A few of my favorite things... 3

[Steelforbrains]

Please name the top 5 reference manuals that no mechanical engineer should be without. I'm looking to expand my library, past my college textbooks, and I hate to spend $300 on a book, that I will never use. If you could, please describe what you like about each selection.

Thanks

 

[Timelord]

Mark's "Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers"
and "Machinery's Handbook" get my top two votes

Timelord

 

[GBor]

Steelforbrains,

Do a search on this forum...you'll find more than a few threads on this topic.

 

[PhilBW]

thread404-119555 is one of the more recent threads to cover this subject.

 

[kenvlach]

I recommend Physical Metallurgy Handbook, ISBN 0-07-057986-5, Anil Kumar Singh (2003) 1808 pages. It has as much data on metals & alloys as metals reference books, plus all the explanations and info for materials & processing selection.
Used prices are $44+, new is $55+.

http://www.campusi.com/bookFind/asp/bookFindPriceLst.asp?prodId=0070579865

 

[wes616]

After the Machinery, Marks, Roark, try these:

1. Mechanisms & Mechanical Devices, by Neil Sclater & Nicholas Chironis

2. Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, by Robert H. Perry

3. Modern Drafting Practices and Standards Manual, by General Electric Co. (or)
Drawing Requirements Manual, by Jerome H. Lieblich, Gary Whitmire




Wes C.
------------------------------
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions...

 

[Steelforbrains]

The Mechanisms & Mechanical devices sounds intriguing. I am particularly interested in machine design manuals that take more of a technical approach than a theoretical approach. I also need books for structural design.

 

[MintJulep]

What is your field?

 

[Steelforbrains]

I work for a conveyor installation/fabrication company. The fabrication end of our business has been steadily growing in the last 6-7 years as we are building bigger and more elaborate machines all of the time. We fabricate a wide variety of things, from simple brackets, to mezanines and equipment support structures, to conveyors of all types (tabletop, roller, slider bed, troughing, vibratory, trommels etc...), we modify lots of existing equipment, and we do a host of other odds and ends. There are view things that we won't try, due to the fact that I have a very ambitious boss, who is not afraid to try new things.

I was orignally hired on as a CAD jockey just out of college (I graduated with a BSME). The design here has always been based on a guess and check/it worked before philosophy with very little emphasis on calculations or theory. I have worked here for 18 months now, and I have taken on the brunt of the design work, since I am the only one with a technical background. I have learned a great deal, and have had a lot of success, with minimal guidance. Not having years of experience in the field, however, limits my ability to say "this has worked before" so I put a great deal of value on information that can be gathered from books. Right now my main sources of reference are my college text books and internet research. With the design philosophy that I described earlier, it is hard for me to justify spending $2000 on books. I am looking to aquire the bare bones of references, and then I can grow from there as needed. I need books focused on power transmission, structural design and weld design. I need something with a technical viewpoint with equations, charts and examples and less emphasis on theory.
Any help from the brilliant and experienced group here at Engineering Tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[alr]

"The How and Why of Mechanical Movement - Harry Walton" is a Popular Science Book, Copyright 1968 and is similar to Mechanisms & Mechanical Devices, I got mine second hand at Amazon, very simply written, but a lot of basic information.

Tony R

 

[Beggar]

Here are some of mine:

1) As stated above, Marks and Machinery's
2) Roark's Formulas of Stress and Strain
3) Gaylord's Structural Engineering Handbook
4) AISC 9th edition of the Steel Construction Manaul (ASD)
5) Omer Blodgett's books: Design of Weldments and Design of Welded Structures
6) Check through ASCE pubs for ones germane to your work
7) Something on Machine Design -- I have Shigley's text and his handbook. The latter has some good info but is poorly put together and not nearly what it could be.
8) Structural Engineering: Salmon and Johnson

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15

http://www.hp15c.org

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[HCBFlash]

I'm wondering what applicable textbooks you may have pertaining particularly to machinery design.

One good, but textbook-like, book I've used is
Machine Design Fundamentals -A Practical Approach
Hindhede et al, Wiley, ISBN0-471-04136-X.

For your stated field of work it's pretty directly applicable, probably good bang for your buck. As far as don't be without goes, see Timelords top 2, (including MH's Guide)

Best of luck to you!
.
.

Please let us all know how this works out for you!

 

[sprintcar]

L O N G ago when I was in high school, I bought a drafting table and "stuff" from a guy who was retiring. In the box was a set of old books called "Ingenious Mechanisms" in the small hardbound format common in the 40's. I spent a lot of time reading these. Years later these same ideas have been reprinted countless times in newer volumes. I've still got them sitting on a shelf - perhaps it's time to put them on Amazon or ebay and let someone else learn!

"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
-- by Albert Einstein

 

[btrueblood]

Agree with sprintcar. On my shelf are copies of Roark's, Machinery's Handbook, and the CRC Chemistry Handbook. All are editions that were old when I bought them at a used bookstore. The density of water just doesn't change enough from year to year to warrant my purchasing a spanking new version of the CRC. Similarly, a 1972 NPT pipe thread is remarkably similar to the modern version. Nowadays, with ebay and Amazon, it is really easy to find good quality used handbooks, no reason to $pend thou$and$ of dollar$.

 

[rob768]

When things go wrong:
ASM MEtals handbook part 11: failure analysis.

When you got the shakes:
Den Hartog - Vibration problems in engineering.

 

[Qshake]

For structural engineering material -

As recommended by BEGGAR

Roark's Stress and Strain Handbook
Gaylord and Gaylord Structural Engineer's Handbook
Omar Blodgett's Welding references
AISC 9th Edition of Steel Construction Specifications

I also recommend the following:

Get the new 13th Edition of AISC's Steel Construction Specs,
Structural Analysis by Hibbeler - indispensible and intuitive.
Structural Steel Design by Gaylord and Gaylord

and if you don't already have a good vibration text, I recommend Vibration Problems in Engineering by Timoshenko et al.

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[proinwv2]

IF you become involved in fluid flow, then I recommend "Crane Technical Paper 410, Flow of Fluids Through Valves, Fittings and Pipe". It is available on the web at modest cost.


Paul Ostand

http://www.ostand.com

 

[IFRs]

If you use Aluminum get the Aluminum Design Manual from The Aluminum Association.

 

[FreddyMusic]

I also have a "Machinery's Handbook" (26th Edition)

Time can approve everthing.

 

[tomwalz]

1. Machinery's Handbook
2. Pocket Ref
by Thomas J. Glover
from Engineering Publications Group
3. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
4. Materials Handbook (there are at least a couple of these)
5. Ingenious mechanisms
6. A quality control handbook including applied statistics
7. A basic math book for what you only vaguely remember
8. Materials Science and Engineering by Carter Paul
9. Mechanisms and Material Devices Sourcebook by Nicholas P. Chirons
10. For fun and occasionally surprisingly useful
11. Henley's Formulas for Home and Workshop
12. Out of the Fiery Furnace
13. Get a catalog Lindsay’s Technical Books
PO box 538 Bradley, IL 60915
815 935 5353

http://www.lindsaybks.com

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessor.com