Engineering Stack Exchange Community Digest

Top new questions this week:

Find height of cone point in blueprint

In this blueprint I was not able to find where the height of the point of the cone angle should be. Here's the original blueprints: http://library.centerofthewest.org/digital/collection/WRAC/id/398/...

metallurgy technical-drawing drawings

asked by user5507535 Score of 2

answered by Jonathan R Swift Score of 0

Inverted pendulum PID: controller causes cart to move at constant velocity?

I am trying to understand the PID controller of an inverted pendulum on cart system through this MATLAB article: https://ctms.engin.umich.edu/CTMS/index.php?example=InvertedPendulum&section=...

mechanical-engineering control-engineering dynamics pid-control

asked by Rena W Score of 1

Where in a fluidic fitting does the seal form?

Kind of a basic question but I'm confused on where the seal is formed in a fluidic fitting (diagram below, source: Idex). I know as the nut is screwed in, the end of the ferrule contacts the receiving ...

fluid

asked by Vivek Score of 1

answered by RC_23 Score of 1

Greatest hits from previous weeks:

What is the difference between grout and mortar?

As I know so far, mortar and grout are mixtures of cement paste and fine aggregates, but both of them play different roles in the construction site. Is it true that grout has more strength compared to ...

materials civil-engineering

asked by Wendy lly Score of 2

answered by Lucas Franceschi Score of 4

What are the units used in beam bending equations? Do they matter?

I was just wondering whether or not the standard beam bending equations worked for all units. E.g. imperial and metric etc. From what I'm guessing it shouldn't really, since once we plug everything in ...

statics beam bending

asked by TwoWaySpeedOfLight Score of 3

Effective ways to drive a single shaft with multiple motors?

To head off the "why not use a bigger motor" question, I'm a high school mentor for an FTC (First Tech Challenge) robotics team, with a bit of a soft mechanical / hardware background. They're ...

mechanical-engineering gears robotics motors

asked by trycatch Score of 18

answered by Chris Mueller Score of 22

Why do glass windows still exist? (Why haven't they been replaced by plastics?)

Glass is fragile and impractical to transport, install and repair. Even worse, glass kills and hurts people when it breaks. Falling to the streets like guillotines during earthquakes and bomb raids. ...

materials chemical-engineering plastic safety

asked by LocalFluff Score of 86

answered by Chris Johns Score of 115

How to reverse the direction of rotational movement on the same axis?

I want to make a "gearbox" that will transform input rotational movement to an output rotational movement with the same speed but in the different direction (clockwise / counterclockwise) on the same ...

mechanical-engineering gears

asked by SIMEL Score of 5

answered by SF. Score of 8

How can I measure the brightness of a LED?

I would like be able to measure LED brightness using a cost effective instrument. What are the available instruments to measure LED brightness and respective cost effective techniques? Background: I'...

electrical-engineering optics

asked by Mahendra Gunawardena Score of 3

answered by Chris Mueller Score of 7

why are foundations designed at SLS

Why do we design foundations at SLS and not ULS? If we use ULS wouldn't we be taking a higher factor of safety? SLS = Serviceability limit state. It considers how the structure is actually expected ...

civil-engineering foundations

asked by Mohammad Score of 3

answered by Wasabi Score of 6