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by tubetime 1393 days ago
co-author here, feel free to ask questions.
5 comments

What tools did you use to cut these components with such precision and lack of burring?
Sandpaper of increasing fineness.

And patience. Lots of patience.

How did you hold the items securely while sanding them down? Standard hand vices or some kind of custom jigs?
Not my project, but embedding the part in a plug of epoxy would make it easier to handle.
we used a variety of tools: diamond saws, polishing wheels, hacksaws, and a lot of sandpaper.

many of the samples had to be mounted using clamps or dop wax.

What is something that you wanted to fit into the book but weren't able to?
we had a good number of subjects that didn't make it into the book. some we were not able to section in a way that looked as good as the rest, and others were redundant or didn't quite fit with the theme.
I just ordered the book - do you talk about how you made the cutaways in the book? Very cool! I wish younger me had access to this.
yes, there is a "behind the scenes" chapter that goes into some of the methods we used, including photographic techniques.
If there's ever a new edition to this book (it's so thorough, not sure if that's possible), I would sit and watch any video footage of the process for hours :)
How close is the current Early Access PDF to what you think the final book will be?
very close, we made some minor fixes before going to press.
Is the book suitable for beginners?
most definitely!