PDF eBook 208 pages, with color photos and drawings
Published 2002 ISBN 978-1-56158-424-6 Product #077952
Woodshop tools are a major investment -- and keeping them in good running order is essential. In
Care and Repair of Shop Machines, veteran woodworker John White shows you how to assemble, tune, maintain and repair the machines that you count on. Throughout the book, Whites approach is practical, straight-forward, and effective.
White includes chapters on tune-up, the jointer, the table saw, the thickness planer, the drill press, the bandsaw, the router table and the miter saw. This is the first book youll reach for when your machines arent performing, and its the book you need to keep them running at their best.
Care and Repair of Shop Machines gives you:
- complete guidance on assembling, tuning, maintaining and repairing all major shop machines
- low-tech solutions and alternatives to expensive set up tools and jigs
- clear, concise troubleshooting information geared to help you solve common tool problems
- some excellent jigs to improve tool performance
About the author John White has been the shop manager for
Fine Woodworking magazine since 1997. Prior to joining the magazine he had his own cabinetmaking shop and construction business in Vermont for 25 years, with a few side excursions as a Volkswagen factory mechanic, antique car restorer, and catering chef. He is a regular contributor to the magazine, writing primarily about tool maintenance and reviewing new tools. His home is in Rochester, Vermont, where he is currently finishing construction on a new woodworking studio.
There is great advantage in the consistent accuracy a woodworking machine can achieve. But this precision is not guaranteed, since no machine will cut square and straight forever. Even brand-new tools, straight out of the box, can't be assumed to be accurate. Some are not correctly tuned when they leave the factory. The parts are bolted together and brought approximately into line, but the final adjustments are always left up to the person using the machine. Some machines go out of alignment from having suffered bumps and shoves in their journey from the assembly line to your shop. In older machines, time and use take their toll. Parts wear, bolts may loosen, and even massive castings can warp.
The engineers and machinists who build power tools know that their machines will need adjusting, and all power tools are designed with this reality in mind. Some owner's manuals will supply the information you need to tune up a machine, but most manuals lack the detailed information you need to bring your tools into precise adjustment.
The purpose of this book is to supply the information you need to make your tools perform at their best, to pick up where the manuals, if they haven't been lost, left off. Although there have been dozens if not hundreds of models of each power tool built over the past century, most tools are very similar in their basic elements. The tune-up techniques in each chapter aren't specific to any one machine but will in most cases be adaptable to the power tools you own. Even if you don't see exactly your make and model machine in this book, you will be able to apply the basic principle.
There is no one right way to set up machinery. In fact, I've tried to offer alternatives where I could, especially low-tech or shopmade solutions in place of expensive, dedicated tools. If you own a professional shop and need to keep your machines in top form every day, then dedicated measuring tools and jigs may be right for you. If you're a home-shop woodworker, low-tech solutions are often adequate for the occasions when you check and maintain your machines.
Most important is to take the time to set up your machinery correctly and to maintain the settings. The result will be more accurate cuts, square, flat stock, and better, safer woodworking.
Customer Reviews from Amazon
Average Customer Review:
Save money, be safer, get better results, even though it's not "complete.", June 16, 2009
The reason woodworkers want this book is to save money and time. Understanding and applying the knowledge herein might save your fingers and maybe even your life! I am not joking...
John White was the shop manager for Fine Woodworking for about a decade and is still a contributing editor. He has a wealth of practical knowledge and presents it clearly. I particularly like Mr. White's style in some of his videos. He "cuts to the chase" by demonstrating you how things work, THEN explains them concisely. He also invented (or re-engineered) a very clever workbench and numerous practical shop-jigs. Now, not all of those ( or even very many ) are in this volume. I only mention that to illustrate the breadth and scope of the author's knowledge. John White is certainly qualified to write about this subject.
The MOST IMPORTANT REASON that every newcomer should buy (or at least read) this book is to prevent hassles, mistakes, accidents, and bad buying-decisions.
For instance, if you do not understand how to adjust a tablesaw or bandsaw, how can you possibly choose a machine with the right features?
If you don't know how to tell if a blade is square to the miter-slot (or fence,) and how to adjust it, you WILL experience kickback. (...not "IF" but "WHEN.") Unlike that funny TV commercial, kickback is deadly serious.
There are over THIRTY THOUSAND wood-shop accidents every year, many of which are related to these main machines discussed in this book. I have seen a piece of plywood shoot from a table-saw and go careening across the shop at sixty-miles an hour like a demonic frisbee, then stick itself into a wall. That particular incident was caused by a novice who ignored basic rules of machine set-up and use. No one was killed or blinded that day, but he was lucky. Would you rather depend on luck or knowledge? If that guy would have followed the advice in this book, it would have never happened.
Those "bargain" tools we see in home-centers are often more trouble than they are worth. If you know what features to look for, then you can avoid buying junk. You can also spot a real bargain when you see one.
John's set-up tricks can save money on wood too. When you gaff and destroy some lumber because a machine wasn't set-up well or you used it improperly, you throw money down the drain. The small investment in this reference will definitely pay a beginner backs MANY TIMES over!
BTW... If your primary interest is table-saws, you really should online-search "Ed Bennett" and the "tsaligner." (Table-Saw Align-er). Ed developed a tool and methods (plural) for really dialing in any decent table-saw. He has taken the subject of table-saw adjustment to a degree of accuracy that approaches and meets machine-shop standards. He has a good web-site with so much information I can't possibly delineate much of it here. Once you understand Mr. Bennett's approach, the same methods can be applied to numerous machines.
I agree with another reviewer that Taunton's use of the word "complete" in the tittle is wrong. This is nowhere near complete. But the information is crucial to choosing the right equipment, using it well, and keeping it in top shape for best results.
This book covers crucial adjustments for the main machines. Not only that, but the concepts are universal. Simple tools, jigs and geometry will measure and verify every shop-tool operation for safety and accuracy. How much is THAT knowledge worth?
No finite tome can possibly cover every possible machine or set-up scenario.
This does show beginners how to choose and safely use the most common shop machines.
Heck, even and old-fart like me learns a new trick now and then, and I have learned a few from John White. I have had to train dozens of people in various work environments over the decades. If I could have had this volume thirty years ago, it would have saved a whole lot of time. I'd just say to every new guy that walked in looking for a job, "Here... read this."
John's advice will save you money, and possibly a trip to the hospital too. That alone is worth the price of admission. If you run a woodworking shop with employees, this should be mandatory reading. If you can't buy it, go to the library and check it out.
Excellent Book!, February 28, 2009
This book is superb for explaining how to maintain, tune-up and trouble-shoot the most common woodworking machines; i.e., jointer, table saw, planer, drill press, bandsaw, router table and miter saw. One important thing this book covers is how you can save money by making your own set-up jigs instead of buying expensive ones from a retailer. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who is a "do-it-yourself-er."
Well, some of them, November 1, 2008
The subtitle of this book is "A Complete Guide to Setup, Troubleshooting, and Maintenance". You can read the Editorial Review above. I've become very leery of the use of "Complete" lately. The shop machines covered in this book are: jointer; table saw; thickness planer; drill press; bandsaw; router table; miter saw. He does a very good job on these. But hardly a complete guide. You will also note that "router table" is now a shop machine (and the router itself is not covered).
Perhaps I am being too nitpicking, but it really ticks me off when books are billed as being something they aren't. Five stars for those tools covered, less two stars for what it promises and doesn't deliver.
Excellent book and a must have, January 3, 2007
John White does a great job with nice illustrations. I recommend this to anyone with a woodworking machine. It's amazing how far off your tools are until you set them up correctly. You'll save time and money by making better cuts the first time when the tool is setup correctly. It's amazing we take the time to measure an angle for moulding and when we cut it and it doesn't fit you think you measured incorrectly when it could have been your tool off by one degree.
Worth Every Penny!, September 7, 2005
What can I say, the chapter on setting up your jointer is worth the price of the book by itself. The pictures and the diagrams are great, easy to understand, and the text is informative and easy to read. This book makes you a better woodworker, because your tools will be correctly set up, which also makes them more fun to use and much safer.
I would recommend this book to you, even if you do not own the tool, but are looking at getting into woodworking, with this book you will be better able to understand how the various tools work, and you can buy decent used tools and tune them up, saving you a bundle!
Great book!!
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