Engineering

There are vast number of disciplines within engineering, but at Product Design Resources, we'll focus mostly on engineering as it relates to product design. We have original articles, links to guides, engineering books, online textbooks and theory, general engineering resources, component resources, material resources, prototyping resources, industry-specific resources, standards resources, engineering blogs, and selected engineering articles and papers.

Articles from ProductDesignResources.com


10 Concept Generation - Methods and Application of Creativity in Product Design
Improving Mechanism Design - Eliminating Common Failures and Improving User Interaction
Prototyping Purpose and Methods - How to Prototype and Why to Prototype
What is Good Product Design? - Definition Beyond Functional User Needs




Engineering Resources

Engineering Design Guides

Aluminum Extrusion Design Guide - Guidance on process, shapes, size, and material, etc...
Aluminum Extrusion Tolerancing Guide - Guidance on aluminum extrusion tolerancing
Arc-Welding Handbook
The Brazing Book - Guidebook
Castings Design Guide - lots of good info on the site beyond the guide
Composite Materials Design Guide
Die-Casting Guide - North American Die-Casting Association Multimedia design guides
Direct Metal Deposition - Primer
Elastomer Design Guide - Guidance on the physics, chemistry and other design properties of elastomers
Engineering Drawings - Guide
- Design for the Environment - Guide
Fatigue Strength Design - Guide
Fatigue Strength Design - Guide
Fatigue Strength Design - Guide
Forging Design Guide - from www.forging.org
Forging Design Guide
Friction Stir Welding - guide
Joining and Fabricating Lectures From MIT's web lectures
Laser beam, electron beam , and plasma arc welding - general info
Laser welding - process guide
Life Cycle Design - guide article
Material Properties - Guide
Materials Selection - Guide
Materials Selection - Guide by property
Metal Finishing Design Guide
Metric Steel Tube and Rod Guide - sizes, materials, and tolerances
MIM Design Guide
Plastic Injection Molding Design Guide - focusing on parts and process
Plastic Overmolding Overview - General guide to overmolded parts and process
Plastic Staking or Swaging Design Guide - An option for plastic assembly and fastening
Plastic Thermoforming Part Design Guide - registration required, but worth it for this detailed guide to thermoforming from Bayer Materials Science
Plastic Thermoform Design Guide
Plastic Ultrasonic Assembly Guidebook - process, parts, and methods
Powdered Metal Process Overview
Powdered Metal Design Guidebook - shapes, materials, etc...
Powdered Metal Part Specification Guidelines
Quality Design Guides - free quality design guides
Rapid Prototyping Guide
Resistance Seam Welding - guide
Sandwich Beam Theory - rigorous theory for sandwich beams
Sheet Metal Bending Guide
Sheet Metal Design Guidelines
Sheet Metal Stamping Design Guide
Shot-Peening Design Guide
Spring Design Guide - compression, tension, and torsion springs
Surface Roughness Quicksheet - by process
Surface Roughness Terminology Guide
Threaded Fastener Design Guide
User Needs Analysis - discussion of how to design for users' needs
Welding Knowledge Guide
www.design-bites.com - purchase design guide downloads, very reasonable prices for the content
Guide to Preparing a Utility Patent - you don't HAVE to have a lawyer
How to Search Patents - not difficult, just requires time, diligence, and persistence
www.mindtools.com - Creative Problem Solving Guides


Engineering Books

Machine Design: An Integrated Approach (3rd Edition)

Fundamentals of Modern Manufacturing: Materials, Processes, and Systems

Modern Control Systems (11th Edition) (Pie)

Controlling Design Variants: Modular Product Platforms

Design and Analysis of Experiments

The Basics of FMEA

Design for Manufacturability & Concurrent Engineering; How to Design for Low Cost, Design in High Quality, Design for Lean Manufacture, and Design Quickly for Fast Production

Introduction to Human Factors Engineering (2nd Edition)

Human Factors In Engineering and Design

The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design

Engineering Design Methods: Strategies for Product Design

Design for Environment, Second Edition: A Guide to Sustainable Product Development: Eco-Efficient Product Development

Printed Circuits Handbook (McGraw Hill Handbooks)

Electronic Drafting and Printed Circuit Board Design

Practical Electronics Handbook, Sixth Edition

Rapid Prototyping


Engineering Texts and Theory On the Web

Free Online MIT courses online (INCREDIBLE RESOURCE)
Applied Aero Online Textbook
Design and Analysis of Machine Elements
Digital Signal Processing Textbook
Fundamentals of Diecasting Design
Electronic Circuits Textbook
Basic Electronics Textbook
Fluid Mechanics Textbook
Fracture Mechanics
Fundamentals of Compressible Fluid Mechanics Textbook
GD&T Textbook
Strength of Materials Online TextBook
Heat Transfer Textbook
Newtonian Physics Textbook
Analytical Classical Dynamics Textbook
Multimedia Statics Text
Multimedia Dynamics Text
Multimedia Fluid Mechanics Text
Multimedia Thermodynamics Text
Multimedia Basic Math Text
72 Complete Online Mathematics Texts - 72! Complete! Incredible!
List of Numerous Complete Online Math Texts - organized by topic
Connexions - view and share educational material: courses, books, reports, etc...
Reliability Engineering Theory


General Engineering Resources

www.calculatoredge.com - Huge selection of online engineering calculators
www.martindalecenter.com - Even bigger collection of calculators
www.efunda.com - General Engineering Website
www.engcen.com - General Engineering Website
www.engineeringtoolbox.com - Comprehensive Engineering Knowledge and Content Website
www.engineering.com - General Engineering Website
www.engineeringtalk.com - Huge collection of engineering related articles
www.engineers.com - The Engineers Club Online Technical Resources
www.engineersedge.com - General Engineering Website
www.engineershandbook.com - General Engineering Website
www.engplanet.com - General Engineering Website
www.machinedesign.com - Machine Design Magazine Home Page
List of 100 must-buy design books www.engineer.net - Engineering Job Site www.gearhob.com - General Engineering www.roymech.co.uk - General Engineering
www.thefabricator.com - Methods for fabricating nearly anything


Component Resources

www.mcmaster.com - McMaster-Carr - Quick-shipping company for common hardware components - many models and drawings available for download. One of the quickest ways to find commonly available hardware and other common components for your designs and prototypes.
MotionNET.com - directory of component manufacturers listed by component
Membrane Switch Design Guide


Material Resources

www.matweb.com - Matweb - Free, comprehensive list of material specifications. Includes names of suppliers and material manufacturers.
Composites Stress Analysis Chapter - Excellent engineering guide on composites and stress analysis of composites.
www.scientific.net - Online access to a vast database of material science papers and reports. Pay service.
www.materialstoday.com - Online magazine highlighting leading edge advances in materials science.
Torlon Design Guide (Polyamide/imide)
Celcon Design Guide (Acetal)


Prototyping

www.quickparts.com - Plastic molding and rapid prototyping company that will quote parts based upon an uploaded model in 2 minutes or less (as advertised). Very fast turn around of prototype and tooled parts.
Quickcast - Method for quickly prototyping cast metal components. You must supply user info to download, but well worth it.


Industry Specific

www.appliancedesign.com - Articles pertaining to all engineering and design aspects of appliances. Fantastic content, and useful for other fields including consumer goods, medical, and automotive design.
Industrial Design Technology - news site
Medical Design - Ezine


Standards

ANSI - American National Standards Institute
ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineers
ASTM International - American Society for Testing and Materials
IHS, Inc. - Purchase Standards from a huge number of standardizing bodies
ISO - International Standards Organization
SES - Standards Engineering Society


Engineering Blogs

Ideal Mechanism Blog - documents developments in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and interaction design
The Engine Ear - Hearing and Churning Just What Matters - Engineering!
Mechanisms 101 - Interactive, illustrated, and working mechanisms
BetterProductDesign.net - Articles


Selected Engineering Papers and Articles

Creativity in Engineering