Tools for a Mechanical Engineering Student?

[404]

How Much? You want to quantify it? That's not the point. It is the defacto standard of useful information for anyone in the ME field, or they are not really doing any real engineering, and they got the degree as a path to a different career.

Oh please. Hold on to your hat. There are many areas of Mechanical Engineering where the handbook is not needed at all. Heat transfer, fluid flow, robotics, control systems, plcs, the list is huge. Mechanical engineering is about much more than just making stuff.

I got my BS and MS at an obscure little state school on the Charles river. The book we used most was CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. MHB is applicable to manufacturing, but it is not the Crystal Skull of ME knowledge.

 

[Outlawmws]

"Areas of Mechanical Engineering" Name one of those areas that does not require something to be manufactured to accomplish. Your splitting hairs, and acting like those areas stand alone... Very few engineers can survive these days on a specialty, they have to be flexible.

I never said it was some crystal skull, that's your interpretation. And OBTW for every CRC on C&P I've seen (Yes, I have one too), I see dozens of MHB.

 

[Tinner]

I've never met a ME who was worth a damn that didn't have a copy of MHB and refer to it frequently.

 

[zkling]

Some of you are only familiar with a manufacturing floor and it is evident in these posts.

 

[finn]

Some of you are only familiar with a manufacturing floor and it is evident in these posts.

Agree. ME covers a very wide field of specialties, only one of which involves a factory floor.

 

[DonPowers]

Agree. ME covers a very wide field of specialties, only one of which involves a factory floor.

Got my ME in 78 and have spent most of the time since working on power plants of all types and wearing many different hats.

With regard to handbooks, my Marks sits on a shelf gathering dust. I prefer my ASHRAE Handbooks, which come each year as part of my membership in both hardcover and PDF. The PDF copies reside in my laptop so that I have the latest four volumes wherever I go. Along with the membership, I also have access to their online library, which is rather extensive.

The photo is the turbine deck of a power plant during an overhaul.

 

[jmaher450]

Based on your description the kid has a pretty good head on his shoulders and is willing to get the tools that he wants to do the job he needs to do. With the hobbies you described, especially auto-x, his tools need to be mobile. Why not get him a portable tool box. Like a Pelican 1460. It will last a lifetime and it will enable him to have a sturdy spot to store the items he decides he needs. Also any Mechanical Engineer that shows up on site with a Pelican 1460 loaded up with personal tools to fix the equipment he designed gets instant shop cred.

As a ME in the rail industry, My 1460 has been loaded to the brim then strapped to pallets and shipped across the country, stripped to bear minimum to thrown be thrown on a plane, and its even been locked to a loco frame with a cable lock when Im on site doing testing or repair. They are a workhorse.

 

[chris_1001]

I have the Machinery Handbook (26th edition). It's at home on a shelf covered with dust. I've opened it once in 5+ years. And only because I had a chart inside I made that I wanted to look at.

Most everything you need IS on line these days. It was my go to for a long time when I got my start, but I can find what I need online quicker.

It was standard to see one on everyone's desk years ago. Not anymore.

And another idea for a gift is a good Multi-Tool

 

[MattN03]

Multi-Tool is a great suggestion. I use my Leatherman Skelotool at work and home all the time. The Skelotool is big enough to be useful but still small enough to carry in kaki pants in the office.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Well, I think we've decided on a 6" Mitutoyo dial caliper, a StrongHand 4 in 1 F clamp and a copy of Tom Lipton's book Metalworking: Sink or Swim.

I was torn about the digital versus dial caliper, and I decided that I would rather have something that didn't require batteries and could be an heirloom. I have my great grandfathers Mitutoyo 6" dial.

He's already got a a copy of machinery's handbook I gave him when he started working for me.

Very cool - congrats to him, may whatever he pursues bring him fame, fortune, and happiness!

I still have my dad's Mitytoyo 6" dial he got when he was a pup, use the heck out of it, and plan on handing it down to one of my grandkids. Not only is it an heirloom - it's one they'll be able to use. And Lipton's book - you could have done one worse and got him the bound edition of the Gingery series... but that would be just evil!

Why not get him a portable tool box. Like a Pelican 1460. It will last a lifetime and it will enable him to have a sturdy spot to store the items he decides he needs. Also any Mechanical Engineer that shows up on site with a Pelican 1460 loaded up with personal tools to fix the equipment he designed gets instant shop cred.

^^ +100 This! I have both a 1460 with the lid pocket thingy, I have beat the living SNOT out of it, and it keeps telling me "aw, c'mon that tickles".. They also make a "portable took chest" that our "vagrant machinists" and our old stationary engineers used, like having a "take with you" S/O chest. Prolly not cheap, but when I saw one, I figured - Oooh yeah.

 

[bochnak]

How about a red swingline 747 stapler?

I'm a ME and a Machinery Handbook & calipers are probably the most used items on my desk. Keep in mind some companies may buy this for their employees.

 

[Lassen Forge]

How about a red swingline 747 stapler?

Keep in mind some companies may buy this for their employees.

Our office tech bought me one (as a joke), sure as hell, my boss tried to steal it on more than one occasion.

As long as he didn't steal my Handbook!!!