good one Gareth W... n really lecturers do something, because i will say if ur teaching someone without faith i.e only for money then you are not only spoiling there feature...."UR WASTING HUGE TIME OF UR OWN LIFE" do what u love n love what u do no matter what kind of work u have to do give it ur best... Golden rule of DESIGN.. "We can only start a design, there is no end to it. it goes till infinity "
1) KISS : Keep it simple, wherever possible. 2) Have a fall back plan B,: ie what you will do if plan A doesn't work. 3) Remember to account for creap stress when designing plastic components. Mike Dolson
Good communication is also important to get people to take your design (or idea) seriously. This includes proper grammar, not chatspeak.
The first rule is the longer you spend defining the customer's requirement up front, the better the final design will be. Or as I was once told: "The customer didn't know what he wanted until I gave him something, then he knew exactly what he didn't want" If you're not familiar with QFD or similar processes take time to explore them.
Speak (and LISTEN) to the people who need to use and maintain it. They are the ones who really know what is needed, not the finance director who is telling you how much you need to save on it.
Well looking at all the replies here I am relieved to see a lot of people think the same way ! Bet there are not many people here without 5/10 years experience of seeing rushed or untested designs . Old is not bad always although I forgot there is a reason for not adding more than 2 wheels to my zimmer frame . Thanks for the support .
Hmmm, I would suggest, you have worked enough in this field. You are at the level where you have started evaluation of the rules and principles. This happens some time when a person over believes in their work. We should not forget that, the system and design was already there, we are user of the same theory. Better instead of testing or compile it, we use them in better way. You are not first person who has started finding "Golden Rules for Mechanical Design". I believe, you are rule bounded, and trying to cover all the things by rules somehow. If you would have really worked in the field of Mechanical Design, you could realize that, Mechanical Design is not at all the field where anyone can define even rules; where as you are defining "Golden Rules". I believe, Mechanical and Design are not a fields, where you can follow predefined rules. Even searching for such rules or defining such rules is nothing but it is disturbed mental status due to over estimation of own capabilities. Sorry if I hurt anybody, but it is my duty to convey which I find correct and honest in this forum.
HMMMMM, sounds like a very patronising way to start a reply to this discussion but I am in favour of closing down this topic . It was a rant originally because people in Ivory towers spout platitudes about Mechanical design but lose sight of the fact that without experience the best design in the world can be junk if not backed up by sound basic rules and practical experience by the designer or someone he consults with . You haven't hurt my feelings but I will be honest and say it sounds like someone who says there are no pre-defined rules in mechanical design and talks about " mental status due to over estimation of own capabilities " has missed the point of the discussion and over estimates his "duty to convey which I find correct and honest in this forum ".
