Tools Used in Mechanical Engineering

Some basic tools used in mechanical engineering are usually available in every household and office. While there are others which are used to carry out specific jobs in the workshop. All mechanical engineers must have acquaintance with all these tools and instruments.

1. Protective Gloves, Goggles and Apron (Safety Gear)

Gloves, goggles and apron are the most important protective apparatus for an engineer. Gloves come in different varieties. Leather gloves and goggles protect our hands from sparks during welding and small hot bits of metals when working on a lathe machine. Heat resistant and waterproof gloves are also available in the market. Apron protects engineer’s dress from abrasion, dust, and fire.

2. Cutting Tools

Scissors, Cutters & Hacksaw are the tools used in mechanical engineering for cutting. Hacksaw is used for cutting rods, bars and pipes into desired length. The cutting blades of hacksaw are made of carbon or high-speed steel. Carbon steel is used as a most common cutting tool material. Cutting tools are classified into following three categories:

• Single point cutting tool
• Double point cutting tool
• Multi point cutting tool

3. Holding Tools or Vices and Cleaning Tools

Bench Vise, Chucks, Pliers and Holding Clamps are used to hold the work in position firmly. Bench vice, hand vice, and pipe vice are different types of vices. These tools are used for bench work and fitting.

Sand papers and wire brushes are used for cleaning mechanical parts. Wire brushes can also be installed on dremel machines.

4. Vernier Calipers, Measuring Tapes & Scales

Vernier caliper is used to measure external as well as internal diameters of shafts, thickness of parts, depth of slots and holes, to an accuracy of 0.002 mm. Rulers/ scales are made up of plastic or stainless steel while measuring tapes are made of flexible metal, fiberglass ribbon or cloth. Different measuring instruments in mechanical engineering are used to measure exact size.

5. Striking Tools

There are different types of hammers like ball-peen hammer, cross-peen hammer, soft hammer, double faced hammer, straight-peen hammer. Hammers are used for multiple purposes such as pushing a steel nail into wood, forging and shaping of metals etc. Hammers are made up of heat-treated steel. Hammers are categorized and differentiated based on material used, weight and type. Soft hammers are made of rubber/ lead. The heads of the hammers are replaceable in most of the cases. So you can fix all types of heads on one handle.

Chisels are used for simple works including removal of old rusty fasteners, minor repairs and cutting.

6. Ratchet & Socket Set

A ratchet and socket set often known as socket wrench is used to turn and fasten a nut or bolt without repositioning it again and again. It works in such a manner that to fasten a nut, you swing it to clockwise direction. For repositioning, it turns freely when you swing it counterclockwise. It is one of the best tools used in mechanical engineering more specifically in automobile industry.

7. Screwdrivers Set, Adjustable Wrench Set, Fasteners, Spanners

Fasteners are made with steel (stainless steel, carbon steel or alloy steel depending on quality of the fastener). These are used to join two or more components or parts together. The joints are categorized as permanent joints and nonpermanent joints. Welding is a permanent joint while fasteners are nonpermanent joints. Different types of fasteners are bolts, rivets, adhesives, snap fits, and welding.

8. Drill, Hand Cutter & Dremel

A Dremel comes with different types of bits and attachments. It is used for cleaning, drilling, cutting, polishing and grinding etc. Dremel differs from a drill in a way that a Dremel is high speed and low torque and the drill is low speed and high torque machine. Drills are used to create deeper holes or to drive screws while a Dremel is multipurpose machine.

9. Files 

A file is a hardened piece of high-grade steel with slanting rows of teeth. It is used to cut, smooth or fit metal parts. The size of file is indicated by its length. Different types of files include: Mill File, Flat File, Hand File, Square File, Round File, Half Round file etc.

10. Computer Aided Design Tools (CAD)

Computer aided design (CAD), as the name suggests, is the use of computer software for sketch, design, analysis, and simulation of a mechanical engineering design. These computer software offer virtual environment to create and test almost any product before its manufacturing.

• CATIA
• Solidworks
• Solid Edge
• AutoCAD
• Ansys
• Matlab
• PTC Creo (previously known as Pro Engineer)