Machinist's handbook, AKA Machinery's Handbook....??

jonnymac44

jonnymac44

Joined
Sep 27, 2007
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Here is a quick question for the machinist's out there. I want to get a copy of the handbook that is most often referenced here on the forums. Often times there is a question here and someone will cite the "machinist's handbook" quoting the required speed, feed, tooling, etc. for the job in question. I've done some research and have come up with several titles that all vary a bit. Wikipedia actually says that what most people refer to as the "Machinist's Handbook" is truly known as "Machinery's Handbook". There are several other variations in the name out there. Can somebody steer me towards a copy of The Machinist's Handbook or whichever book is considered the definitive handbook for machining?

Thanks!!
 
I have an 11th edition that I got at a used book store about 10 years ago. One of the engineers I worked with gave me a 25th edition when the company got him the latest edition. It is an amazing book. I noticed that the new edition has a cnc section that the older one doesn't.

I also noticed that the newer editions of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (a.k.a. rubber bible) does not contain trig or log tables.

Ric
 
lazlo said:
It's "Machinery's Handbook"

http://www.amazon.com/Machinerys-Handbook-Toolbox-Franklin-Jones/dp/0831127007

Just buy an older (20+) edition -- they've hardly changed in the past 10 years, but come out with a new edition every two years for some reason.
Click to expand...

For your manual milling purposes, I agree

Have a look here too.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-making-books-on-Google?p=6451165#post6451165



You may find, it's not worth buying.

It's pretty dry stuff.
Lots of tables and theory stuff you may not even ever care about.
You may never cut a gear or spline, but
If you can read and learn it all, you will know a bunch !

Maybe a college level textbook is more useful to you.


But there are lots of them on Ebay, pick your year and price.
 
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You'll be surprised what you find in the book. It's well worth it, but you don't need to get the newest edition, as mentioned before.

Congrats on the new mill. Another learning curve. Thats one of the things about knifemaking- It keeps leading to new things to learn, whether your just a hobbyist or a professional.
 
Yeah, the book referred to as "The Machinist's Handbook" is actually "The Machinery's Handbook".

I have a copy in both shops. I refer to it frequently, mostly for the thread tables. Lots of good information about every standard thread, pipe threads and hose threads. I use that information everyday.

There is also speed and feed information that I used to read before it sunk into experience.

One of my copies is old. I like to read some of the anachronistic information in there like making cutting oil out of whale oil and powdered lead etc.

Also lots of information about different metal alloys etc., their composition, characteristics, heat treat etc.

I love the book, I use it frequently, it is the only book on my desks. However I think there would probably be better reference books for someone looking to pick up some machining how-to.
 
I browsed through the book for about an hour over at my local library,the newest version. It has a ton of useful tables for anyone who uses machinery. 80% of everything I seen in it was foreign to me but I'm sure for people who do this type of thing the book is a gold mine....very thick book with small lettering. I had asked the same question a while back, "the machinists handbook" is in fact the same as "machinery's handbook".
 
Have you considered taking a some night classes in Machinery ? I don't know your level of experience or expertise but it could be a good learning experience. Often the local Community College ( I think that's what their in the US) up here we have technical colleges that offer introductory classes. If you already know how to use the machine disregard this post . I know if I bought one I would do this but I'm totally new to machining of metal.
 
I have a textbook on machining basics if you want it. If you are interested let me know!
-Ben Martin
 
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