Some great video tutorials on metal work, tools, machining etc

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

e9999

Gotta get out there...
Moderator
Joined
Sep 20, 2003
Threads
1,085
Messages
19,103
Location
US
I've been watching recently a lot of youtube videos on machining and machine tools to refresh my memory and learn some new stuff before hitting the shop again. Plus it's always enjoyable to see tools in use.

They range from full of mistakes to very good, of course. Lots of them enjoyable, many interesting, some useful.



Here are a couple of channels that struck me as rather good and that may be of some use to some folks who are complete or relative newbies to the field or for that matter to many who are already comfortable with some of the material.

The first one is great IMO for somebody who'd like a well-focused solid intro or refresher ranging from basic metal skills to good lathe and mill use. It's focused on practical use, not so much on the theory behind it. Pretty solid length, something like 2 or 3 hours on each of the topics above so can get a bit into details. Nicely done I thought. Probably all you need to know before hitting shop tools for the first time if you don't want to be lost, understand what's going on, take advantage of what you'd be shown, and want to learn quickly in real life. It's from MIT and from the 90s. (The channel also has some training movies from the 40s if you'd like that.) It's called the "Open Source Machine Tools" channel.
The specific video series I referred to are called "Basic Metal-Working..." and especially "Essential Machining Skills..."
I'd start with that as a great intro to machining.


Another one, rather different in tone is the channel "Thatlazymachinist"
It's quirkier, with the main guy an interesting character (with a nice Quebecois accent). However, the fellow comes from a teaching background and it shows. He will go more into the theory and the fundamentals behind some things and goes more into depth of some specific issues. For those who like to know why things are working this way and not that, and are more fundamentally inclined, it's quite interesting. Less self-contained than the MIT series and more in bits and pieces but there is a lot there. He knows his stuff from what I can tell.


I'll readily admit that even though I'm not a complete newbie with the tools and techniques, there were several instances when I'd think something like "Damn, I didn't know that" or "Ah, that's why it's done that way" or "Geez, I was doing it all wrong" etc. I think they are worth watching even if you have learned some of it on the fly already and think you know what you are doing.

Any others you like?
 
Last edited:
well, I've watched many videos from "thatlazymachinist" now. It is really very interesting, very well done, and very useful. Picture your grandpa who has worked 40 years as a machinist, is an expert at it, has infinite patience to go slow and repeat himself, has lots of wisdom to dispense, and is great at teaching people. I especially like that he has the technical background to put things in fundamental context rather than just learned by trial and error knowledge so to speak. There are quite a few vids so it is easy to find one that will address a specific topic you may be interested in. Very much worth watching IMO. That all can be found on thatlazymachinist.com I believe.

But be forewarned: he seems to have a fondness for quite dirty jokes and innuendos that may not be suitable for a children or office audience.

Also, that monkey song that he plays all the time is just terrible...
 
another good series (several hundreds) of shop and machining-related videos, with lots of tutorials is on the channel by "mrpete222". A retired shop teacher and knows his stuff. Much more matter of fact than the lazymachinist. Very useful too.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom