Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals.

Rob Thompson.
Thames and Hudson. 2007. 528 pages.

Almost without exception, every book that tackles maunfacturing technologies will compromise to some extent. The exception is Rob Thompson's Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals. I've bought a number of books on the subject but none of them exceed this one in any department.

The title really only gives part of the story as around a fifth of the book's five hundred plus pages are devoted to materials.

The process section is clearly and logically divided into Forming, Cutting, Joining and Finishing sections. Related processes, such as the blow moulding 'family' are clustered together for ready comparison. This is a great help - all you need is a rough idea what kind of technique will fit the bill and you'll have alternatives ready at your elbows.

No trouble has been spared with explanations; photos, diagrams, environmental impacts, costs, case studies and much more besides. Thompson goes far beyond the obvious plastic, metal and wood technologies and covers textiles, ceramics and composites. It usually exceeded my expectations wherever I looked - I wanted CNC and got FEA as well.

I was a little surprised that there wasn't more on mechanical fasteners in the Joining section but it could be argued that they're more assembly than manufacture.

Any other complaints? The text size for the process summaries seemed unnecessarily small but that's a minor quibble. The cost may be enough to make you pause ($145 at the time of writing), but it's good value for money - you could pay less but you'd certainly get less.