New copy or Old?

[Charley Davidson]

I need to break down and get a copy of Machinery Handbook, Should I buy a new copy (I like the fact you can also get CDrom with it) or find an older copy?

 

[Splat]

Depends if you want CNC and other modern topics, otherwise the older ones are perfectly fine. I forget when the first CD was included but you can still find older copies with the CD. Many older machinists told me to get the edition close to when my machines were made. I went with the 15th edition because it was right around when my lathe and mill were made.

Here's an excellent writeup about different versions of Machinery's Handbook.

 

[Ray C]

I have the latest large print version as of 2 years ago (not sure if there's an update already). If I were to do buy it again, I'd seriously consider the electronic/computer version as even the large print is hard to read and the paper is (no kidding) 0.001" thick. You can see the print ink on the flip-side of the page you're reading and it's very distracting. The pages are like rice paper so wash-up good before cracking it open and make a mental note to tell your hands they're dealing with rice paper, not a 35lb bar of hot rolled. It would be nice if it was printed on normal paper and split into two or more books.

Ray

I need to break down and get a copy of Machinery Handbook, Should I buy a new copy (I like the fact you can also get CDrom with it) or find an older copy?

 

[Kevin45]

Depends if you want CNC and other modern topics, otherwise the older ones are perfectly fine. I forget when the first CD was included but you can still find older copies with the CD. Many older machinists told me to get the edition close to when my machines were made. I went with the 15th edition because it was right around when my lathe and mill were made.

Here's an excellent writeup about different versions of Machinery's Handbook.

From that link:

Color is not an earmark of technical references and Machinery's has been no different. 12th through 14th editions had a spoke fly wheel cartouche with black and gold embossed on the covers and a small color fronticepiece illustration of the company magazine. From the 17th to the 23rd editions Machinery's had colorful slip covers over the dark green leatherette binding. Starting with the 24th edition the covers are slick varnished cloth with color printing. The contents as always are 100% B&W.

Not exactly true. I have the 22nd Edition and it's in a Brown cover.

As far as buying one to the ones that don't have one now, if you get to a flea market, garage sale, or someplace like that, pick one up if you can get it for a reasonable price. For most people, or the majority of machinist, a newer used one will answer 90% of what you need to know. If the eyes are getting bad, then by all means, get a newer one with larger print AND the CD. I'd love to have the CD for my computer. I have yet to see one that way, but I would imagine that if it was on CD, you could more readily find something by doing a word or phrase search. I know that a few times when I referenced back to the Machinery's Handbook, it wasn't too hard to kill an hour with reading and a portion of that flipping through quite a few pages.

I looked back in mine, and the 22nd Edition came out in '84, so I imagine that quite a bit has been added in almost 30 years. I also find it hard to believe that I bought mine that long ago. Man it crazy how fast the time flies. :nuts:

 

[110octane]

One of the advantages of the older editions is that they have some "archaic" (not by my standards) information. Two areas that come to my mind are a table of standard collets and Whitworth, Cycle Engineer's Institute, ASME threads. The collets are especially interesting to our comrades on here, since the table explains the origin of the type (Cataract Lathes, Brown and Sharpe, Lorch, and a host of others) and the dimensions. With the dimensions the odd collet may be indentified. I have the Eighteenth Edition but the information I am speaking of is in older editions from the '30's, '40's, '50's. I have been fortunate enough to have been abel to copy some of the earlier information.
True that some of this information is now available on the web, but not all and not all of it is easy to find nor is all of it in the clean format of Machinery's.
Geoff

 

[Splat]

Not exactly true. I have the 22nd Edition and it's in a Brown cover.

It can be though. I have a 15th edition that looks different than the other 15th editions I've seen on Ebay. I forget exactly how it's different...I think it's either the size or font...but it is.

 

[Rick Berk]

I get a new one about every 5-7 years, I would suggest one that is 2005-2012, They will be half price or less. The newer ones have metric info which you can't get around anymore, also larger drill holes for high speed tapping. My oldest is 10 edition and newest is 2007 edition I won as a door prize.

 

[Ray C]

Looks like the 29th edition is available and all the reviews on Amazon.com are positive regarding content but, the thin and unreadable paper it's printed on is mentioned in virtually all the user reviews. It's so bad, it looks like Amazon and the publisher have dropped the price to 88 bucks for the large print version which is the cheapest I've ever seen for the latest MH book. The CD ROM PDF version is running about 95 bucks.

 

[iMisspell]

I'd love to have the CD for my computer. I have yet to see one that way, but I would imagine that if it was on CD, you could more readily find something by doing a word or phrase search.

Yup... i have "Machinery's Handbook 28th Edition" as pdf at home and the word search is nice.
At work an older hand-me-down book (forget the edition) with a couple of them "yellow sticky pad papers" sticking out of it... word search and book-marking is missed.