Mechanical Design Pitfalls

Design pitfalls are defined as those obscure mistakes that can be attributed to negligence or ignorance of particular details and characteristics of the design and, in some cases, the manufacturing processes. This paper presents ten actual cases where a designer could be tempted or misled into design pitfalls that would create weird encounters during assembling or operating mechanical equipment. The pitfalls could have immediate, embarrassing consequences, or eventually lead to hazardous situations and failure in unexpected modes. The consequences of these pitfalls and their remedies are also discussed. The design examples lie in various areas such as gearing and planetary systems, bearings, and fluid power. They are classified under generic headings, some of which are seen to qualify, and are therefore suggested, as design principles, to be added to the repertory. It is deemed that this paper will stimulate further investigations leading to the identification of design pitfalls in these and other areas.