Whats a good book for a beginner machinist?
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Grigg
Well-known member
Machinist handbook and a machine shop text book.. I'll have to look up the name of the ones I have.
I like the machinist handbooks and buy any and all I find that aren't very expensive. The older and real old ones I like more but good to have a new one too.
Grigg
I like the machinist handbooks and buy any and all I find that aren't very expensive. The older and real old ones I like more but good to have a new one too.
Grigg
holt2ton
Well-known member
Check this out...there are three in the series....
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0969098022/?tag=atomicindus08-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0969098022/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Don't forget some of the excellent videos:
1. Download the entire Tubal Cain Youtube series (free)
2. Watch the MIT TV Machine Shop series (free)
3. Buy the Darrell Holland lathe and mill videos
Nortonscustom
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Kevin54
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You can't go wrong with Tubalcain / Mr.Pete. He goes into great detail explaining things. For someone starting out machining and that doesn't have a clue, spend a day watching his videos. I highly recommend it.
I agree with the The Home Shop Machinist, and get the brother Machinist's Workshop.
If you can find a copy Training Circular 9-524 Fundamentals of Machine Tools.
Second Machine Shop Trade Secrets, and find Machine Shop Essentials
If you can find a copy Training Circular 9-524 Fundamentals of Machine Tools.
Second Machine Shop Trade Secrets, and find Machine Shop Essentials
Grigg
Well-known member
And another vote!
Here's the shop class kind of book I was thinking of, an original 1973 and one from 1998 they gave me in apprentice school.
"Machining fundamentals" printed by Goodheart - Willcox.
ibedayank
Well-known member
While I agree the Machinist Bedside books are great I don't think that someone wanting to buy machines is going to appreciate them as much as one who has some experience in the trade. I would suggest
Machine Shop Practice: v. 1 by K.H. Moltrecht (Dec 1971) and Vol 2 . They will teach the basics of the machines, tell you the difference between the different types etc. They also explain the nuances of cutters and drill bits. I would suggest that you get an older version as they are better suited to the manual machinist. Something between 1960 and 1980.
lg
no neat sig line
Machine Shop Practice: v. 1 by K.H. Moltrecht (Dec 1971) and Vol 2 . They will teach the basics of the machines, tell you the difference between the different types etc. They also explain the nuances of cutters and drill bits. I would suggest that you get an older version as they are better suited to the manual machinist. Something between 1960 and 1980.
lg
no neat sig line
ibedayank
Well-known member
I will disagree as the books provide so much information and clues to proper setup
:The current edition is most excellent and probably the best set of books on manual machining currently in publication.
rancherbill
Well-known member
Poke around on the net for the South Bend - How to Operate A Lathe.
It has all you need to know to start using a lathe through a series of projects. It has been the standard for years.
I will have to check them out. Do they still have the good info on sharpening tool cutters?
lg
no neat sig line
Grigg
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Jay W
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Machine Tool Practices published by Prentice Hall is the text used at my trade school.
IndyGarage
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I found this book to be helpful. I think it was first written almost a hundred years ago, so the information is ancient, but it does lay out the basics.
The exact title is "How to run a Lathe"
amazon has a reprint. In reading the reviews it seems some didn't think it was all that helpful to some, but it's definitely worth 6 bucks.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603864679/?tag=atomicindus08-20
sasquatch12
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Agree on all of the above postings, Pay attention to the sections on grinding/sharpening cutters, very important to learn this.
I have posted this before.
I was/am the worlds' worst hobby machinist. So if something worked for me, it will work for you. I bought a war surplus Southbend 9" lathe in the days before the Web and didn't have any machinist friends, so I learned everything from some books and trial and error (mostly error). The Tubalcain videos and the MIT Machine Shop series (also on Youtube) would have helped a lot. Here is what helped me the most besides videos and asking real machinists for advice.
A lathe book - There are many of them, the lathe manufacturer's produced their own: Southbend's How to Run a Lathe, Colvin's "Running an Engine Lathe", the Atlas Manual, the Hercus "Textbook of Turning". The older editions can be found as .pdf's. I think Sparey's The Amateur's Lathe might be the best overall.
A general machine shop book - Robert H. Smith's Textbook of Advanced Machine Work is on archive.org. That and his other book is good and free. An old Audel Machinist's Handy book is cheap and I found it useful. Kibbe's Machine Tool Practices is the standard community college textbook. A new one is expensive, but an 5th or 6th edition is cheap. Shop Theory form the Henry Ford Trade School is also cheap on Amazon and those old books are wonderfully illustrated. The US Army Fundamentals of Machine Tools and US Navy Machinery Repairman Handbooks are free as .pdfs.
A Machinist's Handbook - get a used edition from the 60's or 70's.
Once you can make stuff, Tom Lipton's Metalworking Sink or Swim is collection of tips and tricks from a life long metalworker. It has been the best book I have purchased in the last ten years.
Lastly, the book that got me to buy a lathe was Roy Moungovan's Shop Savvy. It had one chapter on using a lathe. This book is what you would have learned in the 1970's from the old guy at the end of the street who had a bunch of tools in his garage and knew how to do everything well enough to get by.
taw
I was/am the worlds' worst hobby machinist. So if something worked for me, it will work for you. I bought a war surplus Southbend 9" lathe in the days before the Web and didn't have any machinist friends, so I learned everything from some books and trial and error (mostly error). The Tubalcain videos and the MIT Machine Shop series (also on Youtube) would have helped a lot. Here is what helped me the most besides videos and asking real machinists for advice.
A lathe book - There are many of them, the lathe manufacturer's produced their own: Southbend's How to Run a Lathe, Colvin's "Running an Engine Lathe", the Atlas Manual, the Hercus "Textbook of Turning". The older editions can be found as .pdf's. I think Sparey's The Amateur's Lathe might be the best overall.
A general machine shop book - Robert H. Smith's Textbook of Advanced Machine Work is on archive.org. That and his other book is good and free. An old Audel Machinist's Handy book is cheap and I found it useful. Kibbe's Machine Tool Practices is the standard community college textbook. A new one is expensive, but an 5th or 6th edition is cheap. Shop Theory form the Henry Ford Trade School is also cheap on Amazon and those old books are wonderfully illustrated. The US Army Fundamentals of Machine Tools and US Navy Machinery Repairman Handbooks are free as .pdfs.
A Machinist's Handbook - get a used edition from the 60's or 70's.
Once you can make stuff, Tom Lipton's Metalworking Sink or Swim is collection of tips and tricks from a life long metalworker. It has been the best book I have purchased in the last ten years.
Lastly, the book that got me to buy a lathe was Roy Moungovan's Shop Savvy. It had one chapter on using a lathe. This book is what you would have learned in the 1970's from the old guy at the end of the street who had a bunch of tools in his garage and knew how to do everything well enough to get by.
taw
spongerich
Well-known member
You can pick up a copy of the Henry Ford Trade School - Shop Theory on eBay for about $10. It's old school to say the least, but definitely worth owning.
Im a better visual learner than a book learner Mr Pete 222 ( Tubal Cane ) On You Tube has been a wealth of knowledge for me. Also Ox Tool ( Tom Lipton ) his video's are a visual recap of his book's. He has 2 now Metal Working Sink Or Swim and Metal Working Doing It Better.
wolf_from_wv
Well-known member
justanengineer
Well-known member
Any book that is free in the library, that you can obtain free from the library through the inter-library loan system (the library loans you a book borrowed from other libraries across the country/around the world, even very obscure and expensive ones), and any that they are selling at the used book sale/in the used book store for <$10. If theyre selling for <$5, dont even look at them before buying and just donate/wipe your *** with them if theyre worthless. I stick them on a shelf for later reference and have quite a few oldies long since out of print but which will possibly save my **** down the road sometime. Start at the section involving precision measurement then work your way into the machine portions just getting familiar with the type of work/operations possible on each machine. WW2-70s books are best for pics and unusually creative setups IMHO.
As for specific books, Ive got the Walker book shown above and "Fundamentals of Machine Tools" by Mcgraw Hill, both were used in trade classes I took a few years ago. The Molbrecht books are also great. There are free copies of "How to Run a Lathe," and the Hercus and Atlas booklets free online in pdf format, theyre not worth wasting money on IMHO as theyre very short.
JMHO, but folks need to be careful not to pick up bad or dangerous habits from others. Books used to be reviewed pretty well by multiple experts who knew the subject matter so I tend to favor them, not sure if its true anymore, but videos certainly arent and those fellas are proof at times. Dont get me wrong they do some very nice work most of the time, but not always in the best manner. I watched a video the other day where Lipton took the better part of an hour to do a 10 minute job which turned out kinda crappy bc he seriously overcomplicated the setup. Im by no means a professional machinist, but I do crank dials upon occasion at work and I recognize what the machinists would tease me about, that was it!
Again, JMHO, but Id highly suggest that someone be pretty competent with the basics of running a machine tool before watching videos. I just found the youtube app for my Roku, I watch them on the big screen now.
kazlx
Well-known member
Also check out UWstudentshop on YouTube.
Any chance you can take a class at a local trade school or community college?
In my experience, machining is not difficult. There are a few tricks, but it is not difficult to learn. For me the harder lessons to learn involved inspection of my equipment and products. When I started I was not prepared for the tools and skills I needed to inspect the second hand or Chinese junk I was buying. I had to learn to inspect stuff, then diagnose what I or my machines were doing. Professional machinists in real shops don't have this problem. They have vises that are square and parallel to their machines and machines that are trustworthy and good. First tool purchase should be a surface plate, not a mill or lathe.
This is why I recommend a class. Go somewhere where you have access to a full inspection department. You will very likely need every bit of that capability in your shop.
In my experience, machining is not difficult. There are a few tricks, but it is not difficult to learn. For me the harder lessons to learn involved inspection of my equipment and products. When I started I was not prepared for the tools and skills I needed to inspect the second hand or Chinese junk I was buying. I had to learn to inspect stuff, then diagnose what I or my machines were doing. Professional machinists in real shops don't have this problem. They have vises that are square and parallel to their machines and machines that are trustworthy and good. First tool purchase should be a surface plate, not a mill or lathe.
This is why I recommend a class. Go somewhere where you have access to a full inspection department. You will very likely need every bit of that capability in your shop.
Grigg
Well-known member
Don't count on that. I've worked with some real worn machines and still been expected to turn out good work. That's part of being a machinist and just dealing with what you have, make the best of it. I think if you can troubleshoot and understand and work around problems with an old, cheap, or worn machine it'll make you a better machinist in the long run.
When you get the basics down, with SB's HTRAL and that Atlas book, a good project book is South Bend's "Machine Shop Projects" which was used in school shops for centuries.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1559182482/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Look at the bottom of that page to see what others have bought........a whole list of other good stuff.
Atlas sample: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/atlas-lathe-manual
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1559182482/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Look at the bottom of that page to see what others have bought........a whole list of other good stuff.
Atlas sample: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/atlas-lathe-manual
This book can be handy to use with the Machinery's Handbook:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0831134488/?tag=atomicindus08-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0831134488/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Ationestreen
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