Looking for an engineer's handbook Any suggestions?

[WolfOfTheSteps]

Looking for an "engineer's handbook".. Any suggestions?

Hello,

I'm looking for a book to keep on my desk that has every trig identity, important integrals, physical constants, all units and conversions, vector calculus formulas in different coordinate systems, etc. It would be nice if it also had important information relevant to electrical engineering.

Can anyone recommend what I should get?

I keep referring to different books for this info, and it just got annoying enough to post this message. :)

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[lalbatros]

My experience as engineer, is that such a book was useless for me. However, I had access to many of them on my job but I soon found all these books quite dumb and old-fashion.

You need to remember only a few trig identities and the rest can be derived easily.

For integrals go to the Wolfram integrator on the web when necessary: http://integrals.wolfram.com/index.jsp . Most often I either need very simple integrals or numerical values. During my hobby time, I use Mathematica or Mapple, these work very well also for Fourier and Laplace transforms.

For vector calculus, I advice you to copy one or two pages from the net. Personally, as general relativity is one of my hobbies, I preffer the general formula in general coordinates and apply it as needed.

Practically, you could built your own handbook by scanning the pages you need from your different book and assembling them in a pdf file. By using OCR you will also get a change to use the search functionality and find information more quickly.

 

[FredGarvin]

You can look at any reference like Mark's handbooks or any handbook from CRC press. However, I have another suggestion that you may want to consider.

I have a lot of print books. However, over the years as the internet has taken off, I have found and collected a huge amount of reference material. All of it free of charge. There is some really good stuff out there. Your own courses and college profs probably have stuff still on line or available.

Right now I have, as a guess, close to 500 references on many different topics. A lot of them I got when the particular project I had at the time required. I keep them categorized by subject so they are easy to get to. The toughest part is sometimes remembering that I have a particular reference.

Just a thought.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You can look at any reference like Mark's handbooks or any handbook from CRC press. However, I have another suggestion that you may want to consider.

I have a lot of print books. However, over the years as the internet has taken off, I have found and collected a huge amount of reference material. All of it free of charge. There is some really good stuff out there. Your own courses and college profs probably have stuff still on line or available.

Right now I have, as a guess, close to 500 references on many different topics. A lot of them I got when the particular project I had at the time required. I keep them categorized by subject so they are easy to get to. The toughest part is sometimes remembering that I have a particular reference.

Just a thought.

Last year I tossed out about 600 lbs worth of manuals and reference materials, much of which I've had for decades. No need to keep them any more with the internet.

 

[WolfOfTheSteps]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm just a student, so I guess I'm just looking for a "homework handbook"... not a full blown "engineer's handbook" like I originally stated.

True, it's all on the internet, but when I study I like to have my computer off because it usually ends up being a distraction. I also just like paper for some reason. I remember talking to a student from Switzerland a year or so ago who had a really good handbook that he said every student at engineering schools back home uses. It was exactly what I'm looking for, except it was in French. :) I forget the name of it...

 

[FrogPad]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm just a student, so I guess I'm just looking for a "homework handbook"... not a full blown "engineer's handbook" like I originally stated.

True, it's all on the internet, but when I study I like to have my computer off because it usually ends up being a distraction. I also just like paper for some reason. I remember talking to a student from Switzerland a year or so ago who had a really good handbook that he said every student at engineering schools back home uses. It was exactly what I'm looking for, except it was in French. :) I forget the name of it...

You could use the FE handbook. It's available free, or in a print format.

http://www.ncees.org/exams/study_materials/fe_handbook/fe_reference_handbook.pdf"

 

[WolfOfTheSteps]

You could use the FE handbook. It's available free, or in a print format.

PDF link: http://www.ncees.org/exams/study_mat...e_handbook.pdf

That is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

 

[turbo]

That is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

I don't have a link to it currently, but there was and engineer's "rule of thumb" site that had helpful hints like "don't tap on a gauge any harder than you would tap the bridge or your nose" and similar stuff. It was a pretty good page, IIR.

 

[FredGarvin]

I don't have a link to it currently, but there was and engineer's "rule of thumb" site that had helpful hints like "don't tap on a gauge any harder than you would tap the bridge or your nose" and similar stuff. It was a pretty good page, IIR.

You wouldn't be thinking of the ChemResources Rules of Thumb, would you?

http://www.cheresources.com/exprules.shtml

 

[engineroom]

You could use the FE handbook. It's available free, or in a print format.

http://www.ncees.org/exams/study_materials/fe_handbook/fe_reference_handbook.pdf"

That handbook is brillant, many thanks for the link.

 

[Artman]

Many vendors have engineering handbooks that companies they represent produce. Some are limited to their specialty, such as pump design guides, or fan design guides, but often as not they cover a lot of conversion factors and various laws, calculations, general information, etc. Most are free for the asking. Cook fans has a nice one in a handy little size.

 

[turbo]

You wouldn't be thinking of the ChemResources Rules of Thumb, would you?

http://www.cheresources.com/exprules.shtml

That's not the one I was thinking of, but it's pretty darned good.