MatWeb is easily the most comprehensive materials database freely available on the web.  When I used to work as a deign engineer I probably went to MatWeb at least a couple times a week.

As of this post, MatWeb has over 77,000 materials in it’s searchable database, and they are all free to access, although there are advanced features (advanced search, side-by-side material comparisons, data download capabilities) that require you to register for a free account.  Premium accounts cost $100 per year and give you increased search and comparison functionality and the ability to download materials right into your favorite design software.

MatWeb has an incredibly vast catalog of materials.  You can usually find even the most obscure material.  For plastics and other branded materials, you can usually find the datasheet for the specific branded version, meaning you know the difference between an HDPE made by Dupont, and an HDPE made by 3M (although the subtle variances are sometimes eaten up in manufacturing tolerances).  For example, a search for HDPE actually yields more than 1,400 results.

A Search for HDPE

The Datasheet for a Generic Injection Molded HDPE

Below are all the search options offered on the site:

• Advanced Search – MatWeb’s most powerful search tool allows users to build complex searches in an iterative process. Possible criteria are property, composition, material category, and user-input text options. (Registration Required).
  
• Material Property Search – Find materials that meet the property value ranges that you require.
• Metal Composition Search – Enter an elemental composition and find the matching alloys.
• Material Type/Category Search – Select the type of material in which you are interested from a systematic list of drop-down boxes.
• Manufacturer Name Search – Select a plastics manufacturer and find data sheets of their proprietary products listed in MatWeb.
• Trade Name Search – Select a plastics trade name and find data sheets listed in MatWeb.
• Polymer Film Search – Find film grade polymers that meet the property value ranges that you require.
• Lubricant Search – Find lubricants that meet the property value ranges that you require.
• Metal Alloy UNS Number – Select from the list of UNS numbers in MatWeb’s database and find the matching data sheets.

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Robotbox is a site to share and collaborate on do-it-yourself robotics projects. I know there are a lot of engineers out there who have half completed projects sitting in a box in the basement or garage.

Check out the top rated projects already in the system.

Robotbox lets you manage robotics projects you are working on, parts involved with these designs, time spent working, money spent, and various other characteristics of your robotics project. You can upload pictures and videos and describe your projects in detail.  The site doesn’t yet let you track every step of your project, but allows for a great report on the project’s current status.

The site allows you to follow, and collaborate with, other engineers on their projects. You can update your status with a convenient twitter like ’status’ bar on the home page and post blog articles (called build logs) to discuss your projects or design problems/successes you are having.

A useful and unique feature of the website is the ability to add parts to the site’s database. These can be original parts you’ve designed or parts that went into your project that you think will help others in the community. This allows the group to recommend common and obscure parts that could benefit everyone in their DIY robotics projects.

This seems like a great start to a social community for DIY robotics projects. Putting your homemade robots in a box in the basement is sad. Pull them out, dust them off, get them running again, and take some pictures. Putting your projects up on Robotbox is good for everyone. Maybe you’ll be inspired to finish up an old robot.

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10) Double check your drawing.  Often the default on some design software is actually a very difficult feature to make.  Do you really need a bottom tapped hole?

9) Spend a few days with the QA department the first time they qualify your new part.  It will be eye opening.

8) Can you explain concentricity, how it affects the bore on the axle you are having made, and how QA should measure it?  If not, take a class on Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T).  (tip: This is a tough thing to learn without Q&A, but here is a good book: Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing for Mechanical Design: A Self-Teaching Guide to ANSI Standards)

7) Walk through your design with a machinist, and explain your intention behind major decisions.  This will help him identify features you can adjust to improve machining efficiency.

6) Parts that don’t fit together are a lazy engineer’s fault.  Don’t always blame the machine shop.  Double check your tolerance stackup, and then check it again.  Visualize it.  Then, write it down.  Don’t just use your calculator.

5) If the material isn’t crucial, choose the easiest to machine.  Machining time is usually more expensive than the material.  (Check out 12L14 Ultra Machinable Carbon Steel)

4) Ask a machinist which features of your part are the most challenging to machine, and then go simplify them.

3) Tell your machinist which features are absolutely necessary and which can be tweaked.  He’ll have some good suggestions to improve the machinability.

2) Spend a few days helping a machinist make one of your more complex parts.  You will learn things you never even thought of.

1) Encourage feedback from the machine shop and get as much of it as you can.  Don’t be the engineer that takes offense to suggestions regarding your designs.

What tips do you have to improve machinability?

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8. Machinists will often need to alter your part to machine some of the features.  Work through this together and you’ll both be happier.

7. When you first bring your drawing to the machine shop, it’s common to scribble notes and explain what’s “not that critical.”  This is a valuable exercise, but take the time to alter the drawing in your design software before giving it back to the machine shop.

6. For many parts, the machining costs are 5X or 10X the cost of the raw materials.  Planning with a machinist can reduce the material costs.

5. When you send your part to be machined, you will (hopefully) get the exact part you drew.  Great, except that your part needed 4 unique tooling setups and 15 different bits.  Walk through this process with the machinist.

4. Often, adjusting relatively unimportant features of your part will make it half as difficult to machine.

3. You can draw a lot of things in Pro/E and SolidWorks that you can’t make in the real world.

2. Machinists know more about machining parts than you do.  Say it with me … Machinists know more about machining parts than you do.

1. Learn from Machinists.  They have made thousands of parts and seen amazing design solutions.  They always have creative input.

What tips have you learned while hanging around the machine shop?

(Picture of a 1950’s Volkswagen Plant.  Courtesy shorey.net.)

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When I worked as a design and manufacturing engineer, I did a lot of 3D design work in SolidWorks, AutoCAD, and various other packages.  It didn’t take me long to look for an alternative to the traditional mouse to manipulate my designs in the digital 3D environment.  After a little searching, I found the 3D Connexion line of products, and purchased a SpaceBall 5000 (replaced by the SpaceExplorer). Here’s why you should get one immediately.

Efficiency

It takes a week or two to familiarize yourself with these devices and to customize them to the kind of work you do, but 3D design becomes vastly easier and surprisingly more fun.  The ability to spin and zoom is is incredibly lifelike.

Each of these devices (except for the compact SpaceNavigator) offer numerous conveniently placed and customizable buttons, and the simple software makes it easy to assign these buttons to nearly any function in almost all software, not just CAD.  After a few weeks, I found myself using my Space Ball to manipulate spreadsheets and images in Photoshop.

You will be surprised at how quickly you can spin an object 180 degrees and zoom in on the smallest details, something that often requires multiple clicks and frustrating repositionings of a traditional mouse.  The result is lifelike manipulation of objects and incredibly precise control of movements.  (search for a video of someone using these devices to manipulate stuff on screen.)

These devices also allow you to use both hands to do your work.  3D manipulation products in addition to the mouse for traditional point and click is surprisingly functional.  With a properly configured system, you will hardly ever need the keyboard.

Ergonomics

When doing intensive 3D design work I often experienced pain in my hands and wrists.  Manipulating objects all day in a digital 3D environment with a traditional mouse is bound to result in some level of repetitive stress injury.  Many people won’t admit it, but watch for your coworkers massaging their hands and rubbing their wrists.  We simply are not built for precise, minute, and repeated movements.

My SpaceBall greatly reduced the repetitive stress symptoms I experienced.  It split the workload between both of my hands, reduced the number of clicks i needed to make, eliminated the need to click and hold buttons to manipulate objects, and reduced the overall movement I had to make in the physical world to manipulate my designs on the computer.

*I also strongly recommend using a trackball over a traditional mouse and an ergonomic keyboard.  Neither offer much of an efficiency boost, but the health benefit is well worth the week that it will take you to get used to them.

Pricing and Purchase

These devices are expensive peripherals but gains in productivity will pay for them in a matter of weeks.  If your boss doesnt’ believe you, remember that the mere mention of carpal tunnel will get you a host of ergonomic equipment at any good company.

• See prices at Amazon.com

Technical Product Reviews

Many people have already done detailed reviews of the features these products offer.  Here is a list of the three best I’ve found.

• Space Explorer
• Multiple 3Dconnexion Products
• Focussed on Solidworks Users

Share your success or struggles with these devices in the comments below.  What other peripherals or software add-ons have you found useful when doing 3D design?

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