University of Portland, Mechanical Engineering Student Reference Materials

All documents linked from this web page are copyright protected but the University of Portland, Shiley School of Engineering. This page is meant to provide a source for documents utilized by students. Many of these documents are provided to students in various courses.

Standard problem solving format (must be applied for all analysis, homework problems and especially design problems)
Significant figures (don't abuse numbers - take care of them, treat them with respect)
Cartoon on Sig Figs. When was the last time your doctor used more than 2 significant figures in writing a prescription?
Top "10" most important things for ME's to know (actually, there are 13 - but Top 10 sounds better).
What you really need to know!

Engineering Materials - numbering schemes, descriptions, etc.

DESIGN PROCESS

Design?? (author unknown)
Project notes (machine design)
Project Planning - where to begin
Engineering Design Process
Evaluating alternatives, developing criteria
Design Considerations (from which criteria may be developed)
Concurrent design evaluation
Can "Agile development" work in mechanical engineering?

Design Increment Documentation (formerly, Design Decision Document)
Fail safe and safe life design philosophy
Codes and Standards
Human Factor Design (from the news-program "60 Minutes" - but it takes only 10 minutes to watch) --- keep this in mind that what you design will be manufactured by someone and maintained by someone - make their life easier.
You don't always need big bucks and complexity to solve challenging problems. Here is a simple and creative solution (click here)


PROJECT MANAGEMENT, TEAM WORK

Scheduling (making schedules)
MS Project Basics (how to)
Example of a Schedule (Gantt Chart format)

Action Item Logs
Decision Log
Meetings - how to run and manage them effectively
Concisely: meetings, agenda, minutes
Agenda example
Having difficulty finding meeting time? Go to: http://www.when2meet.com/

Team Decisions (ASME publication)
How to manage a dysfunctional team
How to avoid procrastination - the number 1 killer of projects
Peer evaluations

3D Printing videos (for ideas)
Fix a broken heart
Fix a broken hand
Fix a broken head? (no, well...send me a link...)

GENERAL LABORATORY

Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Handbook
Codes and Standards
ASME Codes and Standards
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

GRAPHING, ENGINEERING DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHY

Graphing of Engineering Data
Graphing/Figure Standards
Graph formatting
Engineering Drawing Standard
Example of a detailed drawing
Example of an assembly drawing
Photography for Engineering Reports
Basic Excel (.pdf)
Basic Excel "How To" (.xlsx) - practice on this spreadsheet
What to submit when using Excel

WRITING and SPEAKING

Engineering Writing Skills.
Memos and Letters
Memo and letter content
Proposals
Laboratory Reports
Design/Project Reports
Technical Presentations
Common writing mistakes that students make; Part I
Common writing mistakes that students make; Part II
Columnist Advice

WRITING and SPEAKING EXAMPLES

Well written letter
Poorly written letter
Memo - good example
Well produced oral presentation
Poorly produced oral presentation
Proposal memo example
"Grade sheet" used by ME faculty for technical presentations

Spelling:

I halve a spelling checker,
It came with my pea see.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I dew knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait aweigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee four two long
And eye can put the era rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

I've scent this massage threw it,
And I'm shore your pleased too no
Its letter prefect in every weigh;
My checker tolled me sew.

-Author unknown.


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