Any automotive/mechanical engineers out there?

"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
04/28/2014 at 21:16 • Filed to: None

I'm wanting to learn more about automotive engineering - in particular chassis design. Are there any good books on the subject?

On a related note, I'm quite interested in learning to use some CAD software. I've done some 3D modeling, so I'm not a total stranger to designing things in 3D. It would seem that any of the major CAD packages are crazy expensive, though. Is there any sort of poor-man's CAD software out there?

DISCUSSION (25)

jkm7680 > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 21:19

Try Trimble Sketchup, or Blender. Both free, as you may know ,Sketchup is easier.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > jkm7680
04/28/2014 at 21:22

I really ought to sink some time into learning Blender. I'm pretty proficient with Maya.

STREPITUS > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 21:22

If you're a student with an @.edu email, you can get Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD and any other Autodesk software for free ( http://www.autodesk.com/education/free… ). I loved that when I was in school. Now I work for one of the Big 3, and we primarily use Catia for our body design, and Adams for designing dynamic components like suspensions.

Not sure I can help you too much with any specific books at the moment, but I'll check our database at work tomorrow. If you're interested in engine design though, I can tell you right now you need to get Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals by John Heywood. It is the bible.

Stupidru > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 21:31

As far as chassis design books, take a look into Vehicle Dynamics books or race car engineering books. I'd run upstairs to check the authors on mine, but quite frankly I'm too lazy to do that.

You can typically get a Solidworks or ProE package for pretty cheap at your college bookstore, although it will only be a student edition. I've never used Inventor, but PLTW schools are using that in their curriculum so it can't be half bad

Joe_Limon > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 21:32

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/tag/tutorials

You might find the above link helpful. Also, for CAD learning/help send me an email, joelimon at gmail.com, I own Solidworks and Inventor. Do what the other guy mentioned and see if you can snag a school license for free.

thedevilinside > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 21:32

Race Car Vehicle Dynamics is a good book, very useful. Not sure how it would be to just read from nothing and pick things up. I haven't gotten too far into reading it but do use it as a reference.

jkm7680 > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 21:32

Blender is good stuff.

I've never got it to work correctly on my Mac though.

Joe_Limon > Stupidru
04/28/2014 at 21:37

What he said, specifically a text book called "Race Car Vehicle Dynamics" by Milliken.

Joe_Limon > thedevilinside
04/28/2014 at 21:41

It is a hefty read, I have been through it about six times. Not cover to cover six times, more like rereading every parahraph six times to understand it deeper.

WhiskeyGolf > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 21:43

Look up educational discounts of versions of Solidworks/CATIA and give them a try. AutoDesk products are popular, no question, but Solidworks is a benchmark for mechanical design and will very likely be required if you want to get a job in the industry. SketchUp and other free tools work well but I find they lack many of the dimensional tools of the serious players.

thedevilinside > Joe_Limon
04/28/2014 at 21:43

I just haven't had time to go through it. Too much school work. But it has come in handy a couple times anyway. Inclination Angle vs Camber it made it easy to figure out quickly was one use. Probably overkill, but did the job.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > STREPITUS
04/28/2014 at 21:45

I am a student (at least for a few months more - just getting my thesis done!) but I don't have an .edu email address. I'll still have to look into that though.

I can't say I've heard of Catia or Adams. I just had a quick look, and they seem pretty impressive.

As for the book recommendations, anything is welcome! I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy of Internal Combustion Engine Fundamentals. Another, slightly related one I wouldn't mind thumbing through is "Build your own Sports Car for as Little as Ł250". It sounds a bit hokey, but it supposedly covers how to build a Lotus 7/Locost style car.

doodon2whls > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 21:55

" Race Car Vehicle Dynamics " by Milliken is pretty heavy stuff and an expensive book depending on the source... More appropriate for a beginner might be " The Fundementals of Vehicle Dynamics " By Tom Gillespie ( also on Amazon ). He is a former professor of mine, BTW... SUPER cool dude. He had his hand in the start of CarSim back in the day, which has now blossomed into TruckSim, BikeSim, SuspensionSim, etc....

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Once you grock the Vehicle Dynamics in there, I think you should try to find a .edu license of CarSim or ADAMS and start playing with the base vehicle designs. That will get you far towards understanding the effects of chassis component changes on vehicle dynamics.

If you have access to Matlab, then you could get this kinematics script for free , but it's not as visually exciting as CarSim.edu...

THEN, you might appreciate some of the material in RCVD.

YMMV... ;-)

tromoly > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/28/2014 at 22:11

Read through this list. For that matter, read through his entire build log.

http://www.kimini.com/Reference/inde…

tromoly > doodon2whls
04/28/2014 at 22:13

The Gillespie books is good, still haven't picked up my own copy but it's on my list for graduation presents to myself.

Also, thanks for linking the Matlab script, I have a file I found somewhere that runs in Excel but I prefer Matlab.

2BWise > thedevilinside
04/29/2014 at 08:35

I like to refer to RCVD as the bible, at least for a chassis development guy

BaconSandwich is tasty. > thedevilinside
04/29/2014 at 10:26

Awesome. It's been added to the list.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > doodon2whls
04/29/2014 at 10:27

Thanks for the suggestions - they've been added to my "To Read" list.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > tromoly
04/29/2014 at 10:28

If you come across the Excel file, feel free to let me know. I'd be interested in taking a peek at it.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Joe_Limon
04/29/2014 at 10:34

Awesome. I never knew such a tag existed.

Has anyone here heard of DraftSight? The price looks good... http://www.3ds.com/products-servi…

BaconSandwich is tasty. > WhiskeyGolf
04/29/2014 at 10:35

Looks like Autodesk has a pretty nice Student license (for free): http://www.autodesk.com/education/stud…

I'll definitely have to look into Solidworks/CATIA. At this point I'm not serious about a job in the industry - more just trying to scratch a rather large intellectual itch.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > tromoly
04/29/2014 at 10:36

Nice! Thanks for sharing!

thedevilinside > 2BWise
04/29/2014 at 10:50

I haven't settled in to one area yet, so I just use it occasionally for now.

Joe_Limon > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/29/2014 at 11:06

I think draftsight is the Solidworks equivalent of autocad. Depending on what you plan on designing it could be wonderful.

tromoly > BaconSandwich is tasty.
04/29/2014 at 13:14

I found it earlier, when I have a chance to upload it somewhere I'll get a link for you.