Mechanical Engineering Editing and Proofreading Services

A calculation is not finished when the answer appears. It is finished when a second engineer, who was not in the room and has other work to do, can follow it from the loading to the conclusion and either agree or point to the step they disagree with. Most calculation packages fail that test. The mathematics is sound and the reasoning lives in the author's head, which means the check becomes a re-derivation and the checker's signature means less than everyone assumes.

We edit what mechanical engineers produce — design calculation packages and their check documentation, design basis and load case documents, stress and thermal analysis reports, finite element analysis reports and their assumptions, equipment specifications and datasheets, materials and tolerance specifications, general arrangement drawing notes, lifting and mechanical handling calculations, pressure equipment design documentation, vibration and rotating equipment assessments, technical justifications for deviations and concessions, and design review and verification records. Our editors work on the package another engineer has to check.

The calculation package written to be checked is a distinct document from one written to reach an answer, and the difference is almost entirely in what surrounds the arithmetic. We work through these so the design basis is stated first and completely — the loads and their source, the code or standard with its edition, the material and its allowable, the temperature, the design life, and every assumption that would change the result if it were wrong; so units and sign conventions are declared once and used consistently, since the majority of checking time is wasted establishing which direction is positive; so each step states what is being calculated and why, because a page of substitutions with no narrative forces the checker to infer the intent before they can assess the execution; so conservative simplifications are named as such with a sentence on the direction of the error, given that a checker who cannot tell which simplifications are safe has to unpick all of them; so results are compared against something — a hand check, a bounding case, a previous design — as an answer with no sanity check invites the question of what would have happened had the input been wrong by a factor of ten; and so the conclusion states the margin and the governing case rather than the word "acceptable". Packages written this way get checked properly rather than signed.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including designs, calculations and client information. We are editors rather than mechanical engineers, and we offer no view on methods, assumptions or results. What we can do is make the reasoning visible to the person whose signature goes underneath it.