(For comments by readers and reviewers of the book, click here.)

"The process of producing complex, accurate parts cannot be described by looking in the window of a quarter million dollar CNC machine. It would be like a merchant seaman working in the engine room trying to describe a storm in the Atlantic Ocean by telling you how much extra fuel the ship used. The professional's view of the subject may be so cluttered with details that it is difficult to sort the things you really need to know... It is the craftsman working with small tools, turning the cranks by hand, who will have the most to tell you about the real world of working with metal."

"The tables and charts can be found in Machinery's Handbook, and I don't plan to duplicate them in this book. Library shelves are full of books of this nature. The information in this book won't be found in charts and graphs. I'm going to attempt to give you the information to actually start making parts. Instructions that tell you "how" to do a job too often skip the most basic information, and that is "why" you would want to do a job this way or that way."

"The choices for metal seem endless, but there is a problem. It's called the "minimum order". Let's say you want to start on a project that contains several types of steel, brass, aluminum and cast iron. Chances are each of these products will be sold by a different supplier; each with their own rules when it comes to extra charges for small orders. Your should also understand that most bar material used in machine shops comes in twelve-foot lengths and material used in construction and fabrication shops comes in twenty-foot lengths. It may cost as much as $25 to have a single bar cut to length. If you call up one of these suppliers and try to order a four-inch piece of half-inch aluminum they will probably ask if you are joking.

You will have to order from a supplier that caters to the hobby market... You can order all your materials from one source at one time. This allows you to spend your time building things, not talking on the phone to somebody who considers your order not worth the effort. If you are a novice, always buy enough material to make three parts in case you have to start over."

"I enjoy buying measuring tools. Most people treat these tools with great respect and take pride in them. A good toolbox full of high quality measuring tools in your workshop has the same owner's sense of satisfaction as a china cabinet full of figurines has for your wife. I don't know if you will convince her of this fact, but it's worth trying."

"Measuring tools don't have to be expensive to work well. Due to the number of imports on the market there is a great selection of measuring tools available that all work quite well. People seem to think tools like this are a lot more valuable than they are. I have seen people trying to sell a beat up one-inch micrometer at a swap meet that I wouldn't even use as a welding clamp. They may be asking more money than you could buy a set of three new ones at today's prices."

"Almost any engineer can design parts that will work if tight tolerances are held. These parts are almost impossible to build and can increase the cost by a factor of ten. It takes a good engineer to design parts within practical limits."

"Common sense should tell you that if a cutter deflects a large amount on heavy cuts, it will still deflect a small amount on light cuts. Tool or part deflection has to be considered in every case. Whether you are operating a machine the size of a locomotive or as small as a Sherline, the problems remain the same, but fortunately the costs don't. A large part can have thousands of dollars worth of material and labor invested before a machinist touches it. How would you like to be the employee who has to tell his boss he has just bored a hole oversize in a twenty-thousand dollar forging?"

"I used this trick in a different fashion and got a contract for thousands of dollars. The contract was for some thin walled aluminum tubes that had a shape like a test tube. They had a diameter of 1.125" (28mm) and were about six inches long and had a wall thickness of .040" (1mm). The tube would simply collapse and the theory was the part would have to be placed on a mandrel to machine the final O.D. I bought 1-7/16" diameter stock to do the job. The center was drilled and reamed to size and the outside diameter was cut in a single pass. What was left over was the part they wanted. The excess material that was machined off was, in a sense, the fixture that held the part while it was being machined. Think about it. The cost in wasted material was far less than the extra operation required."

"I believe the biggest advantage I had over my competitors was I knew what it took to build things both as a hobbyist and as a toolmaker. If I had only worked as a toolmaker I would have considered making a complex part on a twenty-five pound mill impossible. On the other hand, if I had worked only as a hobbyist I wouldn't have known that accessories like a boring head would be necessary to make the machine usable. Items like fly cutters and boring heads were not available for miniature machine tools at the time. This gave me a chance to create a whole new market for Sherline."

"The skill in machining isn’t just "moving the dials". It is a combination of engineering and craftsmanship. The file is just as useful a tool to a machinist as a multi-thousand dollar machine tool. Tools "deflect" or bend under load, and anticipating this bend is what it is all about. Sharp tools deflect less than dull tools, but with each pass the tool dulls a little and the deflection becomes greater. If you try to machine a long shaft with a small diameter, the center will always have a slightly larger diameter than the ends because the part deflects away from the tool where it has less support. You can go crazy trying to machine it straight, or you can simply pick up a good, flat mill file and file it straight in a few moments. Machine tools will never replace the "craftsman's touch", and machining is a combination of both good tools and good technique."

"For me, therefore, the most important part was to try and instill in a potential machinist the value of good craftsmanship. Great craftsmen not only get the job done, they add a certain "look" to parts they build. It is almost a signature. I have seen the same part made by two different craftsmen using the same drawing. They were both highly skilled tookmakers. Both parts met the specifications perfectly, yet I could easily tell who built each part. Machining should be considered a form of art."

 Reader Comments on Tabletop Machining

Here are a few comments from readers:

"When someone with Joe Martin's experience in the machine shop begins to draw upon his past and put it into print, one bit of wisdom tumbles out right on the heels of another. What started out to be a substantial book became a monumental one, and it's clearly not limited in its scope to people who own and operate the tabletop-type machine tool such as Sherline equipment. Machining is machining, and size is for the most part immaterial. The setups and processes it illustrates are important and useful for any machinist with any equipment. I encourage everyone to have Tabletop Machining in their shop library."

—Joe Rice, Publisher, The Home Shop Machinist magazine

"What a pleasant surprise, not only hearing from you, but getting a copy of your new book on miniature machining. It is absolutely fantastic, and I am just getting a chance to glance through it and want to go through it very thoroughly. ...When I look at your book, Joe, I can just see the $$$, as like you mentioned, as many books as we have done, I know exactly what kind of money goes into them. You have done everything, as you put it, "first class", and it is a book worth the price and then some."

"I bought this book at the ME exhibition and I have a complaint for the author. It is my practice to read in bed before I can get off to sleep but Joe Martin’s book made me lose two nights sleep because I could just not put it down and stayed awake all night. It must be the most readable and informative book on the subject that I have ever read. It is full of sound common sense but it always explains why."

"Congratulations on your new book. ...Chapter 5, "Making a business out of a hobby" should be mandatory reading for any student attending a business school. Your philosophy in the business world has proven to be correct on how to make the customer happy. ...Now if I can only figure out how to make one of those "cube within a cube within a cube" trinkets (page 4-5-17) I will go back to work..."

"Could you send me Joe's e-mail address? I would like to write him and tell him how great his book Tabletop Machining is. I just got my copy today. I saw it first at the PRIME show where I placed my order. This is the best book on the market for model engineers."

"I just finished the book, and I could only find one thing wrong with it. It ended!"

"This book will become the modeler's bible."

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