Course 14 | Core
Machine Elements and Mechanical Design
Design shafts, fasteners, springs, bearings, gears, and other machine parts.
Course snapshot
- Purpose
- Machine Design turns mechanics, materials, manufacturing, and CAD into defensible hardware decisions.
- Prerequisites
- Next in the guided sequence
How to study this course
- Define function and load case
- Identify failure modes
- Select material and geometry
- Size critical features
- Check safety factor, stiffness, fatigue, and manufacturability
- Document the design decision
How this course is designed
Original course map
This course uses an original MechCompass module order using prerequisite logic, standard engineering practice, and evidence tasks. Suggested references are optional and listed separately.
Failure mode first
Every part is sized against the way it actually fails: yield, fatigue, buckling, wear, or surface fatigue. Naming the failure mode before reaching for a formula is the core habit.
A factor of safety you can defend
Design is decision-making under uncertainty. Each result ends in a factor of safety tied to the loads, the material data, and the consequence of failure, not a number picked at random.
The 10 modules
01 | Module
The Design Process and Factor of Safety
Design steps, the design factor, reliability, and units.
02 | Module
Load and Stress Analysis
Combined stresses, Mohr's circle, and stress concentration.
03 | Module
Deflection and Stiffness
Spring rate, beam deflection, and springs in series and parallel.
04 | Module
Failure from Static Loading
Ductile failure theories and the brittle Coulomb-Mohr criterion.
05 | Module
Fatigue Failure from Variable Loading
The endurance limit, Marin factors, and the Goodman line.
06 | Module
Shafts and Shaft Components
Shaft sizing for fatigue and the first critical speed.
07 | Module
Screws, Fasteners, and Joints
Power-screw torque, bolt preload, and tightening torque.
08 | Module
Mechanical Springs
Helical springs, the Wahl factor, and the spring rate.
09 | Module
Rolling-Contact Bearings
Bearing life, the load-life equation, and catalog rating.
10 | Module
Spur and Helical Gears
Gear forces, geometry, and the Lewis bending stress.