books or videos

[jlnak907]

can anyone recomend any decent books for a beginner that would be useful,so far what i have read has been ok but the information is vague im wondering if any one could recomend something with great detail that could be understood by someone with little machining expirence,and does any one know if the machinists bedside reader books are useful,thanks for any info

 

[lazyLathe]

Google the book " How To Run a Lathe"

Has lots of useful info in there and can be found for free downloads all over the place.
Can also be bought off ebay for reasonable prices!

Andrew

 

[Highpower]

I have a copy of "Machining Fundamentals" by John R. Walker that covers quite a lot of ground, and I highly recommend it.
So simple, a caveman could read it... I am proof of that. :biggrin:

 

[Tony Wells]

"The Mealworkers Benchtop Reference Manual" by Joseph W. Serafin. Lots of old school tech that still works, plus lots of engineering data.

 

[pjf134]

Google Tubal Cain or Mr.pete222 youtube videos, he has a lot. He uses different lathes for demos, which is nice. He does ramble a bit, but good info for the beginner. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video could be worth at least 2,000 IMO. There is also some other people on youtube with some videos. Cutter bit grinding is a must to learn for the lathe and Mr. Pete does a pretty good demo.
Paul

 

[Nelson]

Ok, yes I sure can, being a newbie and absolute idiot in machining.

These books are cheapest when you order from ENCO with free shipping. They are on sale now. They were used as classroom texts and are, in my humble opinion, an absolute must-have:


Machine Shop practice, Volumes 1 & 2 by Karl Moltrecht
(dark green hardcover)

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?...MKANO=290&PMKBNO=2453&PMPAGE=58&PARTPG=INLMPI

Machine Shop Training Course, 5th Edition, 2 volume set
by Franklin D. Jones (red hardcover)

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=505-3536


Nelson

 

[joebiplane]

I have those books and in my opinion they're not teaching books. Ed

I agree...but unless your one of the few who has a friend /neighbor who can " SHOW YOU" i'm afraid you will have to glean what you can from the books/videos and then strap some metal in the machine and head out for the interstate of desstruction....
(tip) try a project with aluminium first before commiting to steel ( assuming the finished project must be steel) you get and extra practice round and it doesn't take as long to machine as steel. just like everything else it a lot easier the second time you try it ( and the 3rd, 4th, 5th....etc.)

 

[irishwoodsman]

I know where your coming from, the main thing in learning is know your machine what each piece does, carriage, tail stock chuck, centers, cross feed ,compound , dials, tool post, threading attachment, cutting tools,im 52 yrs old soon to be 53 never touched a lathe untill a yr and a half ago i was in the same boat as you, but onced i figured out my lathe, how to turn it on and how to stop it quick everything else started falling into place, dont be scared of your lathe but respect it,[safety first] a member mentioned Mr Pete [tubalcain] youtube, Lathe basics 1 and 2 will help you a great deal[grinding bits[tubalcain] faceing, tubalcain. these vids will help you greatly. take your time, practice on simple things and as you get comfortable add a new twist to your project, turn a peice of bar stock down then turn a shoulder on it then put a taper on it 60 degree [point] as you do little things like this not only are you makeing yourself comfortable with your machine you are beginning to learn what you and your machine can do, we are all here to help you so dont be afraid to ask questions, glade to have you aboard and happy turning, mac:biggrin:

 

[British Steel]

+1 on How to Run a Lathe, particularly if you have a Southbend!

The English "Workshop Practice" series is good - a bit of a model-engineering bias to them, but pretty useful all the same, possibly excepting the clock-making ones?

Sparrey's "The Amateur's Lathe" is good, title sums it up!

In the 60's ( ? ) Newnes published "Newnes Complete Lathework" - 2 volumes, first volume is excellent with examples that were used as apprentice pieces etc., the second is mainly focused on turret and automatic screw lathes though

As far as bought videos, I really like Darryl Holland's videos on both lathework and milling (using a bridgeport as an example), I think they're available through the American Gunsmithing Institute in the US, a bit hard to find in the UK / Oz? He has a real emphasis on precision, and goes into a lot of detail about speeds, feeds, depths of cut etc.

Rudy Kouhoupt's videos are good, but his voice sends me to sleep...

On Youtube there's a bit of a signal-to-noise problem - some are good, some very very good, some are just plain scary!

Dave H.

 

[randyjaco]

I'd like to recommend" Machine Shop Essentials" by Frank Marlow. ISBN 0-9759963-0-4

I recently picked up a copy from the Houston Home Metal Shop Club library. I liked it so much, I bought my own copy. I am not a Noob, but I sure wish I had this book when I was. The book contains hundreds of illustrations of machine shop tools with short non-technical explanations of how they are used. This book should answer 90% of Noob questions and many questions of more experienced home machinists. It is a great reference for those tools and procedures you don't use very often.
It is @$50, so it might be a good item to add to Christmas and birthday lists.