Machinery's Handbook

PHPaul

PHPaul

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Thinking I need to add this to my library, but not sure which edition I should look for.

I do not have and likely will never have CNC capability. If I hit the megabucks (unlikely since I don't play...) I MIGHT get set up with DRO and power feed stuff, but that's as advanced as I'm likely to get. Therefore, I don't see much advantage to forking over for the latest and greatest.

So, for a beginning hobbyist that will be doing strictly manual machining, what era/edition should I be looking at?
 
I have a few copies, none of them very recent. The basic information in them doesn't change. From the type of work you are describing you'll be doing I think just about any version will be fine. Go with whatever you can get for a good price.

Ted
 
Search for the one for lowest price regardless of "Era" All will have the info you need.

Just checked Ebay and you can download a PDF 2016 Machinery's handbook for $5.99
 
If you're looking for information primarily related to manual machines and imperial measurements editions 11 through 26 should cover almost anything you're looking for. If you need information about now obsolete threads or tooling older than the 1940's look for editions in the 6th to 10th range. If you needs are primarily metric edition 29 and newer have the most information. Editions 26 and older have very little in the way of metrics.

Personally I have about a dozen copies ranging from an anniversary printing of the 1st edition to the 29th edition. I found I needed a number of different editions due to the type of repair and reconstruction work I do. I deal a lot with older obsolete fasteners and machine parts. Since I also deal with machinery from the 1940's to the 1980's I found I needed a bit more "modern" information than that found in the first dozen or so editions.

Depending on the range of work you do you may need several editions. As new editions come out older information is deleted and newer information and techniques are added.

In the past I have found most complete and undamaged books in the $20.00 to $30.00 range. Ones selling for less money are often missing pages, or are damaged to the point they will fall apart with much use. If purchasing from eBay be sure to ask the seller if the book is complete and undamaged. Many come from estates and the sellers haven't even opened them let alone inspected for damage or missing pages. Keep in mind a new copy of the 30th edition is available from Barnes & Noble for $75.00. I have purchased a few editions new from them but the latest editions have deleted much of the information I am interested in.
 
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My two cents worth here: I started with a recent (at the time) copy, Nr 26 I think it was. There was a great deal of "automation" info, running computers and the like. But little information for doing things by hand.

I purchased several earlier editions to find the most useful. Of those I looked into, the most useful were between 1936 and 1956. The really early ones contain useful information, just not enough of it. The more recent copies cover most of the same information, but from a perspective of a computer operator with a fully automatic machine.

It must be kept in mind that the book is a synopsis of magazine articles as published for an industrial environment. As technology has increased, so too has the technical information. What we, as hobbyists, pursue today is what industry pursued in the WW2 era. There of course is a very wide view, as many hobbyists work in limited production operations. Of their own instigation, for the most part. But others fit into the catagory where I am.

I have had CNC additions on my machines. Emphasis on the had, as I soon removed the better part of what I had and reverted to manual operation. But I am in the hobby of building models, not machining. Making mistakes is a part of my hobby. As is one off parts. If I needed a hundred parts, I would use CNC. But, as a rule, I need one part to fix whatever wife ran over with her riding mower, or what I need to tighten up my tractor. The time to program the basic moves in CNC, I will have built what I needed.

The bottom line here is that I am looking for information on how to do something by hand. I already know how to program computers. In old, archaic languages, true. But the techniques are the same, just faster. WinDoze is done in '86 assembler. The 80286 didn't exist in my day. The IBM-XT was the limit of a micro.

Bill Hudson​
 
My copy of the handbook is the same vintage as my lathe, 1936. I'm of the opinion that it is the most relevant for the type of work I want to do.

(from mobile)
 
The one I use the most is from 1945. The one I hardly open is about 5 years old.................Bob
 
Assuming you are not a professional machinist I would suggest you try to find the matching Guide to the handbook. The handbook is meant to be a reference and it assumes you are familiar with the information. The Guide to the handbook explains how to use the handbook and provides more explanation about the material.
You will want to find the Guide to the same edition handbook you buy since they are linked referencing page numbers and such. I have found the guide very helpful.



I bought a 24th edition which is from the early 90s. It is older edition, but not "vintage" so it was priced as just a used book.

My thought was it is new enough to include metric and info on CNC in case I want to explore that later, but it doesn't assume CNC and metric are the default. It also seems to be easier to find the matching Guide to the handbook on the more recent editions.
I think the same logic would apply to any of the editions from the 1980s-90s.


I later bought a 14th edition, that was sold with the 14th edition guide. The 14th edition is from the early 1950s so it includes some older information dropped from the more recent editions. It specifically includes material on blacksmithing and forging that has largely been dropped from the handbook since the 1970s. I'm not doing any blacksmithing / forging right now but thought it would be nice to have that information available in case I decide I'd like to. The price was reasonable and it was a matched set with the guide.


There was a website that gave a good breakdown to the contents of the handbook by edition, but unfortunately it seems to be down. The late 1940s / early 1950s editions seem to be a sweet spot for collecting the older techniques and technology. Late enough to capture the developments in metallurgy and tooling of early 20th century, but old enough that these techniques were not yet considered obsolete.
 
I bought a 17th edition when I began my apprenticeship; it was on the list of required textbooks for our night classes; it is the only handbook that I will need for the rest of my life, so far as shop work is concerned. Some of the older generation that I knew had and used the American Machinist's Handbook; if you worked in a locomotive shop back in the 1930s or '40s, it would be a good choice too.
 
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