Machine Shop Trade Secrets [Paperback]

James A. Harvey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0974389765 | ISBN-13: 978-0974389769 | Publication Date: June 2004

In this book you'll find a collection of clever tips for immediately improving your machining and tool making skills. The author is an accomplished machinist and plastic injection mold maker with thirty years of experience. The book provides a wealth of practical information both conventional and CNC, that can help you avoid trouble and get things done. Over two hundred photographs showing "real world" machining provide the backbone for readers to follow along. The text is laid out using simple one line suggestions that are numbered for easy pinpointing. There are over four hundred suggestions in this book, each providing a single, concrete bit of machining knowledge.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Harvey: Your Book is wonderful!!! We will definitely put it on our website. -- Chuck West, President., Homemetalshopclub.org

It has quite a few projects in the back which should prove to be very useful in any shop environment. -- Chipmaker Roy, Gadget Guy., Frugalmachinist.com/projpage.html

It's like Texas chili, every bite packs a wallop. I wanted to read the next point and the next... -- Dan Kautz, Master Craftsman., Tedatum.com/thms/

Many thanks for sending a copy of your book. To be honest I couldn't put it down. Excellent work! -- Dr. Ray Sommer, PHD., Bambam.gmu.edu/shop/index

The best article on squaring blocks for beginners I've seen. Wish I had this book when I was taking classes. -- James Eckman, Engineer., Home.comcast.net/~ronin_engineer

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

As machinists, how often are we asked to produce hardware that was needed "yesterday?" The fact is, quite often as shop personnel try to keep "squeaky wheels" greased. Squeaky wheels come at us from all sides. Production people count on machinists to keep lines going, research and development people count on machinists to keep new product programs on track, maintenance people count on machinists for repair parts and so on.

The bottom line is when people want parts; they want parts. They don’t want excuses or anything else. That's one of the beauties of being a machinist. Your responsibilities are clear and simple. If you can get people their blessed parts, they'll go away.

Most people, including myself, don’t want to work any harder or faster than we have to. At times though, when the crisis monkey is on us, we have to get the lead out and get going. Crisis machining can be fun once in a while and generally speaking; any glory to be had usually comes from helping someone through a crisis. If nothing else, it can be a nice change of pace. The hours tend to go by quickly when your working on a "hot" job.

The following suggestions may help you work quickly. Keep in mind that doing a job correctly has to be your first priority...

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: Proshop Publishing (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974389765
• ISBN-13: 978-0974389769
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,774,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Really Weird Book----But Highly Addictive, February 22, 2006

By 

Philip C. Jones (Iowa City, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Machine Shop Trade Secrets (Paperback)

This has to be the most unusual book I have ever read. Each chapter contains a number of separate numbered paragraphs. Each paragraph contains the author's thoughts about some specific aspect of machining. This organizational format is almost bizarre, but somehow strangely effective. This book has the best description I have ever seen on what cutters are best used for particular functions. I also really enjoyed the do's and don'ts on NC machining. I've gone through it twice now in one week and will probably read it a third time before long.

This is not the usual textbook on machining with numerous pages devoted to cutting theory that somehow never quite gets to the point of telling you what feed and speed to use to accomplish a specific task. Nor does it have an entire chapter telling you what a lathe is and how the various parts are named. The utility of many such treatises is probably exhausted once past the point of contributing to some academician's case for being awarded tenure. This one is really different. It really has a lot of good advice that's applicable to virtually any environment.

Some of the points the author makes may seem trivial at first (buy lots of tools, for example)as noted by at least one other reviewer. But if you take the time to read and understand what he's saying, you'll see there is some interesting and really decent advice here. Buying special purpose tools rather than the 6-in-1 kind, for example, not only produces better work, but helps avoid time consuming setups and reduces bad parts.

I've got a suggestion for the author for another book. He might organize it by "how to" topic. For example, "how to cut an interior keyway". There are lots of ways to do most of these things, ranging from simple hand tool methods to megacredit special purpose machinery. It would be interesting (for me at least) to see 4 to 5 ways presented for each "how to" with a brief discussion of their pluses and minuses.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fills in the gaps few other books address, January 16, 2006

By 

Norman Hamer - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Machine Shop Trade Secrets (Paperback)

Machine Shop Trade Secrets provides tremendous value for it's cover price. I've been a home shop machinist for about 4 years now, and purchased half a dozen different books on the subject. This one stands out.

This book is not a reference volume, nor an introduction to machine tools. It is, however, a wide-ranging collection of tips, techniques and observations by a master machinist. None of the tips are deep, dark secrets given only to a chosen few, although his description of how to easily drill compound-angle holes without a universal vise comes close.

The material is clear, concisely written, and well-illustrated. He assumes that his audience has a basic familiarity with machine tools, and offers ways to use them which increase both accuracy and job speed. Some of the material is most relevant to working in a production shop, and some covers specialized tools and techniques. Most, however, is useful advice for a wide range of machining tasks.

I particularly enjoyed his section of advice for engineers specifying machined parts. He provides a number of clear observations about choices which seem to be equivalent from an engineering perspective, but which make producing the part much more difficult. This advice is just as relevant for a home shop machinist designing parts for their own project.

Throughout, the book is written to be accessible to the reader. He doesn't belabor observations which can be expressed in one sentence, nor does he skimp on explanations for more involved tasks. This book is the closest I've seen to having a friendly neighbor, who happens to be a master machinist, who is willing to come over and show you the easier ways to get good results.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Informative., November 1, 2007

By 

David Wimberley (Winchester, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Machine Shop Trade Secrets (Paperback)

This is not a machining primer. It does give you unusual access to the mind of an obviously skilled and experienced machinist. The book obviously reflects a great deal of work and preparation. It is entertainingly laid out. The photographs are outstanding and numerous.

If you are anything but a seasoned machinist, this book is worthy of rereading many times. My son and I have separate shops in the same business. This is the only machining book that I felt compelled to buy two copies of, one for myself and one for my son.