an ASME Handbook)
  Engineering Design by Faupel and Fisher
  Design of Process Equipment by Mahajan
  Petroleum Production Handbook by Frick
  Design of Piping Systems by M. W. Kellogg
  Practical Use of Mathcad by Benker
  Theories of Plates and Shells by Timoshenko
  Strength of Materials Vols 1 & 2 by Timoshenko
  Elastic Plates by Marguerre and Woernle
  Floating Drilling Equipment and its Use by Sheffield

DowneastTech
Mechanical Engineer
Magnus R & D, Cypress, TX

RE: Reference Books

"Handbook Of Mechanical Engineering Calculations" by Hicks

RE: Reference Books

At the top right of your screen is a link that should say "Mechanical Engineers Sale".  It is a ebay link to new and used engineering books.  Might check it out to give Eng-Tips a count on the hit meter.

Hope this does not violate the promo rule.

Barry1961

RE: Reference Books

add
"Handbook of Chemistry and Physics" by CRC
"Engineering Fluid Mechanics", Robeson & Crowe
Parker O-ring Handbook

RE: Reference Books

2
These days books are available in electronic format from www.knovel.com or www.crc.com.

Membership of an Institution such as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the UK or Institution of Engineers Australia gets you a subscription to a limited range of books as part of being a member. I am not sure about ASME, AWWA or other US institutions.

So for a yearly memebership fee with the benefits that brings you would also get access to the books you need. Youu also save on shelf space and get to access the books from any web enabled computer. So if you work in different offices as I do its great. The other benefit is you can cut and paste into reports text, graphs, figues and the like.

I have access to over three hundred books on line.

RE: Reference Books

Desk-top references, IMO, should be either a general reference guide, or a topic-specific reference that I am already familier with.

I personally do not recommend one purchasing, for example, an advanced fluid dynamics text, unless you were already familer with this text fom college.  

For general references,  I like the "standard" handbooks (I have "Marks"), I have the PE review manual by Lindeburg, and I have a few of what I call "lower lever reference guides" such as Engineering Mathematics by Tuma.

RE: Reference Books

Bak Bak Engineer, (I love the name) anyway...I did the same thing once I graduated, sold off all my books to buy more important things like beer...but later on I wished I hadn't.  I found another aspiring graduating engineer and asked him if he would "unload" his books to me.  I got some nice stuff and dirt cheap prices since I was willing to pay him more than the college bookstores.

Good luck with the books...and the chickens!

Brian

Brian
www.mcabeeconstruction.com

Opinions expressed are my own and are not those of the company.

RE: Reference Books

(I hate it that you can't edit posts!!!!!!!)

Flow of Fluids Crane Technical Paper 410
(I think these are hard to come by these days, but I got my local Crane dealer to get me one...for FREE...it still had whomever he borrowed it from's business card inside it! LOL)

Lots of great info in there.

Brian
www.mcabeeconstruction.com

Opinions expressed are my own and are not those of the company.

RE: Reference Books

Just an fyi...

The Crane Technical Paper 410 is available through Crane Valve here:
http://www.cranevalve.com/tech.htm

I am not affiliated with Crane in any way.  Just knew it was available ($36) in both English and Metric versions.

-InspEngr

RE: Reference Books

  I would avoid buying any book such as a handbook without a recommendation from an experienced engineer. I have had a chance to look at many books recently and they are so full of generalizations that you are better off without them.

Onc eyou have selected you discipline and area of work get some classic recognised books for the subjects.

Stress & Strain Roark & Young
Heat transfer  Incropera & De Witt
Fluid Transient Streeter & Wylie or Thorley

The web has some great stuff

ie Stainless steel www.nidi.org
   Pumps  www.mcnallyinstitute.com

You will out grow your college books very fast as you specialise. So borrow them from alibrary or mates as you need them. Photocopy relevant sections and move on.

RE: Reference Books

Hmmm... it is nice to know that the devil is everywhere. I sold my books for cigarettes after college and again started buying when I got a job.

The following books are my favorites and I got them all(most of them are already recommended above)

Fluid Mechanics by Streeter
HVAC by Shan K Wang
Refrigeration by Roy J Dossat
Heat Transfer by Holman; Incropera and Dewitt
Process Heat Transfer by DQ Kern
Thermodynamics by PK Nag (This excellent book is available only in India)
Crane TP410
Hick's Handbook
Perry's Handbook
Introduction to Physical Metallurgy by Sydney Avner
Pressure Vessel Handbook by Megyesy
Excell Programming in VBA by J Walkenbach
Engineering Mechanics by Timoshenko and Young (Singer is pretty tough)
Unit Operations in Chemical Engineering by McCabe and Smith
ASHRAE Handbooks
Compact Heat Exchangers by Kays and London

Books on my hitlist (1,2 and 5th books are very costly)

CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry
Pump Handbook by Karassik
Cameron Hydraulic Databook
Carrier's HVAC Handbook
Thermodynamics by Zemansky
Applied Process Design in Chemical and Petrochemical Plants by Earnst Ludwig
Pressure Vessel Handbook by Bednar

Regards,


  

RE: Reference Books

I think;

Machine Design by Norton,
The Science and Engineering of Materials by Askeland
Thermodynamics – An Engineering Approach by Çengel and Boles

are the basic reference books for a mechanical engineer.

RE: Reference Books

One very good book not mentioned is the following, purloined from a post by CoryPad.

Handbook of Bolts and Bolted Joints by Bickford and Nassar, available from Dekker:

http://www.dekker.com
Regards,

Cory

RE: Reference Books

When looking for a used book, be sure and check www.bookfinder.com.

RE: Reference Books

Here is a suggestion, and I realize it won't appeal to everyone, but if you got rid of all your college textbooks replace them with some of the classics. Authors such as Shigley, Timoshenko, Den Hartog (vibrations), Fuller (lubrication) and so on. My reason for saying this is that colleges tend to change textbooks like underwear and some of them are dumbed-down or not very good. Read them if you can find time. You would be surprised at how much better you can understand things that were glossed over the first time, and it really does not take that much time because you don't have to work the problems and study for the tests.

Whatever field you are in is likelly to have its own classics. Taylor and Heywood for engines, for example.

RE: Reference Books

I just got in a copy of that Crane Technical Paper No. 410.  On the plus side, there is some good information in there.  But there are several minuses, too.  The book was written in sliderule days, and includes a number of charts and nomographs that are of limited use to anyone with a calculator or spreadsheet program.  I've got the English-unit version, but it still lists viscosities in the CGS system, IE, "poises", as opposed to either the SI system or ft-lb units.  (I assume the "metric" version is entirely in CGS?).  Much of the material is covered in better detail in any good fluids textbook or other reference books.  Many of the equations could be set up in a more dimensionless form that would be more useful.  (For example, their Bernouli's equation includes a "12" factor on one term, the need for which is not immediately clear).

The material I was really interested in, flow losses through fittings, etc., occupies only a few pages of information.  Those factors, and the discussion of how they were determined, are of use, though.  But even there, the information is fairly limited.  There are flow factors for welded ells and "standard ells", IE, threaded fittings.  But nothing for, say, PVC ells or copper tubing fittings or reducing tees or wyes, etc.  I believe all the really useful material could be condensed to 10 pages or so.

If you like a cookbook approach, you'll probably appreciate their approach more than otherwise.  You'll find the same basic equation rearranged in 20 different ways- saves you the trouble of doing it- but leads to clutter in the book.

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