Fabricating For Dummies

Didn't keep it. Very shallow review of many subjects, although broad.There seems to be three dumb puns per page. Wow

If you're looking for a broad overview of the topic, this is a good book for you. If you're looking for a more in-depth study, then you'll want to look at other books. It's a nice book for beginners.

I'll start with an admission that I'm not working as a professional in the industry, however I AM interested in the details of what, and why, and how things are engineered and fabricated, fabricated. I'm inclined toward DIY projects and have occasionally wondered about the reasoning behind the available options (aluminum electrical mains cabling comes immediately to mind) and thought this would be an appropriate place to start.This is a fascinating read for people looking for a 'assume I know nothing' primer on the why, how, and history of the different materials and their uses. If you want to know why (and how) 316 surgical stainless is different than high-carbon steel, which metals when alloyed confer what properties, or how all the varied options we have today came to exist, then this is for you. Some honest admissions about the mess that is the accepted categorizations came to be were particularly interesting, and the overall breadth of the content included is quite amazing.The only thing I felt was possibly inappropriate was offering it as a 'for dummies' book, as it's largely filled with detail that most people I know have literally no understanding of, and seems more comprehensive and advanced than the series normally is. That being said, if you have an interest in the subject, it's an excellent choice and does make few assumptions about a base knowledge level from which to build.

The Dummies series books seem to be aimed at the "big picture" of whatever the subject matter is. This one is the same. You are not going to learn any of the skills involved in metal fabrication by reading this book. Wowever, I think this book will help you decide if this is a field you would like to learn more about. If it is, you will kow where to turn to learn what you need to know. Or you can sort through the 10,000 videos on youtube dealing with metal fabrication and go from there.

Both interesting and informative. This is not going to teach you fabrication but it does provide the terminology and "big picture" so you avoid confusing and understand what you happen to be looking at in a shop. There are some tips along the way and a few bits of boring definitions/background information but the majority is practical, solid and simple to understand.

Books for dummies are the best cliff notes for everybody to get them up to speed on information quickly. So you want to learn fabricating? This book explains the basics about metals, then it teaches how to manipulate metal, the history of metal, the different types of metals. Then it goes on to explain how to make metal look fabulous. Then you traipse through the tools needed, the machinery. Then we are on to automation and using computers and software. This gets you familiar with pretty much every thing you will need to think about before you get into fabricating and making pretty metal things.