What are the "must-have" resources (books, pdf) for a young engineer? 8

[CondensedMatter]

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!

 

[MadMango]

I always have the following books within arm's reach:
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."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[swertel]

What industry are you in?

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

 

[eromlignod]

Machinery's Handbook
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

 

[fcsuper]

Here's a list of generally helpful books. I've got it organized in an Amazon store, but I don't really expect ya to purchase thru it.

http://astore.amazon.com/itstro-20/102-1505248-8345751?_encoding=UTF8&node=2

Good luck!

Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group

 

[Heckler]

Depending on what industry:

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.
Roark’s 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

 

[GregLocock]

I've got Roark on my hard drive

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

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[electricpete]

What's Kreyszig?

=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.

 

[GregLocock]

Advanced Engineering Mathematics

Actually I could do without it, the Wolfram website is possibly more useful.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[jpankask]

Greg,
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

 

[Heckler]

Another book I think is a worthy read is The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. The skills you learn in school are not always the skills that will make you a successful design engineer or project engineer in the work place.

 

[macmet]

http://www.eng-tips.com

 

[CondensedMatter]

Many thanks to everyone. I agree that good texts alone don't make a good 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).

 

[pyro]

Other good places to buy references are AddALL.com and opamp.com

 

[jpankask]

You can get a lot of the above-mentioned references on ebay for a great price if you know what you are willing to pay and are patient. You might have to bid on several auctions before one goes cheap enough. I usually set my sights on about 30%-40% of new price (maybe less) and I have gotten several of my references in nearly new condition (current edition) for dirt cheap. One of the best times for Roarks, Cameron, Shigley, Mark's handbook, ASHRAE handbook, etc. is about the time that PE exam results start to come in. This is usually late December and late June.

 

[mechengdude]

I can't resist....

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

 

[fcsuper]

You are being way too optimistic, mechenchdude!



Matt
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
sw.fcsuper.com
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group

 

[CESSNA1]

CONDENSEDMATTER: All of the books and files are fine, but what you really should do is to cultivate "Competent Sources" and ask lots of questions. Get a couple of mentors who are willing to work with you and guide you. Experience is the best teacher. I have come across many problems that were not in the books and it was experience that helped me through them. Hopefully your management will let you fail without retribution.

Good Luck
Regards
Dave

 

[swertel]

Cessna,

Pilot or employee?

--Scott

http://wertel.eng.pro

 

[GregLocock]

re Kreyszig

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

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.