7 Tools and Resources for Every Engineer's Inventory
What separates a good engineer from a great one? Passion and talent usually come to mind first, but if we dig a little deeper, we know that so much more makes up excellence in the world of engineering. From the tools you use to the people you interact with… Plus, all the experience that you gather working on different projects.
I like to compare engineering to woodworking — although they are completely different industries, I can see the commonality in what each field regards as excellence. The formula for success in either industry is a combination of experience and expertise, coupled with the right tools and resources.
From my own experience of running an engineering company for almost a decade now, I can say for a fact that the right tools are essential for our engineers to excel at their work. In fact, when I did a quick Google search on “woodworking,” the very first suggestion I got was “tools.”
Yes, tools! Over the years, I have had the good fortune of meeting many talented woodworkers. Although good woodworkers have a select few tools that they usually work with, great woodworkers have a variety of specific tools they use, or leave out, for each particular project. They realize the importance of catering to each project’s specific requirements and utilize the right tools for each individual process. Whether certain tools help cut time, cost, or make the end product better, the ultimate result is that woodworkers are able to deliver the best value with the right tools used throughout the process.
Here are some tools and resources I have found to be useful over the years for solving problems more effectively and efficiently.
Some Useful Design Tools
Jaycon's Injection Molding Design Tool
Seeing is believing. There is nothing better than seeing a theory you recently learned being applied in real life. Most likely, if you are new to injection molding, you haven’t gotten the chance to work on different projects that require different injection molding features; or, you may not have had the chance to make “expensive” mistakes that essentially teach you a thing or two about how to properly design products before sending them to be injection molded. Yes, making such mistakes are unfortunate, but sure are one of the best ways to learn. With this injection molding tool that also doubles as a pencil holder, you are able to visualize a variety of injection molding features without having to actually make mistakes in order to learn what works and what doesn’t. How is this possible? Well, this injection molding tool includes many common features and mistakes for users to visualize and learn from every step in the process. In the world of engineering, DFM is a pretty big deal, and with this pencil holder, you are constantly reminded of the importance of good design as it sits on your desk.
You can request one for free here, or learn even more about this tool here. For more information on how to properly design for injection molding, this guide talks about the aspects taken into consideration when working with plastics.
Digi-Key's PCB Ruler
Although this tool is most useful to an electrical engineer, this ruler can still be helpful for mechanical engineers to look up gauges when including any potential holes in their design. For electrical engineers, having font size, trace width, and copper thickness on the palm of your hands can help them save time during the design phase.
Get this Digi-key PCB ruler for free here by simply adding it to your cart.
Get Access to Datasheets, Technical Drawings, and 3D Files
McMaster-Carr
If you’re in the PD world and have not used McMaster-Carr, then you’re probably not optimizing your design for cost and time. That’s because instead of using your time to custom-design and prototype certain hardware or other parts into your product, you can just use off-the-shelf parts from companies like McMaster-Carr. The choices are endless; they have everything you’d need — screws, hinges, bolts, threaded inserts, threaded rods, aluminum extruded parts, springs, magnets, and even adhesives (I’m sure I missed a lot more). These parts have been engineered by top engineers and manufactured at such a large scale that you end up saving a lot in costs by buying them instead of fabricating your own. It really is an engineer’s shopping dream. Not just that! They even offer technical drawings, 3D PDF files, and in some instances native 3D CAD files. Explore their products here.
Mouser Electronics & Digi-Key
If you design products with electronics and have to constantly go back-and-forth with an electrical engineer regarding electronic components size and layout, then you could probably benefit from optimizing your workflow with Mouser, or even previously mentioned Digi-Key. They are both distributors of components for circuit boards, such as USB connectors, LEDs, light pipes, and diodes. But that’s not the only things that make the two special — what is cool is that they provide 3D files for most of their components; so when you’re designing your parts, you can include clearance specific to the part your electrical engineer will use.
How to find these 3D files? On Mouser’s website, when viewing a part, simply scroll down to the Documents section of the page, and if there are any related 3D Model files available, you will be able to download them right away. Similarly, on Digi-Key’s website, scroll down to the bottom of the page when you are viewing any product/part, and look out for any Mfg CAD Model files.
Thingiverse & GrabCAD
Thingiverse is a paradise for geeks. Engineers, designers, and hobbyists come together and share their own 3D files for the entire community to access and 3D print. Although the parts usually aren’t editable because they are STL files, they can serve as [form & function] inspiration for your next project. You can download files to see different ways to design latches, snap hooks, support ribs, threads, mounting bosses, press fits, tolerancing, and more.
For a more professional database of 3D files, GrabCAD can be a great resource for more specific requirements. Unlike Thingiverse, it usually provides more than just STL files. With file types such as STL, SLDDRW, and DWG, you have a little bit more room to edit and play with the parts as they are native files from software like SolidWorks, CATIA, AutoCAD, and many others.
UL Prospector
If you are engineering plastic parts, then it should come as a no-brainer that you should be using UL Prospector to check raw plastic properties. UL Prospector provides you with information on use cases, properties, features, manufacturers, certifications, and pretty much anything you would need to know about a certain type of plastic. One of the neat things about their website is that you are able to browse by material, supplier, or property; so, if I’m designing something that requires a low flammability, I can just search for plastics with a low flammability index. It ends up being very useful when working with plastic materials.
PENCOM
If you use metal inserts in your plastic products (and any other hardware for that matter), PENCOM provides you with a ton of options for custom mechanical components. What I found excellent on their end is their documentation. You can look up different inserts based on different manufacturing process, and even look up parts based on either imperial or metric systems of measurement. They also include information about part features, installation, performance, and materials.
Conclusion
Using your resources and the right tools to work smarter will allow you to be more efficient, plan better, prioritize, design and manufacturer faster. When working in this field, it is very important to have the right tools at your disposal. Good resources can help you focus on what is really at stake, so I hope this collection of resources and tools come in handy for not only your next project, but for the rest of your engineering career.
About the Author
Hi, I’m Derek. I have been an entrepreneur in Tech for the last 10 years. In my blog, I share with you what it’s like to keep up with the ever-changing world of technology; the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur; what it’s like to do business in China; and how to simply be successful at managing work-life balance. If you like what you read, give it a nice round of applause and add me on LinkedIn — I love connecting with my readers.
