Metalworking

Overview This collection of priceless tips, tricks, skills, and experiences from a veteran of the trade is presented in a way that captures the readers’ attention and engages them in the process of furthering their skills. It includes shop-tested descriptions and illustrations of creative and unique techniques and observations from four decades in the metalworking trades. Perfect for hobbyists and veterans alike, and everyone in between, and for those who work out of either small shops or garages, backyard facilities and basements. It will help any metalworker do better work and do it faster!  Users will learn about: The shop environment. Basic generic skills such as drawing and sketching, accuracy, speed, shop math and trigonometry, and angles. Setting up your shop, including floors, light, heating and cooling, workbenches and tables, air supply, raw material storage and handling, safety equipment, filing, sawing, rigging and lifting. Manual and CNC lathes. Manual and CNC mills. Welding. Flame straightening. Sheet metal, patterns, cones, and tanks and baffles. Sanding, grinding, and abrading.Features Covers hundreds of shop-tested techniques. These creative and unique techniques have been shop-tested by the author the old-fashioned way, by repetition and hard work.Features hundreds of 4-color photographs. Metalworking —Doing It Betterincludes over 900 4-color images personally photographed by the author to illustrate the methods he describes in the book.Fully integrates text and photographs. The guide has been designed so that in virtually every case, the tips and the supporting photographs appear together on the same page.Provides wide range of topics. Many of the topics address specific trade skills, working with manual and CNC lathes and mills, as well as welding flame straightening, sheet metal, sanding, grinding, and abrading. Earlier chapters focus on general across-the-board skills, including essential shop math and trigonometry, accuracy, speed, drawing, and sketching.Includes extensive guidance for setting up your workshop. Chapter 4 helps you with shop basics — finding the right floor and lights, heating and cooling, workbenches and tables, air supply, storage and handling of raw materials, and much more.Written from a folksy, personal perspective. The tips and techniques are presented as an ongoing, informal conversation between the author and the reader.Chapter 1         Diving In  Welcome to Doing It Better                                                                                Personal Learning Attitude                                                                                 Shop Environment                                                                                             What’s a Journeyman Anyway?                                                                         Thursday Nights                                                                                    Format                                                                                                              Chapter 2         Brain Food Communication                                                                                             Drawing and Sketch                                                                                     Minimizing Screw-Ups                                                                                     Accuracy                                                                                                        Speed                                                                                                            Shop Math                                                                                                       Mass, Volume, and Area                                                                                 Angles and Shop Trigonometry                                                                    The Metric System                                                                                          Computers and the Metalworker                                                                        Dumb and Dumber                                                                                           Want to Make a Million Dollars?                                                                       Chapter 3         Bean Counters LoungeEngineers and Metalworkers                                                                          Shop Talk                                                                                                        Dimensioning                                                                                                    Other Tips                                                                                                      Chapter 4         Setting Up Your ShopFloors                                                                                                             Light                                                                                                              Food Areas                                                                                                     Heating and Cooling                                                                                        Workbenches and Tables                                                                               Air Supply                                                                                                      Raw Material Storage and Handling                                                                   Material Identification and Characteristics                                               Safety Equipment                                                                                            Tool Crib                                                                                                          Bench Work                                                                                                     Filing                                                                                                               Saws and Sawing                                                                                             Rigging and Lifting                                                                                             Chapter 5         Manual LatheLearning to Love the Lathe                                                                                 Getting Started with the Manual Lathe                                                                Step Turning                                                                                                     Threading in the Manual Lathe                                                                           Multiple Start Threads                                                                                        Chapter 6         Manual Milling MachineBridgeport Mills                                                                                          Suggested Improvements                                                                                   Spherical Surface Generation                                                                             Chapter 7         CNC MillWorking with CNC Equipment