Customer Reviews

Machine Shop Trade Secrets

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I cannot understand the many rave reviews this book has received here. I'm a professional machinist with 22 years experience, and I simply was not impressed at all by this book. Of course it contains some good info, but my feeling was it was about 15% more-or-less useful, 65% obvious stuff I already knew, 5% simply made no sense, and 15% I disagreed with and think a different way is better. An example of the latter is the author's "correct" way of indicating in a rotary table... an impractical bunch of time-wasting hogwash for 99% of jobs with any kind reasonable tolerance. I never saw a cheap Chinese rotary table where the center hole was not true to the rotation axis within .0005" or so TIR, and I've used a bunch of them. In commercial shops I've worked in, getting something actually done was more important than playing theoretical games with a dial indicator. The one thing in the book that really intrigued me was the author's repeated mention of 6-sided single-flute homemade end mills. But then he never really went over how to make them, or explained how they can cut if the relief clearance apparently returns to zero 3 times per revolution. Well, maybe there is more useful in here from the viewpoint of a beginner... I don't mean to sound condescending, but just give some benefit of the doubt where I don't see that much value myself.

I recommend Tom Lipton's "Sink or Swim" book WAY over this one.

This is one of the few books on machining that actually tells you what to expect from specific tools and methods. Too many other books simply describe various tools, methods, and fixtures with complete indifference.... like a dictionary. This book comes right out and tells you that this one works well and that one doesn't. It's almost as if he's actually done some machining :-)

Because it gives specific advice on tools it will save you some money not buying the wrong ones.

The book's format is rather strange with numbered paragraphs throughout. The first time I saw it I was just confused by it. The good thing about this format is that you can just pick it up and read a couple paragraphs whenever. It's very condensed so you get a lot of information in short doses.... and it's easy to skip sections that don't apply ro you.

If you have the machinery (Lathe/Mill) you really should have this book unless you already have a great deal of experience. It's well worth the price.

I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because it could have gone a little further in some areas. I guess no book can cover everything you'd like.

VK

This is an exceptionally comprehensive volume covering the range of topics of most concern to the home shop machinist as well as the trade machinist. I found a great many hints and ideas that had not yet occurred to me in "normal" daily operations. I highly recommend this to amateur and professional alike.

..it is well-written, and has a lot of info packed into it. I learned a few things that will come in handy.

I am accustomed to books of this type being poorly written, filled with editorial mistakes, misspellings, etc. There were very few of those distractions in this work.

I read the whole thing in about 2 hours; I only wish that it was twice as thick, and filled with twice as many interesting tips and techniques!

I am not a professional machinist, but i would bet that if you are, you will find at least a few ideas in here that are easily worth the cost of the book!

Would I buy a Volume II filled with similar info-in a heartbeat!

This is a very easy to understand reference with practical tips for a novice or experienced machinist. I found the reading to be very worthwhile and information to be practical. Reading was easy to understand and this is one of the few books that I have read from cover to cover. I plan on re-reading sections and applying many of its suggestions.

I don't have any background in machine shop operations but am interested. I think this book was a great find.

This book joins "Machine Shop Essentials" by Marlow as one of the two most informative books I've found for the amateur machinist. Although the material is somewhat arbitrarily organized, I found myself marking so many pages for future reference that I will undoubtedly just reread this entire book several times in the future. There is just too much to absorb in one reading. The format lends itself to reading piecemeal, but with so much interesting information I found I could not put the book down. Keep a stack of post-it notes handy when you go through this one!