Do-It-Yourself Engineering

You can confidently tackle a working suspension bridge, airplane, helicopter, catapult, clock, and other technological wonders in your own home workshop. These projects are challenging but achievable. They require only readily available materials and a workshop equipped with common benchtop power tools. Do-It-Yourself Engineering shows how in 17 engaging DIY projects that you create exactly as an engineer does: starting with the concept, working out the design, plunging into construction, and finally putting the final product to the test. Your enthusiastic guide is award-winning teacher Stephen Ressler, a DIY addict and Professor Emeritus from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Using in-studio and in-shop demonstrations, detailed graphics, and 3D computer models, Professor Ressler walks you through the entire process, including the crucial planning phase, which is where most people wonder, "Where do I start?" As you develop your design, he shows how simple high-school mathematics can be used to calculate the loads caused by pedestrians on a bridge, aerodynamic lift developed by an airplane wing, torque in a turbine, and other engineering parameters. Plus, you learn how to apply elementary physics concepts, such as the conservation of energy, Newton's laws, and Bernoulli's principle. In addition, Dr. Ressler gives you indispensable shop tips on the use of tools. Above all, he teaches you how to think like an engineer in approaching any problem.