Christmas Gift Ideas for Design Engineers
“Stumped on what to ask for this Christmas, or what to get your favorite creative engineer? Here’s what we suggest...”
Stumped on what to ask for this Christmas, or what to get your favorite creative engineer? Here’s what we suggest, broken into 4 categories at various prices. To get the most out of this list send it to your mom and tell her you want item #5, #7 or #10, then let her surprise you. Or send this list to your loved one and ask them what’s interesting to them.
As a note, we list these products because they’ve helped us in our design engineering, and other creative pursuits. We have no affiliation with any of these companies.
Tools
The right tool for the right job. You don’t hammer a nail with a screwdriver; you don’t turn a screw with a hammer. Good design needs good tools. Give the gift of a good design.
Wescott Finger Grip Clear Ruler - Get this for someone who wants to sketch. This particular ruler is good because it is clear allowing it to be seen through, and it has the finger grip, which allows the ruler to be moved around easily.
Milwaukee Fastback Flip Utility Knife - Every designer needs a quick and handy way to cut and slice cardboard, paper, and countless other things to satisfy a curiosity or to build an intricate prototype. The Milwaukee utility knife offers a great combination of features and with replaceable blades will last forever. This particular knife is beautifully designed and will last a lifetime.
Klein 11-in-one Multi-bit Screwdriver - Whether reverse engineering or building up original models, this screwdriver is amazing. The Klein 11-in-one is an extremely well-made product from an American Company in business for over 160 years. You can always get a full set, but having that one screwdriver sitting in your drawer and ready to go that can do the job 90% of the time is often priceless.
Arrow Hot Glue Gun - Quick mock-ups and prototypes are the names of the game in design. Make that job easy with a well made hot glue gun. The Arrow linked here is a professional hot melt gun.
Digital Calipers - Measuring and sizing are made easy with a pair of calipers. Either of the following is suitable. The 6-inch caliper is very common and useful. An 8-inch caliper can be useful. Don’t buy a 4-inch pair.
High end: Mitutoyo 6 inch
Works well: Vinca 6 inch
Alvin Cutting Mat - These mats serve two important roles in the life of a design engineer. The most obvious is that it is a protective mat for cutting and taking machines a part. The other is that they are excellent for sketching on. These mats have two sides (a green side and a black side), save one side for cutting and maring, and keep the other for sketching.
A 3D printer - There is something invigorating about seeing your own designs get printed right in front of you. The cost of 3D printers has come down in recent years, and the quality has risen. Both those trends will likely continue, but you may find the sweet spot right now. More and more people have their own at home and use it to print replacement parts, prototypes, and even kids toys. Perhaps it’s the gift that keeps on giving!
High end: Prusa MK3s
Works well: Creality Ender 5
iPad Pro and Apple Pencil - If you serious about digital sketching, and have the resources for it, the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil are unbeatable. Couple this with inexpensive apps like ProCreate, and Sketchbook (free), and sketching will become something you find yourself doing a lot.
Supplies
Every designer working on a project will use materials for prototyping and trying ideas out. These consumables are always, well, being consumed, and so replacements are always appreciated.
9. Pens - For anyone sketching, pens are essential for darkening important lines, annotating, and shading.
Pigma Micron - These are probably the crispest clearest pens on the market. Black is most useful.
Sharpie Pen (no bleed) - These pens are useful for darkening edges, cross hatching, etc. While the black is most useful, the other colors can help with annotations and more.
Spectra Markers - These are great for shading sketches -- get Warm Gray 10%, Warm Gray 40%, Warm Gray 70%.
10. Paper - This is the canvas we all need when we’re beginning the creation process.
Tracing paper - This is particularly useful for placing over existing images, over your own sketches, or over CAD prints. The tracing paper allows for quick modifications and iterations. The tracing paper on a roll is particularly useful because it allows for the continuous creation of multiple ideas side-by-side.
Iso dot Sketchbook Spiral bound. - This is a great notebook with light dots in a grid pattern. These dots can be useful for laying out a design. A hardbound is valuable so good writing can happen without a desk. Spiral bound is good because it makes more of the page useable.
Blank Sketchbook Spiral Bound. - This is a great notebook with no markings at all. Hardbound and spiral is good.
11. Arduino - diving into electomechanical design with a microcontroller. Learning the Arduino is a great way to integrate design, mechanical, electrical, and coding together into one project.
12. 3D printer filament - A brand new spool of filament is always awesome. What you might see as a boring spool of colored plastic, a designer will see as infinite possibilities to create and produce. The most commonly printed material is PLA. An interesting material that is stronger and warps less, but is a little more difficult to print is PETG.
Software
Software is becoming increasingly important as one of the tools in a design engineer’s toolbox. Companies often want design engineers to have software design skills to communicate through drawing, virtual mock-ups, and even storyboarding.
13. Adobe Creative Cloud – Software tools that allow one to design, sketch, print, draft, etc. are always in demand. A lot of stages of design are done on the computer and better tools can help produce better designs. The Adobe suite of products is probably the premier software package for aspiring designers.
14. CAD software – A computer-aided design software package can be free for students and for others in certain situations. Sometimes companies will give a free trial version for a few months or for a full year (e.g. Autodesk Fusion 360). However, if you know that someone else has already used that introductory trial period and really liked the software, consider a monthly subscription or yearly membership for them to the same software. Maybe they’ll think of you every time they boot it up!
15. Pluralsight - Skills in computer programming are becoming one of the most important things that aspiring engineers and designers should develop to become a future contributing member of many multidisciplinary design teams. A membership to Pluralsight, a website that supports online training in IT and software dev in multiple computer languages, can become a big enabler for that integrated mechatronics or smartphone application project.
Other Gift Ideas
Still not happy with everything above? This last group of gift ideas is all the other things we would seriously consider giving to a design engineer.
16. Makerspace membership - Many of us don’t have space at home for a CNC machine or lathe, but places all over the country are popping up as the DIY industry grows.
17. Airbnb experiences - Giving an “experience” to someone else by paying for an interaction with a professional who will let them try out a specific skill or technique for a few hours may be opening up the door for a future of pottery design or metal forging.
18. Online classes - Consider a gift of an online design-related course for that student or friend who would love to take a class but can’t fit it in their normal schedule and needs to take it at a slower rate during evenings or weekends.
19. Lego - We don’t know anyone who has too much Lego. For designers, Lego is always in style and chances are high that any engineer could use some more.
20. Tickets to a local Design or Innovation Museum/Exhibit - Sometimes a visit to a design museum is just what is needed to help someone gain inspiration for their next project or design. We all benefit from seeing each other’s ideas and they might too.
Happy Gifting!
