For engineers who already know the math—but still lose projects. For the last few years, I’ve been sharing technical guides here on Mechanical Design Handbook —how to size a motor, how to calculate fits, and (as you recently read) how to choose between timing belts and ball screws. But after 25 years in industrial automation, I realized something uncomfortable: Projects rarely fail because the math was wrong. They fail because: The client changed the scope three times in one week. A critical vendor lied about a shipping date (and no one verified it). The installation technician couldn’t fit a wrench into the gap we designed. University taught us the physics. It didn’t teach us the reality. That gap is why I wrote my new book, The Sheet Mechanic . This is not a textbook. It is a field manual for the messy, political, and chaotic space between the CAD model and the factory floor. It captures the systems I’ve used to survive industrial projec...
Problems in mechanical design often require the solution of nonlinear equations. A classic example is finding the roots of a polynomial stress function: 3x 3 - 20x 2 + 1000x + 12000 = 0 These are known as root solving problems : finding the value of x where f(x) = 0 . While you could solve this by trial and error (guessing values until the result is zero), or use the mathematical Newton-Raphson method , there is a faster way for the practicing engineer. Advertisement In this post, I will share a simple technique to solve these problems instantly on your desktop using Microsoft Excel Goal Seek . No VBA programming or expensive MATLAB license is required. Step-by-Step: Using Goal Seek for Engineering 1. Setup the Spreadsheet Open Excel and set up two cells: one for your input variable ( x ) and one for your equation ( f(x) ). The formula cell must mathematically reference the input cell. 2. Locate the Tool In modern...