I went to engineering school thinking that I was going to learn how to go from one problem to its solution by designing AND prototyping a machinery – in exchange of that, I got plenty of theory and very few manual skills.
Making Things Move by Dustyn Roberts fills the gap from thinking to action very well – and I would recommend it to anyone thinking about studying engineering, design or art.
The book starts with the 6 simple machines from which several more complex ones are derived: levers, pulleys, wheel and axle, inclined planes and wedges, screws and gears.Once you know the basic function of what you’re designing you’ll use a kinetic chain mix of these for the most economic use of resources.
The book has a very good introduction to the main classes of materials used in making things – like metals, ceramics, polymers (plastics), composites, semiconductors and biomaterials- completed by online shops to buy them from.
Once you have a general idea over the main kinetic chain of what you’re trying to design and the materials you’ll use, you’ll need to think of how to assemble the main parts and there are 2 main ways to do just that:
– fastening them through non-permanent joints like screws, bolts, tapped holes, nuts, washers, nails, staples, pins and retaining rings
– joining them into permanent joints through techniques like using glues (adhesives), rivets, welding, brazing and soldering
There are dedicated chapters for understanding the basics in creating and controlling motion, converting motion mechanisms – like cranks, cams and followers, linkages, ratchet and pawl- and the guts of machines (bearings, couplers, gears, screws and springs) – all these in a very systematic way that would have been more useful than being overwhelmed by math formulae with no immediate practical uses.
Engineering’s philosophy towards raw materials is to “calculate twice, cut once”, but this shouldn’t derail from the value of making prototypes and the feedback one can get from it.