7 months by cncdivi
Here are the 6 Best Books for CNC’ers and Machinists that I know.
In order to be included in this list, the books needed to meet the following criteria:
- Be one of my own personal favorites
- Be highly rated on Amazon by at least 40 or so reviewers
I think the results of this will speak for themselves as these are excellent books that would be at home in the library of many a CNC’er. Some are CNC Textbooks suitable for classes but they’re all excellent works.
Review Score: 4.7 out of 5. 295 reviews.
This book is the Bible of GCode Programming, and is probably the best textbook there is on GCode. We do offer an excellent free G-Code Course, and if you added Smid’s book on top of that it’s hard to see how you wouldn’t have all the information you could ever need about G-Code.
Review Score: 4.5 out of 5. 106 reviews.
I love tips and tricks books. They’re filled with bite-sized nuggets of information so you can get something of value by reading a short article rather than going cover to cover. Machine Shop Trade Secrets was the first one of this kind I came across. It’s a great book, but I like Lipton’s book better. The tips just seem better and somehow there’s more value to take away. At least that was my experience. Ideally, buy both. But if you have to choose, start with Lipton.
Review Score 4.3 out of 5. 74 reviews.
Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing? Ugh! For many, it’s a painful subject. But once you learn how to deal with it, GD&T is not only useful, but critical for the professional CNC’er at some level. There are whole textbooks available on the subject, but I like this little pocket guide. Best of all, while it normally goes for much more, there seems to be a copy going for $19 on Amazon if you check carefully.
BTW, this is a great pocket reference if you know GD&T. If you need help learning, check out our Free GD&T Tutorial.
$90.80 on Amazon for the 31st Edition`
Review Score 4.8 out of 5. 368 reviews.
If you’ve been a CNC’er or Machinist for any length of time, you’ve already got a copy of Machiner’s Handbook. If you’re a beginner, you need to get one now and stick it in your toolbox. In some ways, I hate the thing. It is so dense I just about get a headache every time I need to pry some nugget of information out of it. On the other hand, that same density means you hold a wealthy horde of the information in the palm of your hand. Over time, I have minimized a lot of the stuff I was going back for the most often by moving it into G-Wizard’s reference data tabs, but there’s no way I’ll ever move everything out of Machinery’s Handbook and into our software. So get one of these and keep it on hand as needed.
I am going to do one cheesy cheapskate thing and suggest you buy one edition older than the latest. Why? Because you’ll often save a bunch of money. Most CNC’ers don’t buy the new ones every year.
Review Score 4,3 out of 5. 170 reviews.
I get asked a lot to recommend books for folks that are rank beginners. This is the book I like to put forward. If you’ve run a lathe or mill, you won’t get much out of it. But if you never have, it’ll help you put all the pieces together and get oriented. Check it out!
Review Score: 4 out of 5. 45 reviews.
Did I mention I like Tom Lipton’s writing? Here’s more of it, and I’m so glad it made the list by virtue of enough reviews of sufficient quality on Amazon.
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Bob is responsible for the development and implementation of the popular G-Wizard CNC Software. Bob is also the founder of CNCCookbook, the largest CNC-related blog on the Internet.