500 Plus Pages of Bang Up-to-date Material

In almost all respects, this volume is a complete contrast, being 500 plus pages of bang up to-date material. As the introduction comments, the book covers manually controlled machines as might be used by model makers, instrument makers, car and motorcycle enthusiasts and gunsmiths....

What you will not find in this book is page upon page of reference data, as you might find in Machinery's Handbook. Thus in the section on taps, few tapping drill sizes are given, but the concept of "Percentage Engagement" is clearly explained and it is noted that tap loading can be reduced by up to 65% by changing from 80% engagement to 60% which is adequate for most situations. This is also a book almost totally devoid of photographs. It does however boast over five hundred line drawings, which illustrate topics with excellent clarity of detail. In many instances, a section view shows what the camera cannot.

In summary, it may be thought that the use of the word "Essentials" in the title is to understate the scope of the book. It provides rather more than just the bare essentials for most of what one is likely to encounter in amateur or low production machining work.

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