Reviewed by annieb123 on
Spindles for Small Shop Metalworkers is a well written accessible tutorial guide with schematics for machining custom spindles for lathe work. Released 1st Feb 2022 by Fox Chapel, it's 160 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.
This is precisely as described on the cover. The author is clearly experienced at engineering and gives precise instruction with clear and detailed drawings throughout. The introduction gives a good overview over expectations and the scope of the book, what the resultant spindles are for, and materials and tools required.
The following chapters cover the design process, a basic tutorial for creating a general spindle, and specific more specialized spindles of differing diameters, shapes, and uses. The final chapters cover setups for driving the spindles created in the book with specific info about motor speeds, power delivery, and safety. The book is very well illustrated throughout with clear high contrast sectional drawings which are clearly captioned. Measurements are given in both standard (metric/mm) and American (imperial/inches). The author also gives specific information about fitting bearings, as well as specs for nuts, pulleys, caps, and clamps used. I was also impressed (and charmed) that the author included his specific contact information (email, phone, etc) in case readers find errors in the text.
Five stars. Clearly a niche book, but one which does a very good job of what it proposes to do. This would be a good choice for public or school library workshop, makers' workshops, classroom use, or for the DIYer's home library.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 19 March, 2022: Finished reading
- 19 March, 2022: Reviewed