Engineering catalogs and reference materials
Engineering catalogs and reference materials
(OP)
Hello all,
I just graduated and started my first engineering job as a mechanical engineer for a defense company. I of course have all my old textbooks, plus Marks Handbook and Machinist's handbook. My question is, where do I go or how to I find such things as screw quick reference cards, general supplier catalogs, standards, etc? In other words, is there a way to accumulate some of the reference materials that my colleagues have easily (without letting the natural accumulation occur over many years), such as a website to browse through various catalogs, or somewhere to order quick reference cards?
Thanks for any help,
becma27
I just graduated and started my first engineering job as a mechanical engineer for a defense company. I of course have all my old textbooks, plus Marks Handbook and Machinist's handbook. My question is, where do I go or how to I find such things as screw quick reference cards, general supplier catalogs, standards, etc? In other words, is there a way to accumulate some of the reference materials that my colleagues have easily (without letting the natural accumulation occur over many years), such as a website to browse through various catalogs, or somewhere to order quick reference cards?
Thanks for any help,
becma27





RE: Engineering catalogs and reference materials
But, probably the best source of reference material is going to be the senior guys who've been collecting it. In my particular area, a lot of the information was published in various papers, magazines, and books that have been out of print since before I was born. More experienced guys who have copies from way back when are, in many cases, the only source for passing the knowledge on to the next generation.
Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas
All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.
RE: Engineering catalogs and reference materials
Purchasing is another great place. They have qualified vendors and almost always have the latest catalogs. Befriend them and you'll get extra catalogs from them.
All else fails...Google works
RE: Engineering catalogs and reference materials
http://www.mcmaster.com
they have just about anything an ME needs
RE: Engineering catalogs and reference materials
http://www.thomasregister.com/
There may also be an Engineering Library that you could use provided it it reasonably maintained. Good advice as well by all the previous posters.
Regards,
RE: Engineering catalogs and reference materials
www.matweb.com is a start for materials.
good luck
RE: Engineering catalogs and reference materials
RE: Engineering catalogs and reference materials
http://assist.daps.dla.mil/online/start/
you don't need to sign up, just hit "Quick Search" and Type in the number you are looking for in the "Document Number" field. Leave out the letters.
Here are some other sites that I have found very useful
This one is for searching Cage codes for manufacturers.
http://www.gidm.dlis.dla.mil/bincs/begin_search.asp
This one has a technical data section that can be useful.
http://www.thelenchannel.com/1site.html
This one is a good refernce site but you can only use it for free for so long, they want you to be a paying member. It's ok, just go back the next day and it'll be free again.
http://www.efunda.com/home.cfm
And this one is for fun
http://science.howstuffworks.com/channel.htm?ch=science
Enjoy
Sean