I really wish as a kid I had something like this to read/watch because the engine (don't call it a motor I've learned from engineers) still confounds me with all of the moving parts and precision. I've found Detroit Diesel videos on Youtube rather satisfying.
Internal Combustion Engine
331–340 of 415 posts
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#332Beautiful article. If at all, mechanical engineering was this beautiful.
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#333hello
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#334A few thoughts while reading this: In addition to a deeper understanding of engine manufacturing considerations than I even knew I cared to learn, this article helps me appreciate why people are into engine work. The perfect tolerances and synchronization of these machines makes me a little ashamed to use the word "engineer" in my title of "software engineer". There is no real comparison of the quality of the result.…
> makes me a little ashamed to use the word "engineer" in my title of "software engineer". There is no real comparison of the quality of the result. I think that's because the barrier to entry is too low and anybody is being called a "software engineer" these days. But think about a system which makes proper use of synchronization primitives, like an OS kernel or a robotic control, or a CPU design like the other guy…
I _am_ a computer scientist, but also had a course "Gasoline and Diesel engines" at university. (Belgium before Bologna)
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#335When I was a boy, my dad decided that our '66 Mustang with a straight 4-cylinder engine needed new piston rings. I helped a bit but mostly watched as he tore down the engine to the barest elements, only the engine mounts keeping the block held up in the compartment. The crankshaft, connecting rods, tappers valves, piston heads, piston rods, all laid out neatly on the garage floor along with all the nuts, bolts, washe…
I think the design of a wiring harness is actually a good analogy for a well-created API, in that it provides a handful of endpoints, each of which fulfills a "contract". On modern wiring harnesses, it's pretty hard to connect the wrong thing, because the connectors are physically "typed", in that the male and female sides are uniquely shaped so only they will mate up, rather than having a generic connector that plugs in to every sensor.
On the contrary, twisting a distributor to set timing, or doing _anything_ on a carburator, will make you long for those aspects of ICE to be abstracted to control by software. Weirdly enough, that's what's happened over time in cars with direct injection controlled by ECUs.
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#336And if want to share wonders of engineering with a kid check out How to Build a Car by Martin Sodomka [1]. Beautiful illustrations (sample on Czech [2]), translated into many languages.
Series also includes How to Build a Motorcycle, How to Build a Plane, How to Build a House, How to Build a Railway. I've got all of them.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Car-high-speed-friendship/d...
[2] https://www.kosmas.cz/knihy/173150/jak-si-postavit-auto/
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#337I’m a lowly mechanical engineering lecturer. I use Jupyter notebooks to teach fluid mechanics[0]. I make videos of fluid flows with Blender and embed them with the notes along with some basic Python code examples so that students are aware of how basic code can make an Engineer’s life easier (even if Matlab is the standard platform).
I also embed simple 3D models with pyGEL3D[1]. It’s fine but very limited. I’m always blown away by this gentleman’s work when it comes up here on HN and would like to use JavaScript instead, but I’ve no idea where to start. Can anyone recommend a good book or online course that would put me on the right path?
[0] https://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/nolankucd/MEEN20010/tree...
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#338I just built an engine for my car. One thing I gained an appreciation for was how CHEAP cars and engines are. There's probably nothing else with as precise machining that is as inexpensive. Engine cylinders are honed to accuracies that are less than 1 thousandth of an inch. Crank journals as well and rod journals. This is all precise machine work with metal. I use inches here because in machine work thousandths of in…
> "I use inches here because in machine work thousandths of inches is the language du jour." Yeah not in Australia unless your machinist is >50 years old. Metric is more accurate/easier/less prone to mistakes. Metric is what we use.
I'm in Europe, and I've had/worked on German, Japanese and Swedish cars and boat engines. Metric all the way.
Only time I've needed an imperial set of tools was when overhauling a B&S lawnmower engine.
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#339My first masters was in mechanical engineering, in the field of what ~40yrs ago was known as "Thermal Engines" (internal combustion engines, turbines, etc.). I have long departed the field (~90s), for CS (degree and work in the field, accordingly), but this article felt truly like a lost love one remembers all details about, with all good memories flooding the brain from way back... thank you!!
Re: Internal Combustion Engine
#340A few thoughts while reading this: In addition to a deeper understanding of engine manufacturing considerations than I even knew I cared to learn, this article helps me appreciate why people are into engine work. The perfect tolerances and synchronization of these machines makes me a little ashamed to use the word "engineer" in my title of "software engineer". There is no real comparison of the quality of the result.…
> makes me a little ashamed to use the word "engineer" in my title of "software engineer". There is no real comparison of the quality of the result. I think that's because the barrier to entry is too low and anybody is being called a "software engineer" these days. But think about a system which makes proper use of synchronization primitives, like an OS kernel or a robotic control, or a CPU design like the other guy…
When I took "Software Engineering" in University, the prof was very careful to explain in great detail, and frequently, that the field was not mature enough to really be called engineering. Then he would talk at length about things like software for airplanes and spacecraft. It is impossible to call yourself an engineer while looking someone in the eye after taking his class. I am a software developer. Maybe an analyst. But mostly a developer.