mechanical science - LeFreq/JusticeLeague GitHub Wiki
TIBERIUS' GUIDE TO THE MECHANICAL SCIENCES
- Maxim #1: No matter what the problem or challenge, unless it involves generating light or insists on no mechanical interaction, there is always a mechanical solution to it. If you step into using coiled wire or batteries, you've stepped away from mechanical science and into electrical engineering. If you've stepped into using chemicals, beyond setting stuff on fire, you've moved to chemical engineering. If you need to span large distances, you're probably in aerospace. As for mechanically generating light, the best you can hope for is striking objects together like cavemen.
- Maxim #2: There is always a elegant solution to any mechanical science problem, if you look for it. The elegant solution is all of the following:
- efficient (work input near work output),
- precise (getting to the precise boundary between motion and statics),
- minimal (simple, low material use), and
- correct (does the specified job).
- Maxim #3: One can always get arbitrarily close to 100% efficient. Always. An engineer should aim for at least one 9 (90% or better), otherwise they're just enthusiasts of the art. Expect each new 9 of efficiency to take 10x as much work or money.
- Maxim #4: Any mechanical challenge can be met with one of four (+/-1) solution-paths:
- Adding layer of indirection or dissolution: breaking down something into smaller pieces that connect to one another.
- redundancy: add another belt, support, wheel, etc.
- Different material: plastic, metal, glass, rubber, wood, etc.
- Greater precision: refine your technique
- +1: Ask the user to intervene.
- -1: As a last resort, use more resources (more power or more order), but see the maxim #4.
- Maxim #5: One can trade any energy-consumption problem into a structural-static problem or vice versa. Each of these should be considered equal constraints/solutions, which means there are always 2 equivalent solutions to any problem, one optimizing energy use, the other optimizing use of space or mass. Further, one can lower the usage of either arbitrarily low (not to 0) by increasing the other. If you have plenty of time, you can often get nature to do the work with zero added energy or structure, like turning a mountainous region into a flat plain.
- Maxim #6: Any design that requires lubrication (beyond ~2psi or oil temp > 108oF) is generally bad engineering, making easy choices that will betray the machine. It's poor engineering, because nature is doing the work, not the engineer. Any such designs can be replaced by employing mechanical science options of Maxim #4.
- Maxim #7: Design deficiencies are heralded by:
- noise (squeaks, clatter/knocks, pings, loud exhaust)
- odors or other visible by-products (unburned hydrocarbons, smoke)
- wasted motion (vibrations, turbulence)
- wasted heat/light
- Maxim #8: Master your tools, or they will master you. If you depend on something, be sure you can build it. Many people become slaves to their machines and sacrifice their human nature to the limitations of the machine. A perfect machinist builds machines that are in harmony with the whole. Consider a sailboat that relies on nothing but Nature and the mastery of oneself.
- Most every mechanical contraption can be diagnosed (what is going wrong?) and queried (what is it`s design?) with stethoscope and a light hammer. A machinist should always have these available.
- Stay pure. The test of your skills is how little you depend on other disciplines to do your bidding: electrical, chemical, or otherwise to buffer your lack of mechanical engineering.
See also: mechanical science 2.
Like computer science can trade space for time, so can mechanical science.