Can anyone recommend books for a beginer?

Kent · Mar 16, 2001

I have always loved old equipment and would like to learn more about old metal working machines. I am getting to an age and place in my career where I will have a bit of time and hopefully space to work on these things.

doc · Mar 16, 2001

hi,
advanced machine work by robert smith.,800pages,866 illustrations,copyright 1910-1925 is the absolute complete bible for manual machine work, the basic older no compromise way.lindsey has reprinted this @circa$29.my copy was my dads m.i.t.text& i
still look up proceedures 55 yrs after first reading it......machine tool operation, henry burghardt, pt 1& 2(high school text is occasionally on e bay @$15to $25 is also of much value .i find the nswer texts to be overviews &description/nomenclature for students to be on speaking terms w/ the shop.my dad was a m.e.& had a fit when m.i.t.dropped the shop requirement., now mech. drawing is an elective!!!!!.......atlas manual of lathe operation will teach you basic lathe proceedures,abt $20, istill have my copy &little 6x18 from almost 50 yrs back....but have not found anything i wanted to do that was not addressed infirst book i have had to supplement w/advice &conversation on esoteric things like when i made rifle chambering reamers.... alsop pics of shop made flat drills c/bores &reamers made from drill rod .(fun)..Jump in... once contracted the disease has occasional remissions but no cure!!!!
best wishes
doc

D. Thomas · Mar 16, 2001

Kent, before I sumit my $.02, what aspect of "learning more" do you mean ? Do you mean books on the history of machine tools, books on rebuilding, or simply general "how to" machining books that were written in the early 1900's and feature the old machines and well as some long forgotten tidbits of machine shop lore ?

Kent · Mar 20, 2001

While the info on general machining procedures was appreciated my question was for books about the machines themselves.

Very basic history overviews on the types of different machines that may not even be made anymore. For example a book that might trace the history of the milling machine, when it became electric powered verses belt driven from overhead shafts. When did they stop using leather belts and why etc.

I guess what I like is the looks of older equipment when a lathe had graceful lines instead of looking like a box with levers. And when makers name were cast in the machine rather than glued on a decal.

D. Thomas · Mar 20, 2001

I hear ya Kent...here's three books I recommend. The second two may be hard to come by...dunno...but Lindsay should have the first one.

*English and American Tool Builders by Joseph Roe Yale University Press (reprinted by Lindsay Publications

*Metalworking: Yesterday and Tomorrow - 100th Aniversary Issue of American Machinist magazine (reprinted in hardback in 1978..second edition 1981)

*An Outline of the History of Metal Cutting Machines to the Middle of the 19th Century (whew !) by F N Zagorskii- Published for the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and the National Science Foundation (whew no. 2 !!)

Now that I know your taste in lathes I've placed a little treat for you in the photo archives...take a peek but get a hankerchief first to wipe up the drool

doc · Mar 20, 2001

kent ,
Lindsey's catalog is worth perusing.....reprints (softback) of old texts,,,,,,catalogs....have Browne &sharp reprint of first "modern" millthat won machine tool prize in France circa 1860-70. letme know if u need contact info.
best wishes
doc

doc · Mar 21, 2001

just saw the archival pic of the hardinge lathe .how can i now be content useing ANY of my lathes ..aaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!
best wishes
doc
ps...1925?

D. Thomas · Mar 21, 2001

No date anywhere on the Cataract catalog, but 1925 sounds about right.

D. Thomas · Mar 21, 2001

Another cool book I just noticed on my bookshelf is "A History of the Machine" by Sigvard Strandh. This book concerns all machines, and has a chapter on metalworking machines specifically. A large book with lots of nicely done illustrations. Published in 1979 and long out of print, but Amazon's Z shops has some used copies.

Kent · Mar 22, 2001

Now that machine has CLASS!

ObsoleteTom · Mar 24, 2001

One book that should not be left out is South Bend Lathe Works' How To Run a Lathe. This one was published for years, always showing South Bend's current machines and attachments, and should be readily available used. This is a clear, concise treatise on both the South Bend lathe and on lathe practices in general.

halfnut · Apr 15, 2001

Kent,

Someone already mentioned Lindsay, have had good dealings with them.

The Henry Ford Tech. book was good, got one for my brother in law couple of years ago, perused it some before I gave it to him for Xmas.

Anything by Colvin and Stanley. They are the machinist's machinists. Wish the books of today were of there caliber. I have found a few by looking in every used book store from here to yonder. Lindsay has carried some of thier reprints.

Good luck, keep your ways true and your gibs tight.

Kent · Apr 16, 2001

Thanks for putting me on to Lindsay guys. The only problem is I'll probably go into debt buying books. There are so many that look interesting. Just thumbing through the catalog was fun.

halfnut · Apr 17, 2001

Kent,

Got to reading prior replies for your posts, you said material on old machines, not just gen knowledge. OK, so I didn't read too good the first time.

Colvin and Stanley are still good, recomend their books to anyone. There is one in Lindsay by one or the other of them, they wrote books together and separate, I think, at least one of them wrote separately. But anyhow I noticed one in Lindsay's catalog by Fred Colvin titled "60 Years with Men and Machines", I might order it myself.

Have you discovered Tony Griffiths?

http://homepages.force9.net/tonygriffiths/page21.html

It's great, doesn't have pictures of everything but darn near, they have a 2 cdrom set of their site for 20 bucks, I should order one.

Have ran accross a few, what shall we call them? Industial archaology sites, I need to remember to bookmark them.

Good luck, Lindsay will like you.

Lloyd Wilson · Apr 18, 2001

For some quick reading try this Web site "http://www.advancement.cnet.navy.mil/products/catalogpages/14161.htm" It will get you started anyway.

D. Thomas · Apr 27, 2001

While looking for something else, ran across another very interesting book in my storage bookcase today I thought I'd mention. "When the Machine Stopped" by Max Holland...came out in 1989 and published by the Harvard Business School Press.

The is supposed to be a business book, a "Cautionary tale from Industrial America" is the subtitle, but it's a fascinating account of the rise and fall of the largest USA machine tool builder west of the Mississippi...Burgmaster....which gives glimpses of what went wrong with most of the other big American machine tool companies a decade after Burgmaster's demise. It's also a fascinating account of immigrant Fred Burg's turret drill press invention and it's quintessential American sucess story for two decades...until Houdaille Industries, Asian machine invasion and various other screwups came to bear.

The author's dad worked for Burgmaster almost from the beginning, so much "inside" info on the goings on.

I suspect this isn't precisely the type of book that Kent was asking about, but just thought some of you guys might be interested. It's probably out of print now, but most libraries could probably get it on interlibrary loan, or you can check various used book sites on the internet.

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Can anyone recommend books for a beginer?

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