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The Elements of Mechanical DesignAvailable to Purchase
ISBN-10:
0791802670
ISBN:
9780791802670
No. of Pages:
104
Publisher:
ASME Press
Publication date:
2008
eBook Chapter
1 Part I Elementary Rules of Mechanical Design Available to Purchase
Page Count:
39
-
Published:2008
You have heard this often, usually as “keep it simple!” But for good designers, just keeping it simple is not enough. If you only just keep things simple, you will still have complicated designs. You must simplify, simplify, simplify!
So what makes a design simple? Can your intuition alone judge simplicity? Will you know it when you see it?
The less thought and the less knowledge a device requires, the simpler it is. This applies equally to its production, testing, and use. Use these criteria—how much thought, how much knowledge—to judge your designs. Judge best by comparing one solution to another. Of course, it may take lots of thought and knowledge to get to a design requiring little of either; that is design.
1. Create designs that are explicitly simple—keep complexity intrinsic
2. Keep the functions of a design independent from one another
3. Use exact constraint when designing structures and mechanisms—never overconstrain a design
3.1 Exact constraint: a description
3.2 Basic theory of exact constraint
3.3 Exact constraint in two dimensions
3.4 Nesting forces
3.5 Constraint theory in practice
3.5.1. Curvature and surface matching
3.5.2. Elastic constraint design
4. Plan the load path in parts, structures, and assemblies
5. Triangulate parts and structures to make them stiffer
6. Avoid bending stresses. Prefer tension and compression
7. Improve designs with self-help
7.1 Self-help that creates forces
7.2 Self-help that redirects forces
7.3 Self-help that balances forces
7.4 Self-help that distributes loads
8. Manage friction in mechanisms
8.1 Avoid sliding friction
8.2 Maximize the length of linearly-guided components
8.3 Select rotary motion over linear motion
8.4 Use rolling element bearings whenever possible
8.5 Use flexures to eliminate friction
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