Engineering Library

This page contains a list of mostly mechanical engineering resources.

Some resources contain a lot of technical detail. If you find yourself scratching your head, contact a relevant supplier for support. They typically have applications engineers with deep technical expertise to help answer questions quickly.

Data and formulae

• Schaeffler Technical Pocket Guide, a reference manual for mechanical engineers with a beautiful layout.
• COMSOL Multiphysics Cyclopedia, an encyclopedia covering the theory behind engineering physics.
• RoyMech website, a mechanical engineering catalogue put together by the late Roy Beardmore.

Machines and Mechanisms

• MISUMI application library, a database of ready-made machines and mechanisms.
• Tim Hunkin's The Secret Life of Components, a YouTube playlist explaining basic mechanical components through practical demonstrations.

Reverse Engineering

• Big Clive's YouTube channel, a channel with teardowns of cheap and cheerful consumer products. The focus is on electronics, but includes some mechanical design too.
• Fictiv Teardowns, a catalogue of teardowns of high-end consumer products.
• AvE's BOLTR series, a YouTube channel with a teardowns of mechanical hand tools. His BOLTR playlist doesn't include his recent releases, so scroll through his video uploads instead.
• Munro Live Teardowns, a YouTube playlist covering teardowns of car components, with a focus on benchmarking and costing.
• WeberAuto, a YouTube channel with teardowns of car components, with a focus on technical detail for training automotive engineers.

Dimensions and tolerancing

• Tolerances of Manufacturing Processes, graphs and charts explaining typical tolerances achievable with different manufacturing processes.
• GD&T chart, a well-illustrated chart explaining the different geometric tolerance types. Beware of subtle differences between ASME Y14.5 and ISO GPS.
• Limits and Fits chart, a set of tables for identifying and specifying fits. Having a set of pin and ring gauges to hand is useful for getting a hands-on feel.

Materials database

• UL Prospector, a database for finding a material and its supplier.
• MatWeb, a database for finding material properties.
• Total Materia, a database for finding more detailed and proprietary material property data, which might be useful for any detailed analytical calculations/FEA.

Fasteners

• NASA Fastener Design Course, a comprehensive course covering all things fastener related, including '...materials, plantings and coatings, locking methods threads, joint stiffness, rivets, inserts, nut plates, thread lubricants, design criteria, etc.'

Adhesives

• Henkel Adhesive Selector, a tool for identifying an appropriate adhesive.

Seals

• James Walker O-ring Guide, a guide to sealing with O-rings. Follow these steps:

1. Review page 29 to determine the housing arrangement
2. Use the charts to find an O-ring that fits your geometry
3. Flick between pages 29 and 30 to finalise the housing dimensions and tolerances

There are nuances when it comes to robust seals, so follow the guide as closely as possible.

Die Casting

• Metal Die Casting Design Guides, by Chicago White Metal Casting

Human Factors

• Strength Data for design safety - Phase 1 and Strength Data for Design Safety - Phase 2, a set of physical strength data to provide designers with ergonomics information for designing safer products

• Applying Human Factors and Usability Engineering to Medical Devices, a guide written by the FDA, but whose techniques can be applied to all products in general.

Injection Moulding

DuPont

• DuPont Engineering Polymers - General Design Principles.
• DuPont also offers a complimentary day course which covers the basics of designing for injection moulding.

Protolabs

• Protolabs injection moulding design aids, which includes
  • A design cube for a hands-on feel of the different features possible, and general dos and don'ts.
  • A material selection guide
  • An Injection Moulding for Dummies e-book.

Tangram Technology

• Periodic Table of Thermoplastics

Databases

Textbooks

• BC Open Collection, a library of free and open-source educational textbooks.

Academic Research

• Sci-Hub, a database of free academic papers.

Although research is nearly always taxpayer-funded, with authors receiving no royalties, most papers remain stuck behind publishers' paywalls. Accessing Sci-Hub is illegal in many countries, so use a VPN if required.

Alternatively, directly ask the author for a copy, through their university email or ResearchGate, or try and find it through an open-access publisher.

• National Technical Reports Library, a free open-access database of US-funded research.

Medical Device Development

• MAUDE database, an FDA database of suspected medical device-associated deaths, serious injuries and malfunctions.
• Institute of Human Anatomy YouTube channel, a channel using real human cadavers to teach people about the body.

NASA Technical Standards

• NASA Technical Reports
• NASA Technical Standards
• NASA Electronics Workmanship standards, graphical illustrations of acceptable and unacceptable electronics workmanship.

Other

• UK DIY Wiki, a Wiki covering all things DIY.