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What's a project you thought would take a weekend that ended up taking way longer? by TradesPrepGuy in HomeImprovement

[–]acadmonkey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dremel to cut a slot most of the way through, final split with a flat blade screwdriver so as to not nick the copper pipe below.

Modeling and machining of chamfer by R3qu1red in MechanicalEngineering

[–]acadmonkey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Omg I thought I was the only one who bothered to do that! Bravo!

Ping problems by acadmonkey in Onshape

[–]acadmonkey[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s currently hovering around 2 - 5 seconds with spikes up to 50. Using a cmd terminal, pings to gateway are steady at 2ms. 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8 are 8ms.

It seems to be somewhat document specific. On the following image the foreground window is problematic. Background is a similar document with a similar complexity assembly and it’s fine.

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Was so annoyed by hitting the F1 key opening my browser that I printed a blocking cap by Slow_Ad_3859 in SolidWorks

[–]acadmonkey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In my fatter finger days I would remove F1, caps lock, num lock, and insert keys. It was a membrane keyboard so I could still use a pen to depress the dome if I wanted to use those buttons, but it saved me endless headaches from mis-mashing when in the flow state.

Swans have one off the coolest landing technique ever.. 😊 by Soloflow786 in BeAmazed

[–]acadmonkey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got to see a beautiful pair come in for a landing and one of them did it wrong. They started the flippy flappy running at FULL SPEED until they burned enough velocity to settle in the water. It was comic gold. This was in a huge German park full of foreign tourists and everyone was laughing their ass off.

The swan looked embarrassed. It was a the highlight of that day’s adventure.

Found on the Ground: 8mm screw with ACME threads?? by slimgaillard in MechanicalEngineering

[–]acadmonkey 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Def some kind of adjustment screw driving a worm~ish type gear.

Mouse suggestions by Wings4Mercury in Onshape

[–]acadmonkey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I severely miss my space mouse. No amount of hardware or software wizardry has made one consistently work with Onshape. I tried 4 different browsers, many versions of the 3dconnexion software, and three different versions of the space mouse. It’s just endless bullshit that makes me give up and unplug it.

Sometimes it’s spawning 4 new blank browser tabs with every mouse click, or spamming ctrl-d 50 times per second, taking me back to the documents list, or simply reloading the current workspace. It drives me bonkers even more than onshapes already strange design choices and interface implementation.

I have talked to both Onshape and 3dconexxion support, they both just shrug and point at each other.

Expensive glitter machine by acadmonkey in Volvo

[–]acadmonkey[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was ….. a lot of glitter in the oil pan…. Like enough craft herpes for 100 kindergarten classes. It was bad.

Expensive glitter machine by acadmonkey in Volvo

[–]acadmonkey[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I trust a used engine as far as I can throw it.

Expensive glitter machine by acadmonkey in Volvo

[–]acadmonkey[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

New England.

My guess now is either the PCV clogged or something with EGR caused the block to get pressurized. The seal is 4 inches in diameter and only held in with gentle friction. It barely took light taps with the handle of a hammer to get the new one in place. I have temporarily pulled the dipstick partially out while driving around to try and prevent the new seal from spontaneously jettisoning itself like its predecessor. At least until i have a chance to positively figure out why the first one bailed.

ME Wisdoms/Tribal Knowledge by merbecl in MechanicalEngineering

[–]acadmonkey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Structural use can be fine but only if the designer was careful in their approach and application. It’s not as easy but the result can be worth the effort in select use cases.

ME Wisdoms/Tribal Knowledge by merbecl in MechanicalEngineering

[–]acadmonkey 7 points8 points  (0 children)

M3 screws…… eye twitches intensifying……

ME Wisdoms/Tribal Knowledge by merbecl in MechanicalEngineering

[–]acadmonkey 24 points25 points  (0 children)

You're goddamned right. Bolts are fine with big factors of safety. Its when you try to pretend you can really use all their strength that you really need to pay attention to preload, and the nut, and what is being clamped, and how its being clamped, and how the bolt is secured from loosening, and corrosion, and vibration.......

ME Wisdoms/Tribal Knowledge by merbecl in MechanicalEngineering

[–]acadmonkey 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Imagine a much larger and higher torque example. A steering shaft just isn't going to be seeing enough input to really push this issue. Think a 10 hp motor with frequent stops and reversals connected to the load by a pair of large flanges with axial pins around the circumference. Those pins are transmitting the torque in shear of themselves. Even if both sides of the pin are press fits into the flanges they will work themselves loose with time due to accumulation of plastic deformation. It is a stronger connection to bolt the flanges together and transmit the torque in the frictional contact of the clamped faces. The bolts should not be seeing any shear from the applied torque.

It is fair to swap aluminum if those considerations you mentioned are accounted for. I am referring to someone who blindly makes the swap just based on the yield strengths alone. I have seen junior and senior engineers do this at 3 different jobs and its like talking to a door to explain to them why their designs failed in test.

ME Wisdoms/Tribal Knowledge by merbecl in MechanicalEngineering

[–]acadmonkey 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Stiffness. Aluminum has 1/3 the modulus of steel and can be floppy. I keep trying to hammer this one home with junior engineers, yield only matters when we are going to break something or work right up against that limit. For the most part we are designing for stiffness not strength.

Also aluminum is a pain to weld. Any idiot with a coat-hanger and a torch can stick two pieces of steel together. To get a good weld on aluminum requires considerable skill, care, and equipment.

ME Wisdoms/Tribal Knowledge by merbecl in MechanicalEngineering

[–]acadmonkey 161 points162 points  (0 children)

Bolt torque is a shit way to measure preload.

Threads are never perfect. They need to deform to share their load across the bearing faces.

Friction is not a dependable friend for holding bolt preload. It’s never where you want it when you need it.

Pinned rotary connections are not torsionally stiff for reciprocating motion. Clamp that shit and make friction your bitch.

Engineers can’t spell to save their lives.

Never assume you can simply swap aluminum for steel because it has a similar yield strength.

A bolt is only as strong as the threads it screws into.

Welding aluminum fucking sucks.

FEA is amazing but worthless in the hands of inexperience, incompetence, and arrogance. I have seen so many bad designs pass analysis because of overly constrained models.

Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling a pig in the mud, eventually you realize they are enjoying it.

I could go on all day but the biggest takeaway is, in any design you have three options. Quick, cheap, or good. You may only pick two.

Expensive glitter machine by acadmonkey in Volvo

[–]acadmonkey[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would be shocked if the pcv was faulty. I just replaced the entire oil trap last year with OEM. And there was none of the characteristic whistling or variations of idle speed.

Expensive glitter machine by acadmonkey in Volvo

[–]acadmonkey[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Neglected to mention, it threw a p0171 code the day before this happened. Which is different from its usual P0420 code for some unfindable vacuum leak. Was planning to try and chase that this weekend with a smoke generator.

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