Planetary gear systems can be intimidating to understand. There are so many types of motions and reductions possible that it can be overwhelming. The motion of planetary gear systems is expressed...

Unlike the Lego gears and shafts shown below most motors have perfectly round shafts. This makes attaching gears, pulleys and sprockets difficult. The main methods of attaching gears to...

Never guess again what hose size to use! Automatically the proper hose size for any application. Simply input a few measurable variables and click Calculate. This calculator adjusts for oil type...

Even though my engineering career is far from over, I wanted to look back and reflect. I realized that midway through my career is probably the right point to do this because if I wait too long, I'm...

Steel design seems to be moving in the direction of self-fixturing where the weldment or assembly components will align with each other. When a tab or slot is added to a part, the stress flow is...

Connecting multiple valves together is always a challenge. You want to have individual valve functionality, but not loose sight of the overall system characteristics. Open center or through...

Beam tables give information on and assume that the deflection calculation is based on a constant cross section.  So, what do we do if our beam has a cross section that changes over the length...

Two stage pumps, often called log splitter pumps, are a great way to get better performance without increasing horsepower. A two-stage hydraulic pump is two gear pumps that combine flow...

Reading a hydraulic schematic for the first time is a daunting and confusing thing.  There are so many symbols to identify and lines to keep track of.  I hope to impart to you a systematic...

This article is going to be a bit more technical than the previous article about fasteners, “The Magic of Fasteners.”  I’m going to try to keep it as simple as I can, but this topic is so...

There is some math involved in determining the drive frequency for your LSM, but I have simplified it for you in this video. The end formulas are simple. We'll guide you through the math and one...

https://youtu.be/w52p8JoS2cI Wouldn't it be cool to have a backyard roller coaster with and LSM launch. Well, that is what this video series wants to accomplish. First we will explain what LSM is...

Impossible! It broke again in the same spot. Why? Well, let's find out. Also, how are we going to prevent it from happening again? New materials? Different wheels? Lower...

I often see young engineers who understand the information presented so far, but have great difficulty implementing the process. I was once the epitome of this engineer. The first time I was asked to...

In addition to combining shear and normal stresses with Mohr’s circle, we also need to know how to add stresses from multiple sources. Some stresses add linearly but others add by the square root...

Combining loads and stresses is a difficult task. We’ve all learned Mohr’s circle in college, but there was so much information presented. We’ve boiled it down to what you actually need to know...