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suggestions for a practical machine design book

suggestions for a practical machine design book

suggestions for a practical machine design book

(OP)
i've seen many machine design books, they are helpful for calculation and selection of standard mechanical components used in machine design, but only for the problems stated inside the book. because they are not Design problems, they are Analysis problems. they lack best best practices from a practical point of view.for example how to fasten a gear or a bearing in it's place effectively if diameter of their shaft is slightly less than what you expect. best practices for selecting fastening components and choosing one over another. any suggestions for a book covering practical machine design?

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Not my field, but I doubt it.  In EE, most designs are aggregations of modifications of existing designs.  So design is analysis.  A popularly cited EE design book is Horowitz' The Art of Electronics, which is essentially a compendium of existing designs and their associated analyses.

I'd be fairly certain that mechanical design is similar, which is why there is so much enphasis on analysis.  Creation of a new, whole-cloth, designs would entail brand-new analyses, which requires calibration or correlation and proofing, so who has that much time on their hands?  If you can make a modification of an existing design work well, why would you come up with something totally new?

TTFN

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RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Shigley's "Mechanical Engineering Design" is the standard as far as machine design textbooks go.  Though it is fairly heavy on analysis.  Shigley also did a "Standard Handbook of machine design."  Though Marks or Machinery Handbook seem a bit better.  As far as a pure design type book... have a look at the "Illustrated Sourcebook of Mechanical Components."  Lots of classic illustrations of various devices and connections.

-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Blodgett's Design of Weldments gives worked out examples of real world problems (it's not just weldments).

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

and Design of Machine Elements, Spotts

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

The following book is a good alternative to Shigley's book, with similar content but a different presentation/look/feel:

Machine Elements - Life and Design by Klebanov, et al, (published in 2008 by CRC Press)

http://www.crcnetbase.com/isbn/9780849395635




 

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Reading your post, it seems you are not looking for the type of books that have been proposed here.  Many of these are the "machine design" strength and stress analysis books, but they don't tell you how to design a bearing block or why a shaft should be cut with reliefs in certain applications.  But...I could be wrong.

I suggest that what you are seeking is something along the lines of Audel's Millwright's series of books.  Google "Millwright books" and you'll find all kinds of interesting things mechanical.  Also, in addition to the wonderfully old-school Omer Blodgett's weldment design book mentioned above, perhaps you may find SME's Fixture & Jig Design book interesting.  Then there is always one of my favorites, Machinery's Handbook.  Get the big version & save your eyes.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

What you are looking for is a creativity text. Textbooks can only help you understand the fundamentals, consequent upon which you begin to utilize them in practice. And that's where your creativity takes over. If you understand all the fundamentals of bearings and say gearing, if you understand their failure modes, choice of materials, array of loadings they may see, then whatever the application, you should be able to creatively swim through. No book would solve all the practical problems in the world, otherwise, why would there be need for design engineers? Engineering is all about creatively finding everyday solutions with the minimal information available.
 

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Now this may seem a bit off-the-wall, if for no other reason than the original publication date of this small book, but some things never change.  The book is titled:

"Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements", by Henry T. Brown, first published in 1868 (most recent reprinting, 1995).  Now while it's true that this book predates a lot of elements which we see and use in machines today, the basic kinematic concepts have not changed and in many situations where high-precision and high-speed is critical, a good solid mechanical solution often proves to be the best option.

And while the original text may date back nearly 150 years, you can now get it in 'ebook' format (something I'll bet old Hank never dreamed of):

http://www.ebook3000.com/Five-hundred-and-seven-mechanical-movements_91492.html

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Gardner D. Hiscox' 1800 Mechanical Movements and Devices is a nice source. Excellent drawings. Available from Algrove Press/Lee Valley.

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Yea, Hiscox's books is a bit newer; he wrote it around the turn of century (1900) as opposed to Brown's book, which was written 40 years earlier winky smile

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book



I recommend
'Mechanism", Beggs,McGraw-Hill,1955
which is both theoretical and practical with a very nice appendix titled "A repertory of Mechanism" without the math.

 

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Handbooks that I recommend:
Shigley's "Mechanical Engineering Design"
"Machinery's Handbook"
"Mark's Handbook"

Also,
"Peterson's Stress Concentration Factors"
"Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain"
Bickman's "An Introduction to the Design and Behavior of Bolted Jonits"
Blodgett's "Design of Welded Structures" (get it from Lincoln Electric; Amazon is a rip-off)
Harris' "Essential Concepts in Bearing Technology"
Incropera's "Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer"
Sonntag's "Fundamentals of Thermodynamics"
Munson's "Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics"
Crane's "Crane Technical Publication 410" (my next purchase)
Irwin's "Introduction to Electrical Engineering" (I don't use it much, but it's proved handy)

Manufacturers also tend to have good information in their catalogs, for example Boston Gear and Timken. With those books (and possibly some controls and aerodynamics references) you should be able to design your own space shuttle.

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

The best book I ever found on Machine Design is
Deutschman, Aaron D., Walter J. Michels, and Charles E. Wilson; Machine Design, Theory and Practice; Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.; New York, NY 10022; 1975
 

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Heh, I just registered to ask this exact same question, thanks everyone! Can you guys work the same magic for a good materials textbook? I work with alot of nasty chemicals(acids mostly) so anything that takes chemical compatibility into account for plastics would be ideal. I understand that info can be difficult to come by, but I figured if anyone know they'd be here. Or would the chemical engineering forum be a better fit for this? Thx.

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

omatic, I suggest asking a separate question.

Patricia Lougheed

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RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

I think what MechatroPro is getting at is the theory of design as analyzed by Mechanical Engineers at university, to state of practice as learned by Technologists at some college.  How to do something based on current state of the art technology or lessons from the past is different from understanding, study or improve upon the technology using analysis.

As engineers, the forum is discusses problem related analytical solutions, not best practice as conducted by machinist, mill wrights or maintenance personnel.  There is a huge difference, this is not the forum for "best practice".

Kenneth J Hueston, PEng
Principal
Sturni-Hueston Engineering Inc
Edmonton, Alberta Canada

RE: suggestions for a practical machine design book

Engineering Design: Synthesis of Stress Analysis and Materials Engineering by Joseph H. Faupel and Franklin E. Fisher is also an excellent book, and is available use at a very good price.

http://amzn.com/0471033812

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