What is in your toolbox 6

[Pmatherne]

Just curious, what is in everyone's reference binder? The binder that you always refer too the most.

Right now mine is mainly piping specifications
When I did MEP work I had a binder full of equipment sizing charts (VAV, diffusers, AHU's) and heat load calculation go-bys

Future PE Engineer
Pet project I am working on to help other engineers, not much yet hoping to get it grow as I learn more

http://www.peexamquestions.com

 

[Jboggs]

For machine designers, the bible is Machinery's Handbook. I also refer regularly to a handy dandy screw and thread data slipstick I got years ago. A good decimal/fraction/metric equivalents chart is very useful. My Ryerson (or other) steel handbook is well worn.

 

[msquared48]

My lunch.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[SomptingGuy]

ANSI/ISO 9899-1990

If it's not in there, don't use it.

- Steve

 

[ctopher]

A couple touches on the iPhone screen, it's all there. Except the Machinery's Handbook, I have a hard copy.

Chris, CSWA
SolidWorks 14
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[JohnRBaker]

'Machinery's Handbook', 'Marks Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers', 'Ryerson' and 'Reid Tool' catalogs, 'Rinehart Mathematical Tables, Formulas and Curves' (although many of them are in the 'Machinery's Handbook'), 'Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain' (again some of this is included in the 'Machinery's Handbook'), an old 'Rexnord' catalog that's got a good set of sprocket and drive chain specs as well as an old 'Boston Gear' catalog that has a crap-load of stuff on gears, sprockets, bushings, etc. And while not engineering specific, I'd never be caught, at least not in my office, without my tattered old 'Webster's Dictonary' and my almost as tattered 'Roget's Thesaurus'.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[IRstuff]

"binder????"

Aren't we in the paperless age yet? ;-) Sounds to me that useful tools would be a scanner and Adobe Reader!

I find that even a figurative binder is too small for anything I would put into it; my job tends to meander across a bunch of different disciplines, so every time that happens, I wind up collecting a bunch of articles and books. They used to be paper, but that got too silly, so, now, I only collect digital stuff. My portable HDD (electronic binder) is pushing past 3 million files. and even the 2TB drive is getting a bit cramped. Of course, being a pack rat isn't helping, but at least, everything fits inside a nice 2.5-inch format HDD, regardless of how many documents I have. I'd get a solid-state drive, but they're not cheap enough for the capacities I need.

But, the portable drive isn't really the tool, per se; Google Scholar is the prybar for finding articles on the stuff I'm generally looking for, as is CiteSeer. FreePatentsOnline is useful for getting PDFs of patents.

TTFN
faq731-376

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[FastMouse]

I've got about a trillion files, ~100 of which are useful. Often my first stop is my paper collection of self-written summaries of FADT and stress analysis methods, ideas I've had along the way, a few of MSC's PATRAN tutorials, & some helpful papers. My mini-library of Broek, Niu, & Bruhn is always nearby.

 

[kylesito]

I started with a binder...now I have a bookshelf! But with structural guys it's a little different. In my Masonry binder, I keep all NCMA TEK bulletins and a half dozen pages of notes I created for bending formulas, etc. In my concrete binder, I keep a pho table and another set of handwritten notes on design equations. For wood and steel I usually go straight to the NDS or AISC which contain many handwritten notes in the margins.

PE, SE
Eastern United States

"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi

 

[GregLocock]

my phone, a tape measure, a penknife, a bottle opener, an A4 pad and a few pens. Everything else is on the computer or 12 feet of bookshelves.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[moltenmetal]

Pipe size table, B16.5 flange P/T tables, and a few pages out of B31.3 table A-1 for stress values. Yeah, we have spreadsheets with all that info in them, but I still reach for the tables. 2nd most reached for binder has about 10 different material compatibility charts. Machinery's Handbook is in reach too, as is Perry's. The rest is all on bookshelves, but doesn't get reached for quite so often.

 

[truckandbus]

Three binders - one for hardware, fittings and hoses; one for technical articles and papers; one for engineering process and management articles. The nucleus of the three binders was a photocopy of a reference binder given to me over 25 years ago when I was a summer intern. I've started a parallel digital version but still add hardcopies to the binders; easier to reference when you are using the computer for other work

 

[oldestguy]

For a mostly retired 86 year old in order of use: it is e mail (both ways) and the phone. An occasional computer program. The memory bank where still somewhat functioning. Bookshelf and binder when memory totally fails. Computer off switch as last resort.

 

[kacarrol]

ductulator, steam tables, Crane 410, ACGIH Industrial Ventilation and all the ASHRAE books.

 

[kacarrol]

Ohh and a whole lot of analogies...I frequently refer to standard bathroom exhaust fans and how efficient (or inefficient) they are.

 

[SLTA]

Books/notes: Preservation Briefs, brick tech briefs, loads of various materials, and my historic construction books. In my real toolbox: awl, flashlight, headlamp, hardhat, gloves, tape measure, and stupid moisture meter that won't hold a battery.

 

[DRWeig]

Pad of psychrometric charts, ASHRAE Fundamentals, Geick's Engineering Formulas, National Electrical Code, ASHRAE 90.1, The Dilbert Principle, and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Best to you,

Goober Dave

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[msquared48]

Now nothing - I ate my lunch.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[Longinthetooth]

My toolbox.........35 years experience.

 

[Tunalover]

Machinery's Handbook, Marks Standard Handbook for MEs, Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain, Steinberg's "Cooling Techniques for Electronic Equipment", Steinberg's "Shock and Vibration for Electronic Equipment",

Tunalover