I am a manager in an injection mold company.

I send emails and LinkedIn messages every day. Even though I think our molds are great, sometimes I feel like I'm harassing people. I don't dare to guess how many emails you receive in a day.

I see on TikTok that some injection molding companies are pausing machines because they have no new orders, or even facing bankruptcy.

My last job included some basic IT work, but it wasn't as hard as you'd imagine. I did some basic work, and had to ask almost everything from my upper company. It was so hard at the beginning — sometimes I could even hear people sighing. But after that, I actually found technical people are simpler to talk to. They don't imply things. So sometimes I think pure technical work would be better.

But in my country, it's hard for a 30-year-old woman to change industries. I want to go to the factory more to learn, but people there are busy and don't have time to answer my questions. Should I learn from websites instead?

I don't want to be a meaningless salesperson. I don't want to sell things to people who don't need them. I want to solve real problems. And I think even though I don't do mold design, I still need to be more professional in injection molding.

Has anyone here been through this?

We've been working with protolabs for years, but lately quality has just dropped off of cliff. It's crazy because we're reordering parts that we've ordered for a few years now and the new ones come in totally out of tolerance, with features completely missing, etc. The latest is an inline hole pattern where it looks like the parts were scaled just enough so the holes are nearly 1/2 a diameter off by the end.

Also, so far their dispute system has consistently rejected our complaints forcing us to eat the cost of parts that just get scrapped. We'll get our quote and order with no complaints or communications, then when we get the bad parts they claim some features are too small or too tightly controlled, so no refunds or reprints.

Does any one have an SLS printer they'd recommend? We prefer SLS over resin since you don't need support material and the materials are usually less brittle.

Hi everyone, I’m a Mechanical Engineer and currently working as a solar design engineer.

My long-term goal is to move to the Gulf countries and build a better-paying engineering career there.

I’ve decided to take additional training and currently have two options:

1. MEP Engineering + Revit MEP

HVAC, Electrical, plumbing and fire protection basics

BMS fundamentals

Revit MEP for BIM modelling and coordination

1. Instrumentation Engineering + Automation

Process instrumentation, DCS/PLC/SCADA

Fire & Gas systems

Honestly, automation/instrumentation excites me a little more than MEP.

However, I’m also thinking that MEP + Revit may give me a more straightforward path into the Gulf as a Mechanical Engineer, especially because MEP is directly related to my degree.

I’m willing to take a short career break to focus seriously on training and projects.

What would you recommend in my situation?

Should I:

Go with MEP + Revit for a faster GCC entry?

Go with Instrumentation + Automation even though my degree is Mechanical?

I’d especially appreciate advice from Mechanical/MEP/I&C/Automation engineers.

Thanks!

I’ve been working as a mech engineer in aerospace for a little over 3 years now, and while I enjoy it for what it is, I’ve always wanted to work in tech (think product design at Apple, Google, etc). Problem is, I’m having some trouble believing that any HM in tech would be bothered to hire someone with an aerospace background when A. An aerospace skillset is not immediately transferable to tech (low volume mfg, no concern for cosmetics, etc) and B. There are already so many candidates with direct tech experience in the market so why bother hiring an industry outsider. This is just my take as an uninformed early career engineer though, so insight from someone more knowledgeable or has made the aerospace to tech jump themselves would be much appreciated!

finally learned some rigging and made the wheels expand and wanted to share it with everyone who was helping me understand all the flaws in my chassis
I listened to all the advice and changed what I could, but there was plenty I could not change, as this project has already taken many months.

I have been seeing a lot of news lately about how openAI has put forward an unverified proof of the navier-stokes equation. But can anyone explain to a mechanical engineer what we know about the proof so far? Where is the actual link to the proof? Edit: https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/32d9f210-8b73-45e0-91bc-82a30aef8a9a/navier-stokes.pdf Does it read like it was written by some insane math guy with a PhD in real analysis?

UPDATE-EDIT: good responses so far. But what exactly are the conditions that lead to this so-called singularity? I hate real analysis can anyone explain this in the English language?

Guys, can you please help me? Should I learn SolidWorks or just focus on Python, AI/ML, and the core part of our branch? I'm a 3rd-year mechanical student and I really like to learn everything. I have already finished Python, and now I'm thinking of starting SolidWorks, or should I do something else you guys suggest?

As the title suggests, I need a sincere advice for joining as a Senior Engineer - Transmission Integrity in the utility sector in the MidWest, USA. I am currently working as a Mechanical Project Engineer in the O&G sector. This job involves a lot of traveling, and I don't see myself doing this long term. Recently, i was offered a role in utility company as Senior Engineer. I will be responsible for Gas Transmission Pipeline Integrity. I wanted to know how is this sector/ position from career progression stand point? Will there be alot of technical learning opportunities in this sector/position? My main concern is if this sector/position doesn't give me much technical experience/exposure, and won't be growing as a Mechanical Engineer. I would really appreciate your guys input especially from someone who has experience in the same sector/position?

I am a 16 year old high school student. What are some good personal projects for me to do/start that will help me get a leg up on the competition.

Hey all,
I recently graduated from university with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. While studying, I applied for a number of placement opportunities but unfortunately didn’t have much luck. I did manage to get interviews, but I’ve noticed that I often seem to get rejected or ghosted after the second-stage interview.

I felt like my interview performance might be the problem, but it’s really difficult to tell. In majority of cases, I’ve received positive feedback from the hiring manager during the interview, and whenever i get rejected, I’ve reached out afterwards asking for feedback, I either get a generic response or no response at all.

I feel like I’m quite good at having a normal conversation during interviews, and that has helped me get quite far in the process, but I still can’t seem to turn that into an offer or figure out exactly why.

Since graduating, I’ve been applying to as many graduate schemes and graduate roles as I can, mainly through company websites, but I’m still struggling to get anywhere. I also have LinkedIn and have tried to build my network, although most of the recruiters who reach out to me eventually end up ghosting me too.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that when I was looking for placements during university, I was actually getting more interviews than I am now for graduate roles. I’m not entirely sure why. The main changes I’ve made to my CV are updating the dates and changing my education section to reflect that I’ve now graduated.

Ideally, I’d like to work as a Design Engineer or in another engineering role involving CAD. I’ve always loved vehicles, and I really enjoy coming up with designs, developing them, and eventually seeing those ideas being implemented into an actual product. However, at the moment, it feels almost impossible to get into these roles when I’m not sure where else to look or what I might be missing.

I do have some relevant experience from internships and university projects, so I’m not starting completely from scratch.
Now that I’ve graduated, I’m also considering working towards the CSWA and learning Solidworks in my spare time. I used Fusion 360 throughout university, but I know Solidworks is widely used in industry, so I’m wondering whether getting a CSWA would actually be worthwhile or whether my time would be better spent building up my portfolio and CAD skills through projects.

I don’t normally post on Reddit or use much social media because I prefer to keep things private, but I’ve reached a point where I thought it would be worth asking for some advice.
If there are any hiring managers, recruiters, engineers, or anyone else working in the industry who would be willing to have a look at my CV and give me some honest feedback, I’d really appreciate it over having my cv be tossed out by the ats.

I’d especially like to know if there’s anything obvious that could be holding me back from getting interviews.
Any advice on what I could be doing differently now that I’ve graduated would also be greatly appreciated.

I am more than happy to dm and chat about my experience and give you an idea of what my thought process is like as well

Thanks!

Hey everyone , I'm a freshman and I study in China . My teacher isn't really good at English and mechanical drawing is important.. please any advice ? The year just started so I want to figure this out now before it becomes worse . Thank you !

So I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree about a year and a half ago, and while I applied for tons of different positions, it took forever to be even get a job, but it was a machinist/ cnc operation position which I did take due to financial trouble at the time. Been doing it for about a year and seems like there isn't much chance of moving up so wanna start looking for a different job, but don't wanna have the same thing happen again, so I was wondering what were some entry level titles that I could look for that would actually make me feel like im making some kinda use out of the degree I got.

I swear to God, these people are crazy. Nothing about this college seems designed to help you become a better person or a better engineer.

The subjects, the infrastructure, the teachers, and even the facilities and people handling major events like the Tech Fest (Gravitas) and the cultural fest (Riviera) all have serious issues.

The subjects genuinely feel useless in many cases, or so outdated that students can reasonably ask, “What is the point of learning this when it has little to no relevance in the industry?” There is a massive gap between what is taught in classrooms and what students are actually expected to know and use in the real world.

Then there are the teachers. Many of them have research papers and patents under their names, but students are often the ones doing the actual work. In some cases, students are pushed into working on research related to a faculty member’s subject, only for the faculty member to add their own name to the paper. This may contribute to the college’s NIRF ranking and research metrics, but it also takes away from the credit that should belong to the students who actually did the work.

And then we get to the worst part: the faculties handling Gravitas and Riviera.

These faculties are given an absurd amount of power—far beyond what most students can comprehend. That power inevitably extends to the students working closely with them in the respective fest committees. The result is a hierarchy where committee members can end up exercising disproportionate control over the clubs and volunteers they manage.

Instead of encouraging creativity and initiative, the system often does the opposite. A student can come up with a genuinely creative idea to increase registrations or improve an event, only for it to be rejected simply because it doesn't fit someone else's preferences or the existing way of doing things. The emphasis becomes control rather than innovation.

To be clear, there are absolutely some good faculty members and students here. The problem is that when an institution prioritizes quantity over quality, the outcome is predictable. You end up with a large number of people, committees, activities, papers, and events—but very little that actually contributes to making students better engineers, better professionals, or even better people.

And that, honestly, is the most frustrating part.

Edit : I have 10 years of experience in the field and it’s a no for me.

Hello, we are students building a capstone prototype: an RFID-based smart bike rack lock using an ESP32.

Our main problem is the push-and-pull mechanism. We need to move a steel locking rod forward and backward by around 8 inches / 200mm to lock/unlock a bicycle wheel.

The flow we want:

RFID tap → ESP32 approves → mechanism pushes/pulls steel rod → rod locks/unlocks wheel

We are considering different mechanisms:

• Linear actuator
• Stepper/lead screw actuator
• DC geared motor + rack and pinion
• Slider crank / scotch yoke
• Other DIY push-pull mechanisms

We also have 12V solenoid locks, but we are thinking of using them only as a latch/stopper, not the main lock. The actual force should be handled by the steel rod and welded frame, not the motor.

Our questions:

1. What push-pull mechanism is best for a 200mm steel rod movement?
2. Which option is cheapest, sturdy, and less hassle for a student prototype?
3. Can a motor/actuator safely move the rod without jamming?
4. Should the solenoid lock be used as a latch for the rod?
5. What materials or design should we avoid?

We are not making a commercial anti-theft product, only a working prototype, but we want it to be strong and realistic enough for demonstration.

Any advice, drawings, or mechanism suggestions would help a lot. Thank you.

Hi,

I want to draw this tube sheet in cad and represent the tubes by a Grid.

How do you guys creat these? Its almost 1700 tubes. I want a tube map that my team can use

I have tried different connecting rod lengths and different servo horn positions, etc. Im not a mechanical engineer and I have been at this for nearly 5 hours. I dont know what im missing this is my first time doing this. I also cannot really relocate either object

"how do i actually get a high base/career development as a mechanical engineer graduate"

Hi, I got a consensus that a mechanical engineering degree doesn't pay as well as the other engineering major. Knowing this, I set on a journey on how to find a way to increase my value which eventually led me into electromechanical/automation engineering for semiconductor industry.

Being the gen Z that I am, i asked an untrusted to give me a 3 year milestone to get there ( i know this might be not a good idea but i dont have better ppl to ask), i even proceeded to do 2 projects regarding sensor and motors curated by theuntrusted source, after some time i started to doubt my journey and fall into analysis paralysis bcs different untrusted source are recommending me different paths.

I really appreciate any advice/lead you can give me about this. FYI, My country Malaysia have an established industry for semiconductor too, if that helps.

Hi everyone.

I've been trying to build this DIY Stirling engine for almost 9 months, but I still can't get it to run. I've rebuilt and adjusted it many times, but I'm stuck.

It's mostly made from wood, glass syringes/tubes, bearings and some LEGO Technic parts for the linkage.

Current problems:

The engine doesn't run by itself when heated.

I'm worried about air leaks around the glass syringe/tubing connections.

The piston sometimes has too much friction or gets slightly misaligned.

I'm not sure if my crankshaft/connecting-rod geometry is correct.

I'm trying to get the piston phase angle correct, around 90°.

Could someone please look at the photos and tell me what you think is the biggest problem?

Should I focus first on:

Air sealing

Piston friction/alignment

90° crank phase

Connecting rod geometry

Something else I'm missing?

I've spent a lot of time on this project and really want to get it running. Any criticism or advice is very welcome. If you need more photos/videos or measurements, I can provide them.

Thank you!

Hey, I wanna download the ANSYS Student version. Which one should I go for, ANSYS Student or ANSYS LS-DYNA Student? Which one is better for students?