Engineering Guides
Plain-English explainers on the topics engineers actually have to get right — each links to the tools that do the maths.
GD&T Explained (Beginner Guide)
What geometric tolerancing is, the 14 symbols, datums, and bonus tolerance — in plain English.
How to Choose a Fit (ISO 286)
Clearance, transition or interference — picking H7/g6 and friends for bearings, dowels and press fits.
Tolerance Stack-Ups
Worst-case vs RSS vs Monte Carlo — will the gap actually close in production?
Tolerance Analysis in Practice
Defining the loop, gathering real tolerance data, choosing WC/RSS/Monte Carlo, and judging it against Cpk.
Reading Engineering Drawings
Views, title block, tolerances, surface finish and GD&T — how to decode a mechanical drawing.
Bolted Joint Design
Why preload matters more than torque, the nut factor, and designing a joint that survives fatigue.
Reading Weld Symbols
Arrow side vs other side, fillet vs groove, and what the numbers on the symbol mean.
Choosing a Welding Process
MIG vs TIG vs stick vs spot — matching the process to material, thickness and volume.
Press-Fit & Shrink-Fit Design
Interference, contact pressure, holding capacity, and sizing the fit between slip and yield.
Sheet-Metal Design Basics
Bend allowance, K-factor, minimum flanges and holes — designing parts that actually fold up.
Design for Manufacturing (DFM)
Design parts that are cheap and easy to make — draft, radii, wall thickness, tolerances.
How to Select a Material
Strength-to-weight, stiffness, cost and corrosion — a practical way to narrow the field.
Heat Treatment & Hardness
Hardening, tempering, annealing and case hardening — and how hardness maps to strength.
Surface Finish & Metrology
What Ra and Rz mean, how a profilometer measures them, and how to specify finish sensibly.
Corrosion & the Galvanic Series
Why dissimilar metals corrode, the galvanic series, and how to stop it in a design.
Coatings & Plating
Anodize, zinc, passivation, powder, DLC — what each finish does and when to specify it.
Fatigue: Why Parts Break
Cyclic loading, the endurance limit, stress concentrations and how to design against fatigue.
How to Size a Motor
Inertia, acceleration torque, RMS duty and the reflected-inertia trick with a gearbox.
Choosing a Bearing
Ball vs roller vs plain, load direction, speed, life and mounting — picking the right bearing.
Vibration Isolation
Natural frequency, the √2 rule, transmissibility and picking an isolator that actually helps.
Sizing a Power Supply
Rails, headroom, inrush, efficiency and thermals — picking a supply that survives real loads.
Grounding & EMI
Ground loops, star vs plane, shielding and layout — why the motor kills your sensor reading.
Choosing a Motor Driver
Brushed vs BLDC vs stepper drivers — current rating, PWM, protection and feedback.
Reading a Datasheet
Absolute maximums vs recommended operating, typ/min/max, and the notes that bite you.
Choosing a Sensor
Range, resolution, accuracy vs precision, output type and how to condition the signal.
Random Vibration Basics
PSD, Grms, the 3σ rule and why random vibration is nothing like a sine sweep.
How to Write a Stress Report
Structure, load cases, margins of safety and the traceability a reviewer needs.
Aerospace Fastener Selection
MS/NAS callouts, grip length, edge distance, hole class and why AN/MS matters.
Composite Layup Basics
Plies, orientation, symmetry and balance — why a laminate warps if you get it wrong.
FEA Pitfalls
Mesh, boundary conditions, singularities and sanity checks — getting FEA you can trust.
Reference aids, not a substitute for engineering judgment.