Engineering for Beginners

enda1 wrote: »

Mechanical design is not really about drawing pretty pictures. That's what stylists do.

Design is a mathematical based subject where you "design" or engineer a part or system to fulfil requirements of strength, durability, energy absorption, vibrational response etc. etc.

If you are actually interested in design, then a degree from NCAD in industrial design or from a London college would be far more up your street.

Although I know where enda1 is coming from. I don't want you to be put off.

I find that when designing something to solve a problem that has difficult and often conflicting constraints, the real challenge can be to come up with a simple solution.

Although a good solution may not be pretty in the conventional sense, it can have a certain elegance to it that may not be appreciated by the untrained eye. It can be deeply satisfying to come up with elegant solutions to difficult problems.

If you find that you are curious about things around the house, you find yourself fixing things that are broken (and possibly breaking things that worked perfectly), you are probably an engineer in the making. The maths isn't easy, but it can be done (Stroud gets my vote).


Best of luck

PS
If you have cable/satellite there are a lot of documentaries related to engineering as well as programmes like "scrapheap challenge" and "how it's made". I know scrapheap challenge is a long way from F1, but it's all about problem solving and creative thinking.