| Engineering stuff... | |
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Information sources
Information about materials: Metals:- Matierials properties, specifications, and other informaiton for at least 5000 ferrous and non-ferrous metals can be found at Principle Metals.
- Metalworking Digest - A Cahners Publication.
- Find out what's going on in the American Metal Market.
- Some Metals Associations, etc....
| The Aluminum Association | American Iron and Steel Institute |
| International Titanium Association | The Copper Page |
- Do you need to know more than you would ever want to know about plastics? See Polymers DotCom. It's also an entertaining site to visit - Visit the Slime page to find out how to make your own plastics for fun and entertainment!
- For more information about polymers, visit Polymers DotCom's Polylinks index of suppliers, processes, and materials information.
- The Composites Corner is an index of links to manufacturers of advanced composite materials from just about everywhere in the world.
- Owens Corning, the pink panther insulation company, has a high performance glass fiber (GF) composites division. At their web site, you can learn the basics of composites, and then learn in detail about the composite fabrication process, or browse through their data sheets for their various products, or take a look in their technical library where you can order copies of their published works , or find out what new stuff they're working on. Some areas of their site require using the latest version of your preferred web browser, and the browser plugins to run Shockwave applications, Quicktime simple animations, and Quicktime VR animations.
- When designing stuff for outer space, the materials used can't have gas. More precisely, the materials you use shouldn't have compounds in them that can be pulled out by the vacuum of space only later to be deposited by condensation or other means onto a sensitive surface, such as a telescope's lens. This is a phenomenon known as outgassing. Fortunately, NASA has created at least two databases containing information about how much outgassing will occur for a wide range of materials. The Outgassing Data for Selecting Spacecraft Materials Online database is provided by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and the Materials and Processes Laboratory database is provided by Marshall Space Flight Center. Personally, I prefer the one at GSFC, since it loads faster and has a search engine. If you would like to do a quick search of GSFC's database, use the search form below. For a more refined search, go directly to the GSFC search engine. For an explanation of how to read the many mysterious acronyms presented in a test report or search, please read this page of definitions.
| Are you in dire need to see a Periodic
Table of the elements?
The button will take you to the latest version available. |
|
Here's a table of common
engineering properties for some engineering materials, including such
things as Elastic Moduli, Coefficients of Thermal Expansion, etc.NASA has
started a page called Material
Properties - WWW resources.
| Enter the name of a material: | ||
Information about other stuff:
- The Defense Logistics Services Center has an online CAGE Code lookup service (free).
- If you don't do government contract work, you might ask, What is a CAGE code?
- TechWeb has links to many electronic & software magazines, and a daily news service.
- NASA has an online Handbook for Technical Project Engineers.
- NASA Tech Briefs contain excellent design related information. Registration = $0.00
- NASA's Langley Technical Report Server contains papers about all sorts of engineering info for space.
- The Mechanical Analysis Page covers Structural, Thermal, Fluid, and Materials analysis methods.
- You can convert darn near any english engineering value into it's equivalent SI form using this table of english to SI conversions.
- Watlow, makers of electric heating elements, has an online heat transfer reference section, with equations and other reference material for computing heat transfer and power requirements.
- Minco, also electric heat element makers, has some free software, including a units coverter, and some other programs related to calculating heat transfer.
- How does pneumatics work? What are those funny symbols in a schematic of a hydraulic system? What is Cv? Ross Controls has put together an online explanation of some of this stuff, in Pneumatics 101. Once you understand some of it and go off and build something, you may need a troubleshooting guide. I would guess that this information could be applied to valves other than their own, which is rather nice of them.
- Penton Publications does more than just publish engineering-related magazines...
- Machine Design online carries seven sections of Basics of Design Engineering.
- Keep up with electronic design technology with Electronic Design online.
- Career Centers can help with a job search in more than just engineering related areas.
- Yet another source of not-just-design-related publications is Cahners Publications.
- Another magazine related to mechanical design is Design News.
- The Design News OEM directory is available thru the web.
| More Cahners Publications related to engineering online: | ||
| Consulting-Specifying Engineer | Modern Materials Handling | |
| Control Engineering | Metalworking Digest | |
| EDN (Electronic Design News) | Plant Engineering | |
| Electronic News (with daily articles) | Pollution Engineering | |
| Industrial Product Bulletin | Scientific Computing & Automation | |
| Laboratory Equipment | Wireless Design & Development | |
| Material Handling Product News | ||
- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
- The ASME publishes Mechanical Engineering magazine electronically.
- For complex women: the International Women in Technology campus.
- Look at ISO Online which covers the ISO standards, including ISO 9000.
CAD (and other software) Related Stuff...
Other Software...Here's a Unit Converter that runs under Microsoft Excel and can do at least 922 conversions. Need a freeware set of tools for performing ZIP and UNZIP archive operations? The Info-Zip tools are compatible with PKZIP style archives, and come in versions that run on several computer platforms. Software of all kinds, for many platforms, related to Mechanical Engineering, from Walnut Creek. A most powerful math tool, MATLAB, is developed by MathWorks. Need lots of power to run your software? Take a look at what's available from Silicon Graphics. Microsoft, believe it or not, has an engineering web page called Start Magazine.
CAD Systems...
At present, I use I-DEAS Master Series 5 at work
on a Pentium running Windows NT. Before that I was doing my design
and drafting work with Autocad release 13. And before that, I used
Computervision's CADDS software, and yet before that, I used McDonnell
Douglas' Unigraphics II software. Even before all of those, I had a chance
to use at least five other packages, such as PATRAN and some whose names
don't mean anything to anybody anymore since they no longer exist; such
as DOGS and PIGS (both from a British company who seemed to have a strange
obsession with naming their packages after animals).
I've also written software for CAD systems, and helped the University of Wyoming, where I studied engineering, develop their first interactive CAD system, known as EZ-CAD. Among my contributions were routines that performed 3D translations and 3D mirroring.
- [ Ahh, the good old days... Before the desktop PC, when everything
we did was in FORTRAN, when compiling and running your code could take
up to an hour for a simple 200 line program, and had to be run on mainframes
called Cybers hidden in a back room of the old campus hospital in the morgue,
with massive air conditioning systems. At least the punch card reader (a
last resort for those who couldn't find a terminal) was on the first floor
where it was warmer and not as creepy. Before the age of the mouse, when
keypads had these weird octagonal control pads stuck into them that work
like today's Nintendo game controllers. When you could find a color terminal
that wasn't being used, you were having a lucky day - even though they
were only about the equivalent of yesterday's EGA monitor. At least the
name "Cyber" stuck around and eventually became part of what we call "Cyberspace"
today, even though the mainframes have died (mostly) away - and what better
a place for them to see the end of their existence than in a morgue...]
[ It was a time when the processor power to render a shaded image of one simple part drawn in 3D took so long you could start it at 6pm, go home, study all night, sleep for one hour (again if you were having a lucky day - at least for a mechanical engineering student), go back to classes, and stop by at noon to see the system just finishing up your drawing - only to find that you coded in a hole with the wrong vector sign and the shaded image was showing a post sticking out of your part instead of the hole...]
[ It was also when a strange new "toy" computer called a Macintosh first popped up with a seven inch black and white screen and only used floppy disks... and a hard drive for one of these little computers was only present on one or two computers and was called a "MacBottom". Nowadays, that's what a programmer gets from too many Big Macs...]
[ The first IBM computers and their clones began to show up about the time I graduated. There were no FORTRAN compilers for these machines, so I couldn't begin to understand how one would program them, and then someone said you can use the "Basic" language (what a dumb name - I still can't figure out how exactly it works today), or better yet, you could use a language called "C". There was also this nifty graphic interface you could use as a shell to start other programs called "Windows" which had just come along as version 1.0 and could be run from one floppy disk. Unfortunately, it wouldn't do much, so you went back to the command line to run everything else, including the word processor of the day, Wordperfect (another oxymoron). You could tell which machines were used for Wordperfect a lot, since there was a permanent, burned in image of the document screen in every orange monochrome monitor on every machine in the library...]
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Ball Aerospace has chosen SDRC's
package I-DEAS
as the company CAD system standard.
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| Autodesk,
makers of Autocad,
have a few areas that aren't just ads for their stuff:
Perhaps of more use to the Autocad user are sites with information relevant
to what
|
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The Computervision site wss also mostly
ads, and was also lean on customer support stuff - much like real life.
Perhaps that's why they're now a part of Parametric
Technology Corporation - they're the company that develops Pro/Engineeer
among other things.
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Hardware & stuff
- Note: Some of the online catalogs require that you have the Freeware
Adobe
Acrobat Reader.
- The Information Handling Service (IHS) has among their sites:
- The Universal Parts Center, which has information on over 50,000,000 commercial & government-stocked parts and their suppliers.
- The Data Galaxy contains a large index to various companies and products related to whatever you enter into their search engine (provided it's engineering related, of course). Some information, such as part vendor data, and web-related information relevant to your search is free, while you need to sign up and pay some $ for other information, such as standards documents and part history information. Registration for a user password is free (as near as I can tell...). It seems the easiest way to find information on something is to simply enter a search term, refine it if needed, then hit the search button - it's a really big button, you can't miss it. This service replaced Industry.net, which used to be in this space.
- Look for products & services in the green Thomas Register / Free Registration.
- Looking for a vendor of motion control stuff ? Try the Motion Control Home Page.
- Newport makes everything from optoelectronics to motion control systems.
- Stock Drive Products/Sterling Instrument makes 62,000+ drive components.
- HD Systems makes harmonic drive hardware for motion control.
- Miniature precision linear and rotary motion parts are made by Del-Tron Precision, Inc.
- PIC Design makes all types of mechanical motion (controlled or otherwise) hardware.
- Just about everything needed for small systems power transmission is at W.M. Berg.
- Small motors that produce high output are available from Maxon Motors.
- Get geared up with Boston Gear.
- PEM makes fastener hardware that can be installed into the parts being fastened.
- Everything from captive fasteners to cabinet latches are available from Southco.
- Igus makes plastic alternatives to the bronze bushing, along with plastic chain systems.
- Online catalogs on front page.
- Carr-Lane hardware is the tooling hardware of choice where I work.
- Goodies for hobby stuff and for engineering stuff are at Edmund Scientific.
- Consumer Products:
- Online catalog
- Catalog request
- Clearance Center
- A new products section, for which the link is dynamic. Access it through their front page.
- Industrial Optics catalog request
- Motion control systems are run by applications like LabView from National Instruments.
- BSA Ballscrews makes ball screws and actuators to go with them.
- Online catalog
- Download catalog (PDF format)
- Catalog Request
- Parker has just about everything. Generally I prefer to go to them for hydraulic & pneumatic components.
- Ingersoll-Rand makes just about everything also, including Bobcats. Another good place for hydraulics & pneumatics...
- Ross Controls deals primarily in pneumatic hardware.
- numatics makes pneumatic stuff, as you might guess (yes, they do use a small 'n' in their name).
- The Numatech division deals more with miniaturized hardware.
- The numatics divsion deals with hardware of more standard size, yet it's still compact.
- Online catalogs
- Downloadable stuff
- numacalc.zip pneumatic design calculator
- You can order electronics thru the 'web from Allied Electronics.
- Online catalog (see front page)
- Catalog request
- Electronix Express builds electronics kits for school & industry
- Need a good connection? Try AMP incorporated.
- Go through the front page for a variety of online catalogs for different industries.
- Design-NET is the electronic component resource page of Motorola.
- Online catalog (?)
- For some of the more commonly needed electronics, take a look in the Digikey catalog.
- Keithley makes hardware to allow you and/or your computer to collect data.
- Several types of electric heating elements & controls are at Watlow.
- Not to be forgotten, Minco. also makes electric heating stuff.
This page last updated July
27, 2001 |
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