7 best engineering reference books
Updated: May 10
Over my engineering career I have come to appreciate many different reference books.
There are numerous books I reference on a regular basis but these are the ones that I find to be the most helpful. There is a lot more information in these books than what I mention about them. I am just listing what situations I normally pick up each book for.
You don’t have to remember everything, you just have to know where to find it.
Engineers Black Book link
- I was gifted this book many years ago and have taken it to work ever since.
- This pocket sized reference book is at home as much in a shop as on an office desk.
- The pages are laminated and easy to wipe down if they get dirty.
- My common uses:
- Socket head cap screw bore dimensions
- Tapping drill sizes
- Surface cutting speed to end mill RPM
- Tolerances for clearance and interference fits during machining
- Keyway dimensions based on shaft size
- Hardness comparison charts
Machinery’s Handbook link
- This one should not be too much of a surprise. The machinery's handbook has
been around since 1914 and for good reason. This book covers a wide range of
topics and can easily become the most used reference book you own. I would
highly recommend that you look into getting one of these books.
- My common uses:
- Brushing up on a common topic that I have not used in a while.
- Quick reference of stress concentration factors
- A general reference when doing product design.
- Design time in-depth running and sliding fit tolerances.
- Wrench clearance space around fasteners
- Good starting point for research into a new manufacturing topic
- Fastener and hardware dimensions for bolted joint calculations
- Bearing calculation reference
- Design time keyway dimensions
- Belt selection and calculations
Peterson's Stress Concentration Factors link
- This book is used when I have a stress concentration in a critical area of a part and
want to do a detailed analysis of the expected stresses. This book includes a lot of
helpful charts to find the corresponding stress concentration factor for specific
circumstances.
Roark’s Formulas for Stress And Strain link
- Roark's contains a large amount of empirical formulas for stress analysis. I find that
this book contains a lot of formulas that I cannot find elsewhere.
- My common uses:
- Flat plate formulas
- Column loading
- Pressure vessels, both common and uncommon shapes
- Lots of small stress concentration graphs
- Straight and curved beam formulas
Geo-Metrics III link
- Anything related to Geometric Dimensioning And Tolerancing, GD&T, on
drawings.
Lightning Reference Handbook link
- I was recommended by a fellow engineer to pick this book up for a project where I had
to learn hydraulic design for the first time.
- My common uses:
- Hydraulic schematic symbols and their meanings
- Pressure losses in pipes and tubes
- Standard dimensions for AC motors
- SAE O-ring port dimensions
Shigley's Mechanical Engineering Design link
- I got this one as a textbook during college and it is probably the textbook that
I pull off the bookshelf the most.
- My common uses:
- Bolted joint design
- General reference when I need to brush up on stress calculations
- Column buckling formulas
- Bearing selection
- Spring design and selection
- Welded joint analysis
- Fatigue calculations and life estimations
- Simple contact stresses
- Bending stress reference