r/AskEngineers

Would like to establish the context: I am not currently an engineer, nor do I have any educational/occupational engineering credentials. I am, however, infatuated by both the historical context of German engineered solutions and how my BMW can actually diagnose itself using software-based tools.

I figured they have a set of principles and methodologies they follow when designing and building these products and systems, and I'd really like to understand more about this subject. While I myself cannot create products or develop solutions, I'd like to think I am capable of reading some introductory material (hopefully in english) on how the Germans do things. Tried google, only found a short paper that didn't itch my scratch.

Is there any good reading material someone can recommend that can introduce me to the principles of this type of engineering?

Hey incoming college MechE freshman here, was wondering if environmental engineers get paid far less than mechanical ones. I have a great love for animals and the outdoors and would love to be able to do something to help our environment. I've heard they don't make as much however and was wondering if for someone like me who is also very money driven if it will be too big of a dip into my pockets. As well as would a mechanical engineer also be working on environmental stuff?

My A.S degree was almost like my own version of a gap year, or getting left back. I was always considered smart by others and I believe them. I'm confident that I'm mentally sharp enough to simply learn and adapt. However, after highschool my lack of actual discipline, emotional regulation, poor study habits/skills, and ADHD showed how far behind I truly was in terms of being able to execute and function.

I've retaken multiple classes, and recently dropped 2 semester consecutively. Luckily because I decided to take summer classes I'm not far behind of my peers at community college at all and I have 1 more year left and I graduate CC.

My GPA went as low as a 1.7, i got it to a 3.0 in 1.5 semesters, I'm shooting for a 3.5 before I graduate and my goal is to simply maintain a 4.0 while I'm completing my AE (B.S). Not only am I recovering my mental health but I'm building the skills I never built pre-college.

I decided that STEM is where I'm most succesful, that's where all my A's and B's are. I did chemistry, physics and retook algebra, the rest are gen ed. I'm taking precalc and calc 1 my sec year as well as other requirements needed to transfer into UB'S AE degree program.

Now here is the point of this post, I have a lot of energy, I'm mad that I lost time and progress after highscool. I feel like I need to make up for that lost progress if I want to be an Aerospace Engineering student.

While I'm completing the last year of my A.S degree what self-study/skills/projects should I focus on in order to bridge the gap where I am today and where I'm expected be as an AE student in one year? I have lots of (admittedly, carved out) free time and mental energy.

I want to replace the bearings on an industrial drill press, and some of the bearings listed are the same size but half are single shield (6206Z) and half are double shield (6206ZZ)

Where I live in Canada it seems to be easier to find the double shield versions

Can I use the ZZ ones in place of Z, or are there instances where a single shield is preferred?

This setup will clearly be less efficient than a modern solar panel, but I'm curious if it can output a respectable amount of energy while being a net thermal negative for it's surroundings

My team has been thinking about a problem with AI coding assistants like Cursor, Claude Code, and ChatGPT.

When one developer spends hours solving a problem with AI, that reasoning usually stays inside their private AI conversation. Another developer working on the same project later asks the same question, and the AI has no knowledge of the previous discussion.

I'm curious how teams are solving this today.

• Do you save important AI conversations anywhere?
• Do you rely on documentation instead?
• Is this even a real pain point in practice?
• Have you built any internal tools to share AI context?

I'm researching this problem before building anything, so I'd love to hear how your team handles it.

I’m an EE, but the 4th has me thinking that pyrotechnic engineers might do the most interesting engineering-based work. However, that’s subjective, so I’m wondering if you could go back and change your degree/ discipline, what would you change it to knowing what you know now? Looking for answers from engineers with several years in the workforce. Pretend pay and job security doesn’t matter. Which field do you think would be the most interesting or fulfilling?

I replaced the thermal pads and heatsink on my camera with thermal paste and a different heatsink close to the cpu/gpu. First try i think it worked really well because everything was hot, but the board was slightly bent because of the screws placed on the sides and cpu in the middle. So i rebuilt it (this was not the only reason) and now the gap is visible, 0.2mm from my approximations, partly because of my measurements, partly because of the cnc tolerances. The board doesn’t bent but i feel it doesn’t transfer well the heat either, this is just a feeling, i don’t have proper measurements with before and after, same conditions and stuff. I cannot apply pressure on the cpu, i need to mill the threaded boss till the cpu aligns perfectly with the heatsink, but not sure for how much perfection should i aim for and i’m afraid to not go overboard either, i don’t want to use spacers afterwards.

Cannabis math time! I work with large masses of dried plant material and I'm trying to better understand moisture gain with regard to environmental humidity and temperature.

The specific problem would look something like this:
We have 9000 grams of dried buds that are kept at about 65°F and less than 50% RH. They are moved to a different environment that is less controlled (70-75°F and 50-65% RH.

Moisture content is measured at 12% in environment 1 and after a few hours it's at 14.5% in environment 2.

The rate of moisture gain is surprising to me, and I'm trying to understand if this is reasonable. Answers or resources to find the underlying math are appreciated!

Usually this happens the other way around BUT, I am 36m and I am a Design Technologies teacher. Originally I did my bachelors in design, never really worked as a designer; later on however I did my masters in teaching to become a high school teacher and have being doing that ever since. However I regret not initially going to university for engineering. I actually wish I tried harder at the end of high school so I could of been an engineer. Is this a dumb idea to do it at 36? will I even get a job? Has any one else done a career move similar to this rather than going into a government role or something after teaching. Thoughts?

Seen a lot of discourse online about how upcoming stricter emissions regulations (e.g. Euro 7) will mean the death of the manual transmission, but not necessarily non-hybridized automatics. For example, there are rumors that the next gen 911 powertrains will be PDK only because they can't get the manual to pass emissions.

Is there a technical reason behind this, or is it more of a "we can't justify the business case for updated tuning/testing"? Is it the longer periods off throttle between gear changes than you see in a dual clutch? I can't think of another reason, manuals are mechnically nearly identical to a dual clutch.

I swear cheap 3D printing has completely ruined how some people think about manufacturing.

We've been getting parts from the new hires lately that are literally physically impossible to make. sharp internal corners on deep pockets, crazy tight tolerances on non-critical faces, blind holes with flat bottoms... its exhausting. We outsource a lot of our overflow cnc work to a shop down in texas, and I spend half my week just intercepting these models so we don't look like complete idiots when they open the step files

like no, you cannot mill a perfect 90 degree inside corner. No, that bracket doesn't need aerospace tolerances to hold a plastic sensor

how do you actually bridge this gap? do you force new designers to spend a week on the shop floor watching machines run? Trying to find a structured way to teach design for manufacturability without just being the angry guy rejecting their tickets all day. Any advice is appreciated

I hope this is the right sub for this. But I recently moved to a second story apartment and the walkway out front is not wide enough to get our couch through the doorway. We have a back patio about 12-15 feet from the ground below. The couch is about 8 feet long and 2.5 feet wide.

We’re trying to devise a plan to lift the couch up and on to our balcony from below.

We’ve discussed attaching ropes and pulling it up, and using a ladder as a ramp to pull the couch up on using ropes.

I don’t know any engineers or people who could solve this problem.

I’m open to all suggestions!

Also, we have already called all moving people in the area and they all either said no or quoted us more than the couch is worth.

And the couch cannot be taken apart and reassembled we have checked that as well.

Protecting Copper HVAC Tubing from Corrosion in a Sewage Gas Environment
I am looking for advice from materials engineers or corrosion specialists.
I live in a remote area where a nearby canal has effectively become an open sewage channel because many houses discharge their wastewater directly into it. As a result, the area is constantly exposed to foul-smelling gases.
Over the years, every air conditioner I have installed has eventually developed refrigerant leaks due to pinhole corrosion in the copper tubing. In addition, exposed copper electrical conductors gradually change from their normal copper color to black, suggesting that the atmosphere is highly corrosive.
I was advised to coat the copper tubing with varnish, but the tubes still corrode and eventually develop leaks.
My questions are:
Is hydrogen sulfide the most likely cause of this type of copper corrosion, or could other sewage gases or environmental factors be responsible?
Is there a coating or barrier that can effectively protect copper tubing in this type of environment?
If no permanent solution exists, what protective coatings or treatments provide the longest service life and can be reapplied periodically?
Are there industrial standards or best practices for protecting copper tubing in continuously H₂S-rich or sewage environments?
I would appreciate answers based on corrosion science, materials engineering, or practical field experience rather than general HVAC advice.

Hi everyone,

I'm a mechanical engineer, but I have very little hands-on experience with composite materials.

At the company I work for, we're currently in the R&D phase of a project where we're considering using fiberglass and carbon fiber composites for some structural parts. Since this is a new area for me, I'd like to build a solid foundation rather than just follow YouTube tutorials.

I'm looking for books (or other high-quality resources) that cover topics such as:

• Different reinforcement materials (E-glass, S-glass, carbon fiber, aramid, etc.)
• Different fabric types and weaves (woven cloth, biaxial, UD, chopped strand mat, etc.)
• Resin systems (epoxy, polyester, vinyl ester...) and when to choose each
• Manufacturing methods (hand layup, vacuum bagging, infusion, prepreg, etc.)
• Design guidelines and laminate design
• Mechanical properties, failure modes, and material selection
• Practical engineering trade-offs and common mistakes

Someone recommended Composite Materials: Science and Engineering by Krishan K. Chawla. Is it a good book to start with for someone in my situation, or would you recommend something else instead?

I'm not necessarily looking for a highly mathematical textbook (although I'm fine with some theory). I'd prefer something that combines engineering fundamentals with practical manufacturing knowledge.

What would you recommend if you were starting from scratch but wanted to reach a professional engineering level?

Thanks in advance!

A 2003 study (Karpinski, 'Exposure to inhalable flour dust in Canadian flour mills') concluded that a large-scale flour milling facility could not practically reduce personal flour dust exposure levels below 0.5 mg/m³ without forcing workers into respirators for entire shifts. At the time, standard operations like packing and sweeping routinely caused ambient dust spikes well over 5.0 to 10.0 mg/m³.

However, as of 2026, Australia is implementing a strict, nationwide 0.5 mg/m³ Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) for inhalable flour dust.

I am trying to understand what sort of engineering, material science, automation, etc breakthroughs have occurred over the last two decades to bridge this massive gap.

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Here are the conditions:

1. Pump will be placed in the outline of knock out water line of an EET

2. Eet has pressure of 3 to 3.5 kgs

3. Length of the pipeline from the eet to the tank would be about around 400 m.

4. Pipe diameter 4 inches

5. Flow without pump from the eet knockout line is about 100kl/hr

6. Two additional conditions : tank inlet line could be in the body or from the top ... So head will vary.

.. My personal opinion is a centrifugal pump with 20 to 40 m of head with one mechanical seal.

So what do you guys think?

1-Civil
2-electrical
3-renewable energy
4- mechanical
5-industrial engineering
.
First of all i am engineering student and i have just finished my foundation and now I have to choose between these majors , and i am afraid of AI and the chance it’s could replace engineers ,so please can you help me decide. (I’m from saudi)