Milling for Beginners Book

I've received information about two books entitled "Milling for Beginners" and "Lathework for Beginners" by Mssrs Bellamy and Wyatt respectively.

Are these compilations of the "Beginners" series of articles in Model Engineers' Workshop magazine or something else/something more?

Is anybody able to supply details of the Publisher and the ISBN, please?

Very many thanks in anticipation

MC Black

Send them a PM. I am sure Neil & Jason will enlighten you about their publications.

regards

Deleted.

Edited By Steviegtr on 17/10/2020 13:25:23

I thought that the answer will be of General Interest.

MCB

MCB,

I believe they have been published by Arc Euro as an independent enterprise and may not yet have been allocated an ISBN

Talk to Arc, they will know

Regards Brian

Look at this thread for info on the milling book Thread 131318

Martin C

Well, I'm a little bit disappointed that these books aren't in the WSP series (Nos 50 & 51, they would have been). But having said that, I can understand that Ketan will wish to capitalize on the series since it used machines supplied by Arc.

I also note that these are quite large, at 304mm x 218mm they are quite large, larger in fact than the usual A4 size in the UK.

Peter G. Shaw

If anyone wants to buy either book my email says they are on an introductory offer at ARC.

Links

Mill

Lathe

I have a couple of books that are handy for 'beginners'...

Milling a complete course - Harold Hall - Workshop practice series # 35

ISBN 978 -185486 - 232-7.

The Milling machine - Harold Hall - Workshop practice series # 49.

ISBN - 978 -185486 - 266 - 2

Workholding in the lathe - Tubal Cain - Workshop practice series # 15.

ISBN 0 - 85242 - 908 - 8

Vertical milling in the home workshop - Arnold Throp - Workshop practice series # 2

ISBN - 978 - 85242 - 843 - 6.

The Compact Lathe - Stan Bray - ISBN - 1 - 85486 - 013 - 5.

All handy ref. material & easy reading

George.

I'm afraid mine is not due to be delivered until Monday according to the Royal Mail Text Message so can't let you know of an ISBN number if they have one but at the moment they are only available from ARC.

Yes basically a reworking of what was in the two series in MEW and I believe shipping with something extra again I can't comment until mine arrives.

J

Hi MCB and All,

The ISBNs are the same as the product codes stated on our website.

As Jason mentioned, they are a reworking of the two series in the MEW. They have been edited, laid out and published by ARC.

Both books are based on modern day machines. Aimed at beginners who are:

• less inclined or able to join an engineering club for a variety of reasons, but still want to use a metalworking lathe or mill.
• less willing or able to ask for help, but need to ask basic questions, for example: what is a headstock of a lathe, or why an end mill should be held in a collet rather than a drill chuck, or even what is an end mill.

The books mentioned in Georges posts are great. They are based on older machines where the basic principals of turning or milling are the same as those used in the modern day machines. Most of the target audience of those books had some engineering background or access to machines in metalwork at school, so there is in my opinion some presumption that the reader has some level of understanding of terminology in those books.

During the editing process, ARC has tried to further elaborate, simplify, clarify certain basic ideas for the beginner, based on questions/issues we have come across over the years.

Ketan at ARC

Apologies Peter. The idea of WPS was considered earlier. In terms of sales, having issue 50 and 51 in WPS would have automatically generated fast and potentially greater sales, especially to those who have the complete WPS series in their collection. But of what use would that have been to the total beginner who has yet to know what WPS is?

We wanted to see the pictures in colour, content laid out for easier understanding and reading, on high quality paper, and in hardback. The technical attributes for the books are totally different from what was possible with WPS or Crowood. These comments are made without any disrespect to those publishers or their profession.

By controlling the whole process, ARC got the products we wanted to present to prospective buyers.

Ketan at ARC

Edited By Ketan Swali on 17/10/2020 20:58:27

Ketan,

Sorry, I've fallen into the trap of using WPS (Workshop Practice Series) and assuming everyone else knows what I mean. So yes, you are correct, who or what is WPS? (Bend over, thwack, thwack!)

For what it's worth, WPS Books 48 & 49 do actually have coloured photos inside, but as you intimate, the books are not hardback, and some of mine are distinctly the worse for wear, which shows just how much I read them. And for the non-cognoscenti, the WPS books are A5 which means in turn that any photos and/or sketches are necessarily going to be limited in size.

I did wonder about updates & corrections, and even expansion of the topics covered. In fact, that criticism may also be levelled at the WPS books as some of them are now at least 20 years old.

So, where does that leave me? Well, I'm no beginner, mind you, neither am I an expert, and I do have all the magazine articles (MEW or Model Engineer's Workshop before I have to bend over again!) along with a database in which the articles are listed together with a brief note about the content. And furthermore, given my current age, my current state of health along with the fact that if I get Covid-19, that'll most likely be it for me, I can't see me buying these books.

No disrespect intended Ketan, and thankyou for your considered reply.

Peter G. Shaw

Edited to correct text.

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 17/10/2020 21:43:52

Very many thanks to everybody for their helpful comments.

I have now ordered both books and look forward to reading them

MC

Well my copy arrived today and I must say that Alan, Ketan and his team of proof readers have done a very good job with the layout and typesetting of the book. The large format makes it possible to reproduce many of the photos at much larger sizes than was possible in the mag. This combined with the inclusion of additional images and links makes it a lot easier for a beginner to see and follow what is being described.

As mentioned by Ketan the ISBN numbers on the book do indeed correspond to his item numbers which can be found by clicking on the ARC advert at the top of the page (assuming you don't all have add blockers on).

J

The books have arrived and I'm VERY pleased with my purchase.

(It took two Parcelforce workers in a van to deliver the package)

There's a supplement to each which has QR(?) codes for each of the Arc products mentioned in the book to take the reader to Arc's website - but NOT the page in the printed catalogue.

I would much prefer to quickly look something up in a printed catalogue than bother with a web site - your view may differ.

My only criticism is that neither book had an INDEX - essential if one wants to refer back to something.

MC Black

I think the reasoning for linking back to the website is that it contains a lot more detail on the various items than could be included in the catalogue, typical example of milling cutter info on web site. It would obviously also require the reader to have a catalogue in their possession and it to be the one that has any page refs in it which would change from cat to cat.

There was a catalogue included in the package.

There could be a warning that the Page References referred to Edition 11 (or whatever) of the catalogue.

NOT linking to the catalogue put customers who can't or don't have access to a computer at a great disadvantage.

MCB

Hi MC Black,

Thank you for your comments and observations. We at ARC are glad that you are pleased with your purchase. We know from experience how difficult it is to please you, which includes the choice of delivery systems we use.

I will try to explain some of the reasoning behind what we have done.

The books are broadly generic, using products available from various sellers around the world, rather than specifically from ARC, even though many products were supplied by ARC.

Under normal circumstances, if a person purchased the books from an independent company, the 'Arc Product Guide' (APG) would not be supplied with the book.

The thin 16page (including cover) APG booklet is complementary, and only sent to customers who purchase the books directly from ARC. We just did this as an extra idea. it is not part of the book.

The long-term aim is for other companies around the world to sell the books. So for example, if AUSEE in Australia sells the books, the APG will not be supplied to them. It would be wrong for AUSEEs customers to be directed to ARCs website.

We just wanted to try out the idea of guiding the reader to a source of purchase for a product talked about in a book.

There were two Catalogue 11s included in the package, because you had ordered them...One ordered earlier in the evening and one ordered with the books. The covering letter accompanying the Catalogue 11 does say in one of the paragraphs... 'For up-to-date information on prices and/or product details, please visit our website..' So, we felt it appropriate to link the QR codes in the APG to our website. Whilst I understand and respect your views, we chose to link the QR codes in the APG to pages on our website.

I understand your concern over lack of INDEX. We debated this concern in-house, and once again, whilst I respect your views, after taking many factors into consideration (without going into detail), we felt that the CONTENTS at the beginning was sufficient.

Ketan at ARC