Basic books on milling machine operstion

josquin

josquin

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I know this can be a "Here we go down the rabbit hole" kind of question, but every once i a while I think of getting a small milling machine "just because". It would likely be a Grizzly/Busy Bee/King, which I know have limitations, bu it would be for "stuff I can't do on a drill press", with no illusions about eventually becoming a Canadian equivalent of Hamilton Bowen. (If you aren't familiar with his work, go here.). And not just for gunsmithing projects. An expensive luxury, perhaos - esp. after adding the necessary tooling, but as they say, "a man can dream."

I'd like to do a bit of reading up in advance, so am looking for some basic introductory books on milling machine operation. (And it may go no further than there.) Some recommendations I've found online include "The Milling Machine for Home Machinists" by Harold Ball and "Master Guide to End Milling".

Any other suggestions?
 
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see if a local college has night or week end classes for introductory to machining.
Most stuff is all entry into CNC but there are courses that offer introductory level Mill and Lathe operation.
I have the machinist handbook... the edition number escapes me but it's hard for me to learn from a book.... I have to do the task.
 
Technology of Machine Tools, by Krar.

If feeling flush, buy a new one, otherwise, for hobby use, grab an older edition. Budget around $25-$30, instead of the $125 or so that the new editions are costing.

It's a standard text used for senior High School/College level shop courses.

Lots of hobby oriented books on milling, but you have to sorta dig through them to find the ones that get you information that you can use.
 
Milofficer said:
Check out AvE and This Old Tony on Youtube while you're at it
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Good for cheap laughs, but really not worth poo for trying to learn the basics. Or anything advanced, for that matter.

Seriously. Technology of Machine Tools! Great book, and the one I would unreservedly suggest if you gotta have 'just one'. If you saw the pallets of boxes of books I own, you might get a deeper understanding of just how high a recommendation that is from an avowed metalworking book junkie! :)

In no particular order, A Treatise on Milling, by Brown and Sharpe, Modern Machine Tool Practice, by Moltrecht, and so very many more.
The Tee Publishing, Workshop Practice Series books are mostly pretty good too. Try to preview before buying if you can. Some duds in their number. Like the Threading in a Lathe book, which is mainly a bunch of charts that might be useful if you have an odd duck of a lathe that has a weird lead screw pitch and odd tooth count gears, but you don't have a manual for and don't wish to do the math yourself... I think it sells a lot of copies because guys hope that there is some way other than following the instructions, to make threading less scary. There isn't.
A fella who wrote under the assumed name of Tubal Cain, real name Tom Walshaw, has proven to be pretty consistent in providing value in that series.
If you have a lathe, The Amateur's Lathe by Sparey is great too. The Tubal Cain books on Milling in the Lathe, and Workholding in the lathe, are really good for opening your eyes to the possibilities, without glossing over the limitations. Almost all the workholding examples are directly applicable to any milling work done on a dividing head or between a set of indexing centers.
 
I'm a Tubalcain, on You tube, fan. Not being one of those Bible nuts, I never realized till recently, Tubalcain was the first Blacksmith. :redface: Great information to be found there.

Grizz
 
trevj said:
Technology of Machine Tools, by Krar.

If feeling flush, buy a new one, otherwise, for hobby use, grab an older edition. Budget around $25-$30, instead of the $125 or so that the new editions are costing....
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Found a used 3rd Ed. (1984) on Abe Books for $4.36 USD, with free shipping to my alternate US address :)
(There are others available there if anyone is interested)

I'll check out the Tubal Cain videos, too.

@ Grizzly Adams: that name was vaguely familiar to me as well. Didn't know he was the first blacksmith, though. There are some patron saints of blacksmiths, such as St. Clement and St.Dunstan, the latter I just came across on a Canadian website, The Forgery.

Blacksmithing is getting a little off-topic, but this reminded me of a story from 2017 which some may find interesting, of a local kid (Abbotsford) who got into blacksmithing: 'I didn't have any money to buy coal:' true confessions of a 13-year-old blacksmith.
 
josquin said:
Found a used 3rd Ed. (1984) on Abe Books for $4.36 USD, with free shipping to my alternate US address :)
(There are others available there if anyone is interested)

I'll check out the Tubal Cain videos, too.

@ Grizzly Adams: that name was vaguely familiar to me as well. Didn't know he was the first blacksmith, though. There are some patron saints of blacksmiths, such as St. Clement and St.Dunstan, the latter I just came across on a Canadian website, The Forgery.

Blacksmithing is getting a little off-topic, but this reminded me of a story from 2017 which some may find interesting, of a local kid (Abbotsford) who got into blacksmithing: 'I didn't have any money to buy coal:' true confessions of a 13-year-old blacksmith.
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Skip the Tubal Cain Videos. IIRC, his username on youtube is mrpete222.

Or try them and see if they get you any further ahead. Not the same guy as wrote the books.
Most of his videos seem to involve him pawing through piles of stuff he bought at auction, but doesn't know what the stuff is actually for.
Nothing convinces me of 'idiot' status, quite as much as seeing him pull out a piece of tooling, and proclaim it to be good stuff, then the next piece that comes out of the box (the other piece of the previous tooling, needed for it's use) gets called "Junk" and tossed on the floor. The only good thing I have to say about him, is, he's not as big an idiot as Wranglerstar.
 
trevj said:
Skip the Tubal Cain Videos. IIRC, his username on youtube is mrpete222....
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That's the problem with the internet- everyone's an "expert." Seems like there are a lot of them out there so I can sift through and see what's actually useful. :)
 
Anyone familiar with '"Running a Milling Machine" by Fred Colvin? Someone on Practical Machinist recommened it. Looks like it may have been written many years ago.

trevj: I just discovered I have one of the Workshop Practical Series, "The Milling Machine" bu Harold Hall. Must have bought it years ago and forgotten about it. There is also "Milling- A Complete Course' which, from the reviews, isn't in fact a complete course but has several basic projects as tutorials.
 
josquin said:
Anyone familiar with '"Running a Milling Machine" by Fred Colvin? Someone on Practical Machinist recommened it. Looks like it may have been written many years ago.

trevj: I just discovered I have one of the Workshop Practical Series, "The Milling Machine" bu Harold Hall. Must have bought it years ago and forgotten about it. There is also "Milling- A Complete Course' which, from the reviews, isn't in fact a complete course but has several basic projects as tutorials.
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Pretty sure I have a copy. Somewhere. :)

Lots of the older book have a lot to offer for a Hobby Machinist. Most of the modern practice revolves around high speeds of production in a shop environment, almost all CNC stuff. The older books have a lot of the stuff that is far closer to what the home shop guys these days are dealing with.

If you can hit the used book stores, they often have useful info in the sections related to metalwork. The old Popular Mechanics magazine used to put out articles on home shop style work regularly, and collected them together in annual issues. from around the 1940's on through the mid '60's or so. They covered Shapers, Lathes, and bench top size Milling, pretty well.

It would not be a bad idea to grab a couple magazines off the shelf if you can find them. Home Shop Machinist, and Home Shop Machinist's Workshop, are two from out of the US. Model Engineer, and Model Engineer's Workshop, as well as Engineering in Miniature, are out of the UK. They don't show up at the grocery store magazine rack, but a news stand that stocks a wide range of magazines will likely get a copy or two in. Chapters often carries them as well.
One of the main advantages to the magazines, is that they are stuffed full of adverts for all the various and sundry items that may be of interest.

Oh yeah. Cheap end mills. Check out richontools.com. They have both HSS and carbide, at prices you won't find anywhere around this area. I figure if you are buying cheap import end mills, you may as well buy them at wholesale rather than local retail.
 
Thanks again, trevj. I'll be down in Bellingham on Tuesday and there are a couple of good used bookstores there I can go through. Tool suppliers noted :)
 
Not sure if there is one in your area or not.
But there is a "makers Space" here. Ours has mills and lathes (Big ones). And they have professional machinists that will teach you how to use it safely. (They need to do it right for insurance purposes)

Then you get to learn AND make exactly what you want. (AND have access to some decent equipment with out having to buy it)
 
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