Home Machinists Handbook

Many years ago I took metal shop in high school and learned the rudiments of using a mill and lathe, etc. Now that I'm thinking of getting a mill and lathe for home hobby use I need both a refresher course and something to fill in the gaps. This book is serving nicely. In clear, straightforward language, with good illustrations, it lays out all the basic knowledge and techniques you need, then ends with a series of projects you can do to both practice all the basic machining techniques and end up with a useful set of accessories for your hobby mill and lathe. I believe that reading this book and doing the projects will prove to be a very efficient and effective way lay the foundation of knowledge and skills I'll need to use my new machines.

This book is meant for people with a min-lathe and mini-mill. The only thing missing from this book is information about quick-change tool posts for larger home mills. The book covers tool grinding, measurements, calipers, milling, turning, and threading. Lots of very useful information.

I had rudimentary training in machine shop work from when I was in grad school. I rather missed making machinery, so I bought a small Unimat-3 lathe. Great, I started grinding stuff out, and realized I forgot a lot of my important lessons, and didn't have Wayne-O the machinist scowling at me from the back of the room to remind me how to do things properly. This book sort of fulfills the role of a helpful pal who will remind you of how the machine shop works. It is a reminder of all the basic stuff, the advantage and disadvantages of various kinds of tools, and what all the parts are called.As others have noticed, it is oriented toward the Sherline. My lathe is actually smaller than the Sherline, and has different properties, but the book is still tremendously helpful in remembering stuff I forgot, and learning things nobody bothered telling me about. I particularly liked the little tooling projects; they all look doable and like they'll make my lathe more useful.This isn't a book for the experienced machinist. If you work on a Hardinge in your day job, this will be laughable even if you bought a Sherline to screw around with at home. Still, for rank amateurs, people returning to the craft after a long absence, or other inexperienced types it is a pretty handy thing to have.

Having taken a 25 year "holiday" between my college machining classes to present day, I was thrilled to read this book from cover to cover. Yes, it is Sherline specific, but that said, it is a wonderful resource. The book covers most of the knowledge needed to make parts as a hobby machinist. Not only are all the tools covered, so is a lot of practical material science (mostly the "how" without getting too bogged down with the "why"). I'll keep this book handy and use it as a quick reference for most things while shelving my old "Machinery's Handbook" for occasional (slower) use.

I bought this book based on it's price and the reviews. It's a good book with a lot of useful information explained in clear, easy to follow terms. I'm a mechanical engineer who is just getting started as a home/hobby machinist and this book is great for someone with no knowledge of machine practices or even someone who already has some experience. I would even recommend tbis book to an engineering student, as it explains a lot of things like measurement, reading prints, heat treating and mechanical properties of materials in simple, understandable terms that aren't too heavy on theory. Overall, a very practical, useful, understandable, well-written book with cool projects you can make in your home (or school) machine shop!

Home Machinists Handbook is a very good basic introduction to properly using hand tools, bench tools, lathes and milling machines, materials and material treatments. A chapter covers milling machine operation including clamping, distortion, accuracy, feed rates, finishes, etc. It's like an introductory machine shop class in a book. It goes into about as much detail as space allows, is succinct, and covers the most important issues competently. It is not intended to turn you into a master machinist overnight. It's a basic introduction, and a good one.

A great little book for somebody like myself who is just starting out in the home machinist's area. It really helped me make a decision on the type of metal lathe I would need and what to look for when buying one. You will find the author is quite slanted towards the Sherline tools and must have some connection with the company but the product line is similar to all others in its price range anyway. The author gave me the info I needed and it makes for a great reference book for the beginner who is considering buying a small milling machine or desk top lathe for hobby related projects. Other tools are covered too. Good illustrations and clearly written. I like it!

Joe Martin wrote the model engineering book most Sherline people use to showcase their machines capabilitie - Briney's book is just as good, and not limited in any way. I do not own a Sherline, but use this book (and Martins) to revisit techniques, and to be inspired by seeing what others do on all sorts of lathes, mills, etc.the book is suited to the beginner level of skill - designed to take them into more advanced techniaues, and illustrate where they are used.

Probably the best primer for a prospective model engineer to have in their library. Most books of this nature that I have read have failed to take into consideration the feeling almost of fear that the absolute tyro has when first introduced to a lathe with its assorted possibilties of doing you a nasty if you press the wrong button.The writer of this handbook does not waste words. He is calm, succinct and does not hurry the reader. The illustrations and sketches are clear and well chosen.If you propose to set up a workshop then buy this book first. You won't regret it. Ignore the fact that the lathe and ancillaries are based on the Sherline lathe. It is largely irrelevant

I re-read the book yesterday. It has a lot of basic info on machining - how to read say callipers and micrometers. The author is British but does use or mentions imperial units. End of the book has some small projects mostly lathe related.Some cool tips such as how to advance lathe cutting tip just 0.0001 inch - the scale goes only to 0.001 so how can one increase lathe ability to take a cut 10x? Well, set the compound at an angle (small) and advance that. Great idea.The lathe author uses is on the picture - yes it is that small and yes the author does some good work with it. The lathe is similar to the popular mini-lathes such as 7 - 12, definitely smaller than 7 - 14.

I received this book ahead of stated delivery time, very fast. I have just looked up a few different questions I had and this book answered them. A good addition which looks like it will help me.

as described, arrived as promised

This book is complete for any table top machinist. Many projects are include with the tutorial. Some tutorial are missing information for beginners.My students had to by this as there class work book.