2017 - The Original "What Did You Buy Today?" Mega Thread

[darkzero]

A 6" vise is overkill for a RF45 style mill. A 4" is more appropiate for that size mill & IMO 5" max. I have a 5" GMT vise on my PM45 & it's slightly too big. Not enough Y axis travel to make use of the 5" full capacity. Better to save your money rather than getting something too big & most importantly the weight. I take my vise of the table quite often, a 6" is still light enough for me to be carried by hand but I'm glad I have a 5". I also have a 4" vise as well. I prefer the 5" though.

But those GMT 6" Premium vises are pretty nice. I'd love to have one but don't need one on my current mill. But if you plan on upgrading to a full size knee mill in the future than the 6" will be perfect.


Here's what the 5" looks like on my mill.



I couldn't even complete this cut without my bellows & DRO scale getting in the way. Not enough Y travel & the 5" vise is not even maxed out.



Here's what a 6" vise looks like on another PM45 (gt40's)
View attachment 253544

 

[woodchucker]

Finally got me my very own Interapid. 312-B3 .0001" new off ebay. This one will stay in the box & kept in a drawer though & only used when needed. I'll keep using my beater .0005" Mitutoyo DTI for regular needs.

That's not why you bought it is it? Use it, take care of it. Don't let it sit there, you bought it to be used. Your beater will get use too.

 

[darkzero]

That's not why you bought it is it? Use it, take care of it. Don't let it sit there, you bought it to be used. Your beater will get use too.

Yes of course I will use it as I stated... like all my tools. But I don't have a need for .0001" resolution regulary. I haven't owned a tenths indicator until now. Maybe I will use it more now that I have one.

My "beater" Mitu DTI is not really a beater, but I don't keep it stored in it's original box like some of my nicer mics. My Interapid will be stored in my mill's cabinet along with my other DTIs, I just meant that I care about it more to keep in it's case. These suckers are not cheap!

 

[woodchucker]

I have a federal .0001 (I forgot, also a besttest ) and I can tell you, I use it more than you would think, more than I thought I would.
When I make tooling, I don't think 1 thou is close enough, since it's a tool, I want that to be as accurate as possible so I am not multiplying errors.
If I ever re-chuck something critical, I'll do .001 then put on the federal and get it as close as I am willing to go.

Enjoy your new tool.

 

[Firestopper]

Well, I used to wonder at some of the, ahem, amazing finds I sometimes hear about (10EE Monarch for $20, that sort of thing). Some of them are a little hard to believe. Today I became a believer.

I was looking for something completely unrelated on CL and just happened to find a posting for a Baldor grinder. I have never owned one, but have seen pictures.... Anyway, the picture of the machine was taken with nothing else in the frame to compare it with, to get a sense of scale. There was a pretty blurry close-up of the nameplate. The model number meant nothing to me. I noticed that it was 3-phase, which I don't have. The nameplate was kind of beat up, but I could see it would run on 208-230. The HP was a 3 and then the rest was pretty scratched up. Hmm... 3-something..... Has to be 3/4 HP, right? What else would start with a 3? The light went on in my head - I have a VFD at home that's good to 1 HP, and it will run with 120V input! Perfect! And he only wanted a hundred bucks! I'm all over this one. Called and set up a time to come and see it.

When I got there it was a machine shop! The owner was a great guy, very pleasant. He explained that they did mostly job-shop work for the aerospace industry. They had plans to start doing big fab jobs and had bought the Baldor for that. When the economy crashed in '09 those plans went out the window. It sat around for years and they never even turned it on other than to make sure it worked when they first got it. He had decided it was time to clean house.

When we went out to the yard in back it was immediately obvious to me that I had misread the photos. There wasn't anything after the 3, just scratches. It was a 3HP grinder, model 1216W, not 3/4HP.

I looked at the grinder, then looked at my little company car, a Chevy Captiva. How in the heck am I going to get this home? No problem, the guy grabbed some tools and disassembled it, and between the 3 of us managed to get it stuffed in.

One problem - I'm gonna need a bigger VFD....

View attachment 226984

View attachment 226983

That beast is gonna dim the neighborhood lights at start up hahaha
Nice grinder!

 

[Silverbullet]

What I bought today how about the last several days. I've been hunting for all the materials to build a RPC , Fuse block , fuses, magnetic contactor , on off button switches, start and run capacitors. Still need a wiring terminal block and a 5 hp three phase motor. But I picked up a manual start contactor to run the federal planer and a separate fuse box with switch . All these things get forgotten on ALOT of machinery installations. It's amazing how much the things cost even buying used on eBay if you figure the shipping cost. The 2 hp motor $22 .00 to buy it shipping $36.00 . It's hard on fixed income. If I hadn't sold some tools I couldn't even have started gathering these supplies. So no fancy pretty tools but these count to me..
Doctors going to do the epidural shot or shots on Tuesday , I'm really hoping. And praying they work and last for a long time . This being stuck in bed in pain has gone past being miserable .

 

[LucknowKen]

Doctors going to do the epidural shot or shots on Tuesday , I'm really hoping. And praying they work and last for a long time . This being stuck in bed in pain has gone past being miserable .

Good luck and God bless.
lk

 

[Ken from ontario]

I finally found a used Criterion boring head (ebay) and a new boring bar (also US made) for from Mesa Tools. was seriously tempted to go for a new Chinese boring head but saw a couple of bad reviews on youtube and decided to go for something I know I couldn't go wrong with :

 

[hman]

Doctors going to do the epidural shot or shots on Tuesday , I'm really hoping. And praying they work and last for a long time . This being stuck in bed in pain has gone past being miserable .

Best wishes for a complete (and long lasting) recovery. We're all hoping to hear about more of your adventures in the shop.
- John Herrmann

 

[Ken from ontario]

Doctors going to do the epidural shot or shots on Tuesday , I'm really hoping. And praying they work and last for a long time . This being stuck in bed in pain has gone past being miserable .

So callous of me for not realizing there's a member here in pain and right under your post I'm posting pics of what I bought today ,my apologies for not seeing or reading your post. I hope the Epidural shot will do it's job and relieve your pain . Wishing you a speedy recovery .
Ken.