18 (ish) Mechanical Design Tips and Tricks for Engineers Inventors and Serious Makers: # 093

How to quickly change your idea into a real manufacturable product.
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[RealEngineering]

90% of my old job was modeling, and spent countless hours in college learning 3D modeling. Yet no-one ever gave the advice to suppress unnecessary graphic features. The amount of crashes I could have

[PracticalEngineeringChannel]

Awesome video. The divide between designer and fabricator is always a challenge and a regular source of conflict. Contractors/fabricators get so frustrated with engineers because it's way easier to show something on paper than it is to build it. Small changes can often make huge improvements to constructability. The more time you spend in the field, if not participating in construction, at least witnessing how things go together, the better a designer you'll be.

[TheDavemarz]

I've got 20 plus years as an ME and you're spot on with everything you said. A couple of things I'll add

--Always include the hardware in your models. This will ensure that the heads don't interfere in some way and that you have access to put them in
--I always put all of the hardware into one folder in solidworks and I can suppress all of them with one click if I need to while working with the model
--As much as possible use all metric or all SAE hardware
--If you have to mix metric and SAE hardware as much as possible, try to group them together and identify them by head type or finish
--For very large assemblies, subassemblies are your friend. It's much easier to build a subassembly on the bench and then move it over to the larger assembly
--Try to move all of your tight tolerance features to as few parts as possible
--NEVER use slotted head screws
--Especially for the younger engineers, if you have a machinist in the building with you, become their best friend. Some of the most valuable information and lessons I have ever gotten have been from machinists.
--ALWAYS build your own prototypes the lessons you will learn as you try to assembly your own work are invaluable


Final thoughts here. If you are in a position where coworkers are asking you if can do something crazy and breaking the laws of physics don't say no right off the bat. Rather, ask them why. Try to get them to explain to you at the most basic level what is the problem they are trying to solve. If you learn to do this well and how to empathize with people bringing you the problems you will find that they will start to involve you in the decision making process earlier, ideally before they start thinking about breaking the laws of physics.

[hippie-io]

For manufacture, assembly and repair: Minimize fasteners. Use the same size/length and the same cap/head type. Ideally your repair person only needs one tool to disassemble your creation.

[zorminster]

Easily one of the most formative experiences in my young career is when I got called in on a Saturday morning because the maintenance crew was installing a fixture I'd designed for the first time. (Lesson 1: Be there to support your team- it was stupid that I wasn't already on site) Upon arrival, I was ushered out to the work site, handed a screwdriver and the bolt and asked 'hey can you put this in, we're having trouble' Being young and arrogant I was immediately frustrated (Lesson 2: Be able to take a ribbing- usually if the guys are givin ya flak it's because they trust you enough to take it well and your life will be much easier if you can work with your support teams) and rushed off to prove they were a bunch of idiots. This immediately resolved into great embarrassment as I arrived and before even touching the fixture knew the problem- i'd not left any clearance hole to put the screw or screwdriver through to access the installation point. (Lesson 3, as noted in video and by others: think about installation and manufacturing) The guys had a good chuckle as they walked off to break after informing me they'd already brought me the drill and bits-- nothing to humble you quite like having to maul your sleek new fixture because you missed something so basic. After that, I spent a lot more time in the maintenance bays and in the machinists shop learning about fabrication and maintenance methods.

[thedevilinthecircuit]

Fascinating stuff. One of my favorite engineering quotes is, "any electrical component is a fuse if it's used wrong enough."

[stevebark]

I’m retired now but I always operated on the principal “why is there never enough time to do it right but always enough time to do it over”. Something I always pass on to the younger generation.
Great video Jeremy! Clearly thought out and concise.

[rjmunt]

"The thing youre trying to make may already exist but has a name you don't know"

The process of finding that name can be a journey in itself. The value of mentors and peers is amazing.

[NSResponder]

Heard a story many years ago about the cost of tolerances. During world war two, there was a drawing for a tank body casting that specified the location of a particular hole with a tolerance of 1/4" from nominal center. Lots of tank bodies got scrapped because that hole was out of spec. An efficiency review found that since that hole was for a flexible hose, it could be three inches off in any direction with no issues.

[jasoncoleman]

One idea that I learned in bridge engineering: never have the "adjacent" sizes of bolts or rebar in a job. That is, either use the same size everywhere (so long as it's not too wasteful) or use big jumps in sizes so it's very obvious if something goes in undersized. A 7/8" bolt shouldn't be used on a job where 1" bolts are also spec'd becuase they can look identical and you'll end up with undersized bolts where they don't belong.

[fionnmerz]

Mechanical Design Engineer here: One tip I find really helps when I'm designing manufacturing equipment is to start my model by bringing in all the items I know won't change, as early as possible. Existing equipment/infrastructure, product, floorplans etc. And once I have a concept for the process in mind (developed on paper usually), I bring in as many of the stock parts as I can, so actuators, sensors, bearings etc. Capture your constraints in the model this way. Once you have all the "non-negotiables" visible in the design, then start creating very basic geometry. Call it a "minimum viable model" at this stage. It saves a lot of heartbreak when you realize early on that you will need to alter your design, rather than at the tail end of the modelling process when you will have to burn a lot of detailed work to change anything.

[johns.r.lawrence]

I'm 81, got my BSME in 1964 and have been designing [inventing] stuff for all that time. This is probably the best advice on the subject that I have ever seen/heard. Simply outstanding!

[OhHeyTrevorFlowers]

One lesson that I learned the hard way as a young engineer: Avoid irreversible operations. Good machines can be disassembled. Good parts can be replaced. Good fasteners can be unfastened.
It’s not always possible but it should always be preferred.

[jsjewelry]

'If you can't make it perfect, make it adjustable.' I can't remember where I heard that but it's definitely helped guide a lot of the design work I've done, whether it be with avoiding tight (expensive) tolerances or making fixtures more versatile.

Edit: lots of great points below detailing the pros and cons of adjustability in different circumstances. I should have prefaced that I approach from the mindset of someone doing mostly R&D, where parts are usually one-offs and fairly expensive. The ability to design for multiple potential uses is what I was primarily getting at. Think something basic like a load frame test. If you recognize that, eventually, you might want to test a variety of boundary conditions you can save some time and money in the long run by making your fixture adjustable and/or easily interchangeable

[Hewkster]

As a welder, i'm blown away by the 'hammer-stress-test' you put out there. Full-on Newton jump smash and it still wouldn't move! No ad would look as real.
Just discovered the channel and i'm in. Very nice flow and inspiring share of wisdom.

[johnwente]

Another thing I want to mention: in my career as an engineer, I FIANLLY learned to have someone else build the prototypes once the engineering model was completed. This led to MANY design improvements because the person(s) building the prototypes thought of ways to make things easier to put together and even in some cases suggested redesign of some components to reduce assembly time or reduce the number of tools required. Just mad at myself that it took years for me to make this discovery.

[GearHeadedHamster]

16:10 "Buy off the shelf parts"

My advice. Whenever possible, use duplicate parts. It's way easer to build a machine that uses 30 screws all of the same length, then 20 screws each with a slightly different length.

[billheinze]

Great video! 30 year ME here with a son who is a college senior studying ME. I am 100% sending this video to him! My contribution to the list is to always be aware of dissimilar materials in direct contact that can produce galvanic corrosion problems. It's often overlooked.

[TheEfficientEngineer]

This video is an absolute goldmine! One to be bookmarked and rewatched on the regular.

[nickh]

I always tell people that good engineers are not necessarily the smartest people, they are just the people willing to struggle through trying to solve a problem the longest with out giving up.