American Precision Museum
We're happy to report that the American Precision Museum is up and running. Forget the Web site; that's secondary. The actual museum is what really rocks here. The site includes directions, membership information, and other descriptive verbage that'll make you want to visit (or, at least, join). But hold on a minute ... select the "Hall of Fame" link, and there's a "Who's Who" list of machine tool giants, with brief bios and other cool facts about the several members.

This is kinda a Cooperstown for machinists. Very cool.

CNC Future
Here's a site from an experienced shop guy in the great state of New York. He's put up a site on his own, for the love of metalworking. There's loads of CNC info here, as well as links, newsletter sign-up, and machinist job descriptions. Give this site a visit for another fine example of fun and function.

Update: What the ... wow! Wait'll you see what Jeff's been up to. This site has been reworked, updated, retooled and totally discombobulated from it's former self. And it's wonderful. Expanded content, a rockin' interface, and massive metalworking mojo on a monstrous scale. We don't know what Jeff's been into, but you should have whatever he's been having. Excellent site.

CNC Zone
The CNC Zone aspires to be a lot of things—part forum, part technical archive, part photo gallery, part industry portal. In all, the Zone aims to be an online community for machinists and metalworkers by serving all those needs. When this site launched a while back, it touted itself as “the ultimate CNC discussion forum.” That was (and is) its bread and butter; some of the forums are robust, some are a little less so, which mimics machining forums and newsgroups you’ll find serving our world around the ‘net. The substantial list of forums are categorized by topics such as Machining Processes, Metalworking Machines, and CAD/CAM software, and each contain quite detailed subcategories. You’ll find lively debate here, and you’ll also find some helpful, technically-oriented participants. CNC Zone also has launched archives for technical articles, links, photos, and a calendar—all serving the machining arts.

Deepak Manuel's CAD/CAM/CNC Web Site
Deepak Manuel is a Canadian with an obvious love for the manufacturing and design arts. His site offers a wealth of links categorized under CAM Systems, CAD Systems, CNC Machines & Controls, Postprocessors and NC Verification Software. Deepak--you done good.

Desktop CNC
You can nitpick that this only deals with Desktops (or Benchtops) if you want to. But this site, created by one guy as a service to machinists and the industry, gets it right. There are comprehensive comparison tables of destop mills and lathes, descriptinve studies of those (and other) smaller machines and their applications, and loads of useful technical information. This bad-boy is built for growth, and we think it'll be fun to watch it grow.

Update: OK, we don't want to blow our our horn, or anything -- but when we're right, we're right. Desktop CNC continues to expand its content; check out the Articles of the Month and Newsgroup Swarf for proof. And the Comparison Tables for Desktop Mills, Lathes and Routers rock the house. Very, very strong, this site is.

Download Community
OK, I'm not sure how or even why this site provides free downloads of software and files for several manufacturing categories ... but why bother? The fact is, they do, and they do a fine job of providing access to solutions for plant control, file translation, facilities management, maintenance, downtime measurement and prevention and much more. And did we mention that it's free?

This is worth a visit, no matter what type of manufacturing professional you happen to be -- manager, artisan, business professional, or operator.

Dr. Machines
The Doctor is BAAAACK! Perhaps you remember this site dedicated to online diagnostics and control of machine tools (and other "appliances" & "tools")? It was affiliated with Hitachi Seiki for sometime, and then "went silent." Well, back it is, and the ol' Doc hasn't been stagnant. Select “Troubleshooting,” and you’ll find a database of error codes and diagnostic info for (mainly Fanuc) controls. Selecting “Ask The Expert” returns a database of errors/problems, troubleshooting techniques and solutions for a trove of machine-, control-, servo- and spindle-combinations. This site offers a level and quality of content not found on many other sites serving machining these days, and it deserves a visit.

eFunda
eFunda really is sort of a strange name, we'll grant you. But consider that eFunda stands for "Engineering Fundamentals," and you start to get the picture—this site supports most engineering-related functions, including design and manufacturing. First of all (and sticking with our theme, here), their Calculator section is a glorious collection of mathematically useful utilities. You'll also find a treasure chest of technical data, of a quality you'll recognize from traditional publications (only without that pesky page-turning).

Now, you need to know up-front that eFunda charges a subscription for access to all their content. You can access most of their site for a time, but then are asked to pay. The cost is $60 per year ($36 for students), and $96 per year for the works without banners or pop-ups.

Some of the data, like their Machining Processes section, may be a bit elementary for experienced manufacturing professionals. But eFunda represents all technical classes - advanced and less so — quite well. If you're of an advanced technical station, and wanna cough up the cash, this site may become one of your favorites right away.

emachineshop
OK, so emachineshop suffers from the "all small letters and an 'e' in front of it" syndrome. Do not let that prejudice prevent you from using this site as inspiration for your business' Web strategy.

emachineshop doesn't so much create a virtual machine shop (would they create virtual parts, or accept virtual payment?) as it lubricates the communications between the shop and prospective customers in realistic ways. By combining Web functionality with software and "actual" manufacturing methods, their goal is to streamline the design/model, collaboration and bidding/award processes for discrete parts manufacturing. To do this, emachineshop is attempting to redefine the online shop communications interface as a sort of Applications Service Provider (an online, software-driven, automated customer service platform).

The goals and aspirations of emachineshop are lofty; there's no telling if they'll succeed long-term. Their software must be downloaded by customers and is proprietary. There are huge education and acceptance curves to be overcome.

But if you don't take inspiration from this model and recognize the potential in this pioneer's efforts, then you might consider not having a Web site for your business at all.

Eng-Tips
Eng-Tips touts itself as "technical work forums for engineering professionals." That pretty much sums it up, actually. Except to say that the depth of topics is excellent, the site performs well (not many lags, as you’ll find on other online forums) and Eng-Tips is well policed for relevance. This is a site rich with opportunity for manufacturing professionals and managers looking to expand their online options and resources.

How Stuff Works
We here at Modern Machine Shop pride ourselves in the quality of our content. We try very hard to ensure that the info we present is directly useful to metalworking folks, and that these links are directly relevant. It's what we do.

But, dadgummit ... this is just flat-out COOL!

How Stuff Works is exactly what it says--a site that answers many questions you might have had about how some of the most simple (and complex) stuff really works--metalworking-related or not. We could go on and on about the topics--from machines to living creatures--but that's half the fun. Go check this out, and satisfy a little of that curiosity that makes you a good machining professional to begin with.

And there's another good reason to look into How Stuff Works' site -- you'd be hard-pressed to find a better example of technical data categorized and presented online. The HSW site contains several examples that shops and manufacturers can use as inspiration for their own sites, to communicate effectively with their own customers and prospects.

IndustryCommunity.com
This site has grown into an impressive suite of resources that are primarily forums serving precise and general categories, including those directly related to machining and manufacturing. The Manufacturing Community and MyForum sections alone are worth a bookmark and return visits. And these guys let you create your own forum(s) for whatever topic(s) you happen to be interested in.

Lathes
OK, you'll see the title of this—lathes—and think we're overstating or oversimplifying the relevance of this UK-based site. You should hold that judgement until you see it. You'll find LOADS of historical and technical details about nearly every kind of lathe ever made. Also, you can purchase the entire archive on CD for a reasonable fee. To top it off, these folks also offer manuals for many, many older lathes. If turning is your thing, at any technical level, you'll want to see this.

Learning Technical Drawings
OK, so you’re not likely to be an artist. Realistically, there are plenty of software programs out there that help us to create engineering or mechanical drawings, so why worry about doing it by hand or manually? Well, this site can be used to help teach “newbies” how to READ drawings, too. And that’s pretty valuable, when you stop to think about it. This site contains several pages that contextualize technical drawings in many ways (convenient, since your business likely receives drawings in—ahem—various stages of sophistication. Not a bad resource, if used creatively.

Machine Tool Help
This very ambitious site launched in early 2005 is dedicated to the selection, application, management and operation of machine tools. Here you'll find sections on nearly every aspect of the machine tool -- purchasing, automation, installation, applications, troubleshooting, maintenance and repair. Machinetoolhelp.com also aspires to create an impressive collection of links to machining-related sites and forums.

MachiningZone.com
The Machining Zone is sponsored, hosted, and maintained by CarpenterDirect. If you're expecting to see an overt, commercial site slanted only toward their product, think again. The Machining Zone offers up a cornucopia of metalworking and machining information and data useful beyond any specific product from any single supplier. Scrolling down the main page you'll find technical guides to, Turning, Drilling, Tapping, and Threading. There are also troves of info within their Technical Information Database. Rounding out this site are comprehensive links and calendar pages.

Machinists' Exchange
NOTE: The Machinists' Exchange is undergoing some updates and improvements. If the site appears (or doesn't) to be sluggish, be patient and check back in a few days.

This ol' stalwart of the Web has been around longer than most sites. And it shows ... in a good way. The Machinists' Exchange is a site out of California that is run for the love of machining and the people that do it. You'll find links to suppliers, a really good collection of metalworking-related forum and chat links, and a handy page of calculators and utilities.

But one really cool part of this site is the "Site Maps Page." Here, you'll find "maps" of some of the Web's best Web sites for machining and manufacturing (including MMS Online). Be sure to visit the maps for Dave's Math Tables, or you'll be sorry. This is a site built by someone that cares and has fun. Nice job.

Martindale's
Every so often, a really fun site comes to our attention that may not hit the metalworking nail on the head, but just BELONGS here, you know? Good, because this is one of 'em.

Martindale's (no relation to Wink, I'm afraid) is a funky stew of links to the unusual, the technical, the informative and the entertaining—all at once. It is almost impossible to describe the scope of info this site provides. From the perplexing to the laughable to the educational to the must-have, you've just gotta see this one.

And for the machining professional, there are loads of math, too. You'll have to dig to find it, but few sites make digging as much fun as Martindale's does.

Marv Klotz's Utilities
This site, built by a retired aerospace physicist named Marv and subtitled "Software for People Who Build Things," will do many positive things for you (not necessarily in this order):

It will expose you to more manufacturing-related calculators, software and utilities than you can shake a mouse at. It will inspire in you an appreciation for content over graphic-drenched hype. It will educate you. It will be added to your favorites immediately upon discovery.

But, mostly, it will make you wanna hug Marv. Because this is one heckuva fine collection of useful information, and a labor of love for all of us. Thanks, Marv.

Math Resources
This page is a collection of links across the Web to mathematics, formulas, tutorials and directories that can be useful to the machining professional or student. Included in this MASSIVE assortment of sites are calculators, formulaic tables and charts, and just about every sort of math-related topic imaginable. Of course, as with any collection like this, you’ll have to sort through those less machining-related to find the really useful stuff—but there are numerous links to those you can use, and this is a fine page to bookmark.

Mathtools.net
We don't even know where to start with MathTools. But we'll try it this way: this maybe be the most incredible collection of Web-based scientific and mathematics calculators available anywhere. Period. As a matter of fact, the only real downside to this MASSIVE collection is that it is such a MASSIVE collection—these guys have everything from the most simple of calculators to the most complex utilities (i.e., algorithmic, astronomical, etc.) to the code used to create them.

Even more impressive is the layout of this site and its utilities. For the amount and quality of technical data available, it is extraordinarily simple to navigate. As usual, it is our duty to inform you that MathTools requires registration, but no cost is involved. This sucker is Yahoo for the calculator crowd.

Metalworking University
Metalworking U was developed in 2000 at the tail end of the dot-com explosion (or, just before the bubble burst) by Nelson Publishing. The site seems to not have been updated for a while (the last posts seem to be from the winter of 2001), and some of the links to graphics have lapsed. So then, why are we linking to it now? Because MU and Nelson still have a fine repository of metalworking and machining information here, including fine collections around High Speed Machining, Grinding, Cutting Tools and other disciplines/processes. To access the archive, select Library/Archive and choose a “semester.” This site may be dormant as an education resource, but it may be useful to you as an info repository, nonetheless.

Metalworking.com
First off, let us just say that these folks got THE coolest URL in the world. And we hate them for it. But we don't feel quite so bad, since they've built what is, quite possibly, one of the most valuable Web sites for metalworking professionals anywhere. You see, this is the Web-side home to rec.crafts.metalworking, the very active, very useful metalworking newsgroup. Not familiar with Usenet or newsgroups? Fine. Go here and find out how to access newgroups, review the "official" archive, use their "Drop Box," or just visit to bask in the warm glow of online metalworking communion.

Mfgx
Mfgx is currently (04/07) in the beta stage and, as such, much of it is being refined at this point. The current phase offers some relatively standard online fare, including forums, job posting utilities (you can post or review as an employer or prospective employee), and a marketplace for posting equipment for sale. What distinguishes Mfgx from previously launched manufacturing sites are its community tools that allow for the creation of personal or corporate profiles (think MySpace for manufacturers) and a manufacturing Wiki, wherein technical content is submitted, edited and policed by the Mfgx community at large. (Not familiar with what a "Wiki" is? Check out Wikipedia for the perfect example of this model.) According to sources at the company, Mfgx was launched and is maintained as a free service by Mfg.com.

PatentCafe
This site is dedicated to patents, copyrights and trademarks. Plain and simple, its primary role is to connect you with whatever you may need to register a creation or process. But PatentCafe also offers information for small businesses, legal information, and much more to support and reward the creative and industrious among us. There are also loads of other informative and entertaining sections of this site that can actually help the business end of your shop.

Project Lead The Way
Now this is a fantastic idea. PLTW is an organization committed to preparing both students and schools for educations in manufacturing and engineering. There simply isn't enough space here to describe the goals and aspirations of PLTW. If you're at all interested in the replentishment of our industries with quality people, please visit this site and learn more about them and how you can help.

ShopSwarf
From the far-away shores of New Zealand comes ShopSwarf! (Is it just us, or does the name sound like the name of Japanese monster flick set in a machine shop, or what?) ShopSwarf comes to us from the eye (and server) of one Tom Martin, and his site offers a remarkably useful, simple-to-use suite of machining-centric info. Included on ShopSwarf are tabular data and specifications for a wide range of applications, from collets, milling and gears to myriad manufacturing applications like metals, temperature and wire interpretive data.

If we ever get a pet dog at MMS, we're gonna name it ShopSwarf.

Techdata
This very simple but effective personal site includes one of the best collections of tables and data for many machining-related topics: material and metals properties; machinability data; dimension tables; and much more. All pages and info on this site download very quickly and must be included in any respectable machining professionals bookmarks.

Nearly anything you could need, from aluminum to yellow brass.

The Universal Currency Converter
Convert the value of any currency to the value of any other currency. Run by Xenon Laboratories. Accuracy is not guaranteed, but it's close and as accurate as it can be since rates change so often. A neat idea and a fine site.

The Virtual Machine Shop (VMS)
The VMS is back after a brief hiatus to redesign their site and content. Designed, created and maintained by a consortium of business and academic entities (primarily Cerritos College in California), this site is a treasure trove of machine tool data that is part library, part training manual and part community (that community part takes some time, so give ‘em a break). But after all is said and done, it’s the Library link that you’ll want to visit. It is broken up into 8 “lessons,” including Milling Machines, Lathes, Other Machines, Cutting Tools, CNC & CAM, Measurement, Engineering, and an excellent machining glossary. And man-o-man, these lessons are ample, with text, graphics, videos (LOTS of videos) and animated graphics (most are in Shockwave format). A Web site is never judged by how it starts, but by how it is grown and maintained. If this site grows anywhere near as well as it launched, we’re in for a great ride. Gentlemen, start your mouses!

Titanium Design & Fabrication
They should have named this "TitaniumForTheCranium.com" instead.

This fine collection of information regarding titanium comes from the good folks at TIMET, one of the largest titanium producers in Europe. They've put up a site that is absolutely "bookmark-worthy" to anyone that machines, designs or is interested in titanium. The majority of the technical info presented here is broken down into two areas: Designing and Fabricating (including machining and other processes).

Digging deeper in the site offers access to some other interesting, titanium-rich resources, including an Applications Section with Industrial, Aerospace, Specialized and Emerging technologies represented.

WebElements™
OK, if you're like us, you have several Web sites bookmarked about a single topic. There are just too many resources out there to rely on just one. Wellsir, if you have no more than one link to an online utility for the Table of Elements, or if one of yours isn't this one, then you need to add this site RIGHT NOW.

Also offered off WebElements are links to numerous calculators and utilities useful in a technical machining environment.

Still don't get it? BOOKMARK THIS SITE — IT RAWKS!

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