Machine shop trade secrets vs. Pocket companion vs. Engineer's black book ??

ThinWoodsman said:
I would pass on the bedside reader for now. People charge a lot for it because it is out of print and fairly popular, but it is not exactly information-dense. I found the three volumes to be enjoyable to read, and might do some of the projects, but a lot of the information was either obsolete (e.g. where to buy a specific lubricant or emery cloth) or has become common knowledge.

Machine Shop Practice is worth the price (which, as pointed out, is low) and thorough, but it is a bit dated. The book I wish I had started with is Technology of Machine Tools (the earlier the edition, the cheaper it is), which is basically a textbook for shop class.

Lipton's book is excellent. Of the "tricks of the trade" books, I would probably order them (best to worst): Bulgin, Lipton, Harvey, Marlow. The Marlow ones are neat to have in the shop because of their format, which is Q&A, but the information in them is basically right out of machinery's handbook. The downside of Bulgin's books is they are pricey, and the information is dispersed over something like five books (the "building shop" series and the lathe and mill books).

Recently enjoyed Spitler's Fundamentals of Tool Design. Currently waiting for Bradley's Shaping Machine and Lathe Tools to arrive from overseas. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a reader :grin:
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Wow, thanks for the detailed reply on the books. So after my previous post I ordered the Lipton book last night and just got it today (Amazon is awesome, been making me poor since 1999 lol). I haven't started reading it yet but I it seems like just what I was after.

After reading your suggestion previously and @Bill_729 's validation as well I'll add the Moltrech books on my wish list and then possibly the machine shop practice (the second edition since it has a section on CNC). Bulgin's has a set of 3 books it seems and they look interesting too. I wish I didn't invest in some of the books I posted above as they weren't for me.

As for the book smart part, yes I agree 100% but since I don't have any formal training nor a ton of practice time (machining is just one of several hobbies) I do like to read tips&tricks types of books on the days when I'm traveling/relaxing etc so I can pick up useful info from folks who do this for a living.
 
Bill_729 said:
ThinWoodsman,
Did you ever read "Tool Design", by Donaldson, LeCain and Goold, or do you have an opinion on it?
I almost bought it, bought a different book instead, and added it to my "maybe" list.
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Saw that when I was looking for the Ian Bradley book, but haven't read it (yet).

Study without practice - useless book learnin'.
Practice without study - apes mimicking other apes.
I know there's the recurring problem of manager types who read about a trade and think they know it, but ultimately machining is a technology. You gotta study and practice both.
 
Lay hands on a copy of Machine Tool Practices by Kibbe.
Some of the earlier editions have an excellent chapter on the shaper.
 
Pretty brazen, the academic publisher scam on these textbooks. 11th edition: $200. 10th edition: $118. 9th edition: $18. Only minor differences in the content but you gotta have the latest edition for class!

Works out well for us non-students though.
 
New editions probably have to be up to date far as CNC and possibly 3D printing.
Most of my books were published at the dawn of numerical control showing punched tape and the Friden Flexowriter.
 
ThinWoodsman said:
Pretty brazen, the academic publisher scam on these textbooks. 11th edition: $200. 10th edition: $118. 9th edition: $18. Only minor differences in the content but you gotta have the latest edition for class!

Works out well for us non-students though.
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It was freaking terrible when I was in college. Take fluids 1 sophomore year & fluids 2 Junior year? Need a new book! Get unlucky & have fluids 3 senior year? Need a new book!! Get a new professor looking to make their mark? Need a new book!!

Thermo & heat transfer professors were actually sane & did the bit of extra work to assign problem sets & give answers from the last 3 editions. Problems were identical their setup, simply shifted around & with different numbers. That was about the only functional difference in each edition. Thermo Prof: "thermodynamics hasn't changed in the last 200 years, requiring new editions is a scam." He was, by far, my favorite & best Prof I had in college.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
OK so I'm most of the way done flipping through Lipton's book while I also ordered the kindle edition of the Harvey book. I have to say the Lipton book is better even though the initial few chapters were just very high level stuff the later chapters actually have good advice. The Harvey book is so-so, a lot of the tips are repeated and many are nothing new etc.
 
Bill_729 said:
Did you ever read "Tool Design", by Donaldson, LeCain and Goold, or do you have an opinion on it?
I almost bought it, bought a different book instead, and added it to my "maybe" list.
Click to expand...

So you know, I saw this for about fifteen bucks and decided hey, why not. Spent a couple nights paging through it.
It is very similar to Fundamentals of Tool Design, in fact they cover the same material in pretty much the same order.

Not sure which one I like better. Fundamentals is a bit more clear, both in the writing and in the diagrams, but this one provides more detail as well as more context. There are also "design problems" which would be used as classroom assignments that are quite good, at least as thought experiments to test your grasp of the concepts. So it's a good book, and I've learned a few things just from the extra discussion that Fundamentals doesn't provide, and since it is half the price I could easily recommend this book instead.

I'm only comparing it to Fundamentals because they are so similar. I greatly enjoyed Bradley's tiny Shaping Machine and Lathe Tools book (which is a reprint of an older book by Duplex) because it is much more targeted and therefore immediately useful. I'll probably keep that one by the belt sander.
 
@ThinWoodsman thanks for posting the comparison on those two books.

I just ordered the Engineer's Black Book after looking at some of the samples on their website. For the day to day use I think I'll like it better than the much bigger and harder to read Machinery Handbook even if the latter is far more detailed.
 
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