Yi Zhang, Susan Finger and Stephannie Behrens have prepared an on-line introduction to mechanisms consisting of eight chapters and almost 100 figures. Access it at the link:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rapidproto/mechanisms/tablecontents.html
The slider-crank is an important mechanism with a wide range of applications. Here are my notes on its kinematic analysis.
http://synthetica.eng.uci.edu/mechanicaldesign101/McCarthyNotes-3.pdf
Slider-crank analysis
The four-bar linkage is a basic machine component. It comes in two primary forms the 4R quadridlateral and the slider-crank. Here are my notes for the analysis of the 4R quadrilateral.
http://synthetica.eng.uci.edu/mechanicaldesign101/McCarthyNotes-2.pdf
Four-bar linkage analysis
A copy of my notes on DC motor torque and power can be downloaded at the link:
http://synthetica.eng.uci.edu/mechanicaldesign101/McCarthyNotes-1.pdf
Motor Torque and Power
The basic principles of DC motors are presented by Joe Wolfe of the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) at the link:
http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/jw/electricmotors.html
Phyclips from UNSW
Northwestern University (Chicago, Illinois) presents the basics of a DC motor in the Wiki page:
http://hades.mech.northwestern.edu/index.php/Brushed_DC_Motor_Theory
Northwestern University Wiki page
The MatWeb site provides detailed information about materials such as the tensile strength of various compositions of steel.
MatWeb: Material Property Data
For example the search “low carbon steel” results in the list of links to information:
http://www.matweb.com/search/QuickText.aspx?SearchText=low%20carbon%20steel
There are a variety of numbering systems for materials such as steel. The unified numbering system (UNS) uses a letter to designate a material category followed by five numbers constructed from the existing materials designations to coordinate all of these numbering systems.
The unified numbering system (UNS) is described in Wikipedia at the link: Unified numbering system
Some of the category letters for steel are:
– G for AISI/SAE carbon and alloy steels;
– S for stainless steels; and
– T for tool steels.
Generally, the standard designation is inserted after the letter defining the material category. For example, AISI/SAE 1018 carbon steel has the UNS designation G10180.
The AISI-SAE steel alloy designation system is listed in Total Materia.
Also see Wikipedia at the link: SAE steel grades
The doors of the Koenigsegg CCX open using the “dihedral synchro-helix door actuation” system. You can see this movement on the video
Cambridge University provides a useful overview of materials properties such as the chart below.
Elastic Modulus v. Density
The tutorial can be accessed at the link:
http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/125/now/mfs/tutorial/non_IE/charts.html
Joseph Klann provided a useful comparison of the leg designs for the Mondo Spider and Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest at this (archived) link: http://www.mechanicalspider.com/comparison.html.
Here is an excellent web page about the Klann and Jansen leg mechanisms, as well as other leg designs: Dog Feather Designs.
This article compares the leg designs: Mechanical Spider Using Klann Mechanism
This is a youtube video prepared by William Thielicke that illustrates the two leg mechanisms.