Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mechanicalengineering

The usual restless youth plus work questions

universal_qlc — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:32:45 -0800

If you were an entry-level MechE with only a year and a half of not-so-great experience under your belt, what would you be doing? As it turns out, it only took me six months to become this guy. While I'm not entirely sure about leaving the engineering field entirely, it's certainly something I'm considering.

I currently work for Big Defense Contractor, which I find slow, uninspiring and generally uninteresting, even after asking for and receiving additional duties to try and stay challenged and learning (management was super nice about this, and I really do like them as people but the environment is just larger than they are). I worry that if I stay here much longer (I've been here a year and a half) I will be utterly unemployable elsewhere due to both accumulating apathy and lack of compelling engineering experience. I'm thinking of doing one of the following:

- Beating around as hard as I can for work in a solar energy startup which I find to be an interesting and growing market, though I worry about oversaturation
- Looking for work in consumer electronics, although I worry my growth would be limited there, since I'm not a EE
- Taking a class or two in market and/or data analysis, and then trying to find a job in that field if I enjoy it (which will be difficult to do with no experience or relevant education, and I might have to stomach a pay cut, but not being bored would be worth it)
- Giving into cynicism and finding more hobbies outside work (which is always great, but I can't help that I have to spend 40+ hrs a week at work). Well, at least my personal life is great.

I'd prefer not to go back to school full-time unless it's for an MBA - I pretty much figured myself done with that after my M.S. Traveling the world for an extended period is unfortunately also not an option.

If you were in my shoes, what would you opt to do? Are there industries other than aerospace that need MEs you'd seriously want to jump into? I'm female, mid-twenties, and in the SF Bay Area.

Mechanical transmissions

Krrrlson — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:25:43 -0800

Mech-E-filter: Can someone point me to a comprehensive online resource or tutorial with an overview of mechanical power transmission mechanisms? I'm interested the transmission of rotary motion as well as conversion between rotary and linear motion. Textbook recommendations welcome, but I would really prefer something I can access right away.

Mechanical Engineering Filter!

spacewrench — Mon, 22 May 2006 18:48:55 -0800

If I wanted to hang something heavy from a rafter, how should I do it? I have a cathedral ceiling in a room, and would like to suspend a cabinet from eye bolts in some rafters. I'll have the roof off for replacement, so it's easy enough to do The Right Thing, rather than just screwing in some lag-eye bolts from the inside. I think there are two basic ways I can go:

A is easier, but B should be stronger.
My questions are:

How much of a forged eye bolt's strength do I lose if I load it out-of-line with the shank, as shown in A?

Is it worth the hassle of fabricating a steel cap for the rafter, including a cutout for the bolt (as shown in B), given the weight of something I could reasonably hang from the ceiling of my house?