Milling: A Complete Course (Workshop Practice)

I have bought three of Harold Hall's books, and they have all been read, used and re-read. His writing is clear, expert, well illustrated with clear photographs and drawings and the projects are very suitable to anyone starting in this fascinating field of metal working. They are good bed side reading and/or workshop guides for the actual projects. The books in the Workshop Practice Series are compact, about 128 pages, but contain a surprisingly large amount of information, and are good value. The projects in "Milling" are graded from easy to intermediate difficulty, and each tool made can be used in later projects. Each project introduces new milling techniques and information, and in the course of the entire book most major milling procedures which might be used by the hobbyist are covered. The subtitle "A complete course" is appropriate. The tools look really interesting and useful, and I plan to make most of them. I strongly recommend this book, and also "Lathework- A Complete Course" and "Tool and Cutter Sharpening" by the same author.

This was just what I was looking for. I am learning and improving my knowledge and skill on a small Smithy machine tool. This starts with some easy(er) projects to build skills and make useful tools. The projects get more and more involved. There is a good text description of each project and recommendations on changes / improvements to make. It took forever to get here but it was worth the wait. I got both the lathe and mill book at the same time.

The title of the book is a misnomer, since this is far from a complete course on milling. It is, however, a good book for a starter for somebody who's bought a small home mill and has discovered that it's missing even the most basic tools and has no real instructions with it. I've been a machinist since the mid-1980's and have plenty of practice and tools, and there were even a few items among the projects that I intend to build. Given the price, if you've just bought a small mill and haven't the foggiest idea what to do with it, this book is money well spent. I gave it only four stars, however, mainly because it's not what it claims to be when it says it's a "complete" course. Instead, it's an excellent place to start.

Very good for learning new techniques. Covers setup and operation of most home shop mills. I am building the advanced tool sharpener holder which is one of the projects presented. It was an unexpected challenge to convert the dimensions from mm to inches, but a good exercise. I also learned several milling techniques that I was unaware of. A great book for the price. The "Lath a complete course" is a good companion book and both books compliment each other.

good reference

One Minute he is trying to do things all in metric but he is in england so half of it does not translate to metric easy. Most of what he has done can be made to work and work great. Still he make dove tails using a backwards was to do it half arsed. Use the right tools if you are going to machine things then buy the tools to machine them when you have to. Some of the photos need to be a little clearer so we would understand better. I do like some of the small project he thinks we need and he is right we do need them no matter what. 73 dray

This is a different approach than other books in the series in that it teaches the use of the mill through accessory projects that produce required accessories. There are hold downs, clamps blocks right angle adapters, etc. that will keep one busy for quite a while and will outfit the mill station with useful hardware. Good investment for the money, and different from the other learn to mill books, even those in the Workshop Practice Series.

This is mostly a projects book - not a whole lot of information on speeds/feeds, 2 flute mills vs 4 flute, etc. If you have trouble figuring out what to make using your mill this is a good book for you, if you want operational information you need Machinery's Handbook or Hall;s other book on the milling machine. (My apologies for forgetting the title, I'm handicapped, the book is in the shop and it's cold out there and won't be warmed up for another 2 or 3 hours!)

I know various reviewers have criticised this book as I read the reviews before ordering and did wonder what I would be getting. I find it to be a very useful book and is refreshing the parts of my memory that are very dim now in the past. It is making me take a very good look at what additional tooling I am going to be ordering for my new mill and what I feel I am tempted to make. Harold Hall's writing style might not be to everybody's taste, but it is a book to be read a number of times. He packs a lot of good information in it. He also has an excellent website with plenty more projects for mill and lathe and you will find more photos of considerable better quality, that can be zoomed as well. For those that have a difficulty understanding the two different milling directions there is some very clear help on YouTube, (Tom's techniques comes to mind and Tubal Cain, Mr Pete has loads of info on milling). I find this book along with other in the series give me a lot of help, which is then supplemented by YouTube. A point that should be noted is that Mr Hall clearly aims his books at those of us who don't have vast machine tool budgets and his own machine is in fact not so sophisticated as many now buy from the modestly priced Chinese imports for the model engineer. Much as many of us would love a Bridgeport like many US home workshop owners have on YouTube, it is just not possible for most of us. At this stage I must say that I have not yet started any of the projects as I am waiting for my mill to be delivered, but I am certainly going to be doing some to build up my tooling.

Libro molto interessante e utile in particolare per i principianti, ma con spunti anche per più esperti.

A good entry level book to get you sorted with some good knowledge.

Utile et interessante, un bon choix avec des bon explications, merci. (Pas plus a dire, ici quelques mots encore demandee, par mon avis c'est un evaluation, pas un roman).

Just what I needed