Authoritative. Comprehensive. Invaluable. Practical. Updated.
Updated?
I have relied on my 20th Edition copy since I entered the metalworking industry as a supervisor in the early 1980’s. It has served me well through the years, and while respectfully used, is showing evidence of ‘serious use’- missing thumb tabs, dust jacket in tatters, a host of bookmarks…
Here are 5 reasons why I’ll probably upgrade to the new 29th Edition:
- New sections added on Micromachining, Statistics, and Calculating Thread Dimensions;
- Expanded Metric content. The jobs we see in our shops today are increasingly metric as we serve a growing global market;
- Easier to use- they have added tables of contents at the beginning of each section;
- Extensive revisions to key sections including Mathematics, Gaging and Dimensioning, and Machining Operations
- It has been re-typeset (including tables and equations) and many figures redrawn.
Now the problem for me is choice: Do I get the ‘regular edition’ to replace augment my current 20th edition handbook? Do I jump into the electronic age with the CD version? Or do I acknowledge I no longer have the eyes of a younger man and buy the “larger print” edition?
It’s time for me to buy. My investment in the 20th Edition sure paid off. How about you?
Which would you choose? What other books have you found critical to your practice in our precision metalworking field?
Machinery’s Handbook 29th Edition can be purchased direct from Industrial Press.