What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
(OP)
I'm just starting out in design engineering. I'm looking for resources (books, pdf, websites, etc) for all the stuff they don't teach in school:
1. Manufacturing processes
a. CNC and non-CNC
b. Designing plastic / elastomer products and processes
c. Design of Weldments
d. Cost comparisons of various mfg processes
2. Commonly available mechanical hardware
a. Types of bearings, fasteners, seals, inserts, etc
b. General cost comparisons
c. pro / con / common applications and why
In hindsight, my BSME is very (too?) lopsided - so much time spent on analysis, control theory, and FEA, and little time on "what's actually out there." With that said, I can do analyses / mathematical modeling until the cows come home - just as good as the seniors I work with. In school we did touch on the above-mentioned items in some form or another, but it was usually a mile wide and an inch deep.
When it comes to designing products of moderate complexity, I need to know what building blocks (mfg processes and commercial-off-the-shelf hardware), are available for product design (along with quick cost estimations). Instead of spending gobs of time on google or asking around, I thought I'd give this forum a try.
So let's have at it. List your favorite books, websites, resources, etc, and help a young engineer out!
Thanks so much in advance!
1. Manufacturing processes
a. CNC and non-CNC
b. Designing plastic / elastomer products and processes
c. Design of Weldments
d. Cost comparisons of various mfg processes
2. Commonly available mechanical hardware
a. Types of bearings, fasteners, seals, inserts, etc
b. General cost comparisons
c. pro / con / common applications and why
In hindsight, my BSME is very (too?) lopsided - so much time spent on analysis, control theory, and FEA, and little time on "what's actually out there." With that said, I can do analyses / mathematical modeling until the cows come home - just as good as the seniors I work with. In school we did touch on the above-mentioned items in some form or another, but it was usually a mile wide and an inch deep.
When it comes to designing products of moderate complexity, I need to know what building blocks (mfg processes and commercial-off-the-shelf hardware), are available for product design (along with quick cost estimations). Instead of spending gobs of time on google or asking around, I thought I'd give this forum a try.
So let's have at it. List your favorite books, websites, resources, etc, and help a young engineer out!
Thanks so much in advance!





RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Machery's Handbook
ASME Y14.5M-1994
Geo-Metrics II by L.W.Foster
For websites:
https://www.mcmaster.com (common items)
https://reidecom.reidtool.com/xephr/qbe/homepage (common items)
https://www.unified-eng.com/scitech/weld/weld.html (weld symbols)
http://www.azom.com/ (materials)
http://www.matweb.com/index.asp?ckck=1 (materials)
http://www.efunda.com/home.cfm (genral)
http://www.engineersedge.com/ (general)
http://www.tribology-abc.com/ (general)
http://www.tec-ease.com/gdt-tips.htm (GD&T)
http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators.html (various calculators)
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
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RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
I like http://assist.daps.dla.mil for all your MIL-Spec needs.
Be careful using matweb.com. A lot of material information on that website, which is good, but the values are typically averages and therefore not suitable for design. Hopefully, if you end up doing FEA or other analysis work, your company will have a subscription to AMS, ASTM, or other industry standard that gives the statistical minimum physical properties of materials.
Books I keep by my side:
Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain, latest edition is by his students Young and Budynas
Mark's Handbook for Mechanical Engineers by Avallone and Baumeister
You FE and PE reference books
Design of Welded Structures by Blodgett
Peterson's Stress Concentration Factors by Pilkey
Standard Handbook of Engineering Calculations by Hicks
Handbook of Bolts and Bolted Joints by Bickford and Nassar
Aluminum Design Manual and the Aluminum Standards and Data (has the design allowable material props) by the Alum Assoc.
Manual of Steel Construction by AISC
Machinery's Handbook
Webster's Desktop Dictionary!!!!!
Specs I keep handy:
ASME Y14.5
ASME Y14.100
MIL-HDBK-5 (for materials data)
MIL-HDBK-17 (for composite materials)
MIL-HDBK-743 (anthropometry) for doing human interfaces on machine designs
MIL-HDBK-1908, -46855, & -1472 (Human Factors and Engineer) for other human interface information
Catalogs I keep handy:
You favorite materials supplier to know what stock materials they have in hand and what the mill run tolerances are -
Laird Plastics
Ryerson (steel)
Jorgensen (steel)
Kaiser Alum
-- Of course most of my catalogs are now bookmarks to the company websites to be certain my catalog is always up to date. There is no way I could keep a paper catalog of all the machine design component catalogs at my desk.
mcmaster carr
carr lane
MSC Industrial Supply
..and I gotta stop here before I overload the network with my list of bookmarks from suppliers.
I'm afraid specific answer to 1 and 2 only come with experience. Hopefully you have a good mentor near by. Personally, I make sure to walk down to the machine shop regularly and let the guys get to know you and that you are an engineer willing to work with them, not just tell them what to do. I bounce most of my design ideas of machinists and tool & die makers before releasing them. Those guys have incredible insight on how to accomplish the same goal with fewer parts, fewer setups, easier machining, etc. They just need to have a general idea placed before them to build off of and a willingness on the part of the engineer to actually listen to their ideas.
--Scott
http://wertel.eng.pro
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Waldes-Truarc snap ring catalog
Parker O-ring handbook
an old New Departure or Fafnir/Torrington bearing catalog
McMaster-Carr catalog
Ryerson or Jorgensen handbook
Digi-Key catalog
Allen-Bradley industrial controls catalog
Don
Kansas City
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
ht
Good luck!
Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Here are some of the books I have in my cubicle.
Engineer Design by Faupel Fisher
Vibration Analysis for Electronic Equipment by Dave Steinberg.
Cooling Techniques for Electronic Equipment by Dave Steinberg.
Roarkās Formulas for Stress and Strain.
ASME Y14.5M-1994 Specification
GD&T Reference Guide by Al Neumann
Machinery's Handbook on CD (easier to print a page)
Fundamentals of Engineering Reference HDBK
MIL-HDBK-5 (a must have)
MIL-HDBK-17 (composite reference)
MIL-STD-810
I want a copy of Fan Engineering by Willis H. Carrier but I haven't found one yet.
Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 3.0 & Pro/E 2001
XP Pro SP2.0 P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)
(In reference to David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't tackle, he can't head the ball and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he's all right." -- George Best
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
I've got
Kreyszig
Shigley
Bosch Blue Book
on both desks
Plus about 12 feet of shelf space of other engineering text or reference books, mostly at home.
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
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RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Actually I could do without it, the Wolfram website is possibly more useful.
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
If you have to use Kreyszig as a work reference, I feel for you. It was bad enough having to use it for a semester in Grad school!
I have on my desk right now:
several college textbooks (engineering mechanics, thermo, heat transfer, etc.)
Cameron Hydraulic Data
Roark's
Mechanical Engineering reference manual for the PE exam
ASHRAE handbook of fundamentals
A few others I rarely find helpful
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Some of those I've heard of, some not. My next move is to do a little reading up on each book and possible drop some $$ off at amazon, half or ebay.
It seems there is considerable cost difference in getting the second most recent edition (where applicable).
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Best must have resource...
Plenty of beer an asprin for when you figure out that they ignored all your calculations and went with the "cheap fix", "the bean counters run the company" or any of the other life lesson you will pick up as you mature.
good luck
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
;)
Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Good Luck
Regards
Dave
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Pilot or employee?
--Scott
http://wertel.eng.pro
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
last year I had to relearn what a scalar triple product was (and more importantly how to calculate it). And I need to get on top of Hamiltonians. At least I don't need crosswords to exercise my mind muscle!
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Regards
Dave Hall
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
RE: What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer?
Flow of Fluids - Crane Technical Paper #410
http://www.tp410.com/tp410.htm
This is the 50th Anniversary of this book, although it has been updated once in a while....