Simply 'owning' all of these machines, tools and accessories feels like a small job

Yep. I often have times when I get overwhelmed with the clutter and have to do a clean out. I’ve considered selling everything, but contrary to others, I’ve not found any value in that. I throw things away now. It’s easier, faster, and final.
I have drawers full of stuff I’ve used once or never.
 
I took advantage of the Covid Shutdown to organize (ok, find) tooling
 
Batmanacw said:
I enjoy the process of finding low cost useful machine tooling and raw materials and finding ways to store the stuff so I can find it when I need it.

Unlike most here, I am a prepper. I enjoy machining and I see it as an opportunity in hard times. I stock more bolts and screws and disposables than your average home shop guy. I'm considering buying a 5 gallon bucket of way oil so I've got years of oil on the shelf. I often buy stuff guys say not to buy until I need it.

Nothing I've bought has gotten cheaper. Most of my raw materials sources have dried up.
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I plan on having a very fit harem of females who will power my machine tools with exercise equipment for SHTF.

I even have 12 cases of sardines, 100lbs of rice, 300lbs of beans stored to feed them with, and I figure I can harvest all the gas fumes for a fuel source.
 
pontiac428 said:
You can feel his heart but you know he's mean. Some light can never be seen, yeah!

Was Dio just trying to find the floor in his shop?
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You know, Holy Tiger would have been a workable and kickass name for that song......
 
My hobby is woodworking and I love BIG old industrial woodworking machines. My knee mill and lathe are more to support my old woodworking machine passion than an inherent need to make curly-q swarf. There are parts and pieces that are impracticable to acquire or pay to have machined for me.

As such I have learned to pass on some of those great metal machining machines. I made a firm commitment to never buying a metal shaper no matter how fun they look. I have also passed on a few surface grinder deals. As easy as it is to talk myself into the need for one I remind myself that it would rarely get any use.

I spent a couple weeks setting up the Hitachi VFD on my South Bend 13 lathe only to blow up the Hitachi VFD programming by trying to enable the external braking resist it. After 6 months I finally spent a day figuring out how to factory reset the VFD then get it running without the external braking resistor.

Right now I am a week of spare time into installing a 3 axis Dirtron 80 DRO on my mill. With just the x and y axis working it is already a new machine! With considerable youtube time under my belt is am about to go tackle the knee Z axis install. I have discovered that I REALLY hate hand drilling and tapping big cast iron machine caucuses! I really need to buy a really big mill that I can lay my mill down on the table to properly drill and tap all these holes straight for the DRO install!

I will say that the more I use my metal working machines the better the parts turn out and the faster they are to make. Maybe by the time I retire in another 10 years I will be proficient enough to enjoy the machining process and machine stuff just for fun! My father gave me my first Jensen steam engine when I was about 10yo and have always wanted to build my own.
 
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It's not a job , it's an adventure . :)
 
MikeInOr said:
My hobby is woodworking and I love BIG old industrial woodworking machines. My knee mill and lathe are more to support my old woodworking machine passion than an inherent need to make curly-q swarf. There are parts and pieces that are impracticable to acquire or pay to have machined for me.

As such I have learned to pass on some of those great metal machining machines. I made a firm commitment to never buying a metal shaper no matter how fun they look. I have also passed on a few surface grinder deals. As easy as it is to talk myself into the need for one I remind myself that it would rarely get any use.

I spent a couple weeks setting up the Hitachi VFD on my South Bend 13 lathe only to blow up the Hitachi VFD programming by trying to enable the external braking resist it. After 6 months I finally spent a day figuring out how to factory reset the VFD then get it running without the external braking resistor.

Right now I am a week of spare time into installing a 3 axis Dirtron 80 DRO on my mill. With just the x and y axis working it is already a new machine! With considerable youtube time under my belt is am about to go tackle the knee Z axis install. I have discovered that I REALLY hate hand drilling and tapping big cast iron machine caucuses! I really need to buy a really big mill that I can lay my mill down on the table to properly drill and tap all these holes straight for the DRO install!

I will say that the more I use my metal working machines the better the parts turn out and the faster they are to make. Maybe by the time I retire in another 10 years I will be proficient enough to enjoy the machining process and machine stuff just for fun! My father gave me my first Jensen steam engine when I was about 10yo and have always wanted to build my own.
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Shapers are cool as heck, but from a practicality standpoint they’re really only a way to remove a lot of metal cheaply.

We had a huge one in the shop during my apprenticeship, we’re talking chips 5/16” wide and 1/4” thick 3” long that would start fires big.


It was great in that you could literally move hundreds of pounds of metal for only the cost of a $10 tool bit, but as far as speed and shop space we’re concerned it was a pig.

A 3’x4’ pile of chips 8” deep, that you can feel the heat coming off of is something you won’t forget.
 
What is your goals? It is okay to change, but you should have an idea of your goals. Just because something is cheap doesn't mean it is a good deal, if it doesn't fit with your goals. Don't just buy things because they are cheap, buy them because you expect to use them. Keep them because you expect to use them again.

In my case selling things is not in my goals. Like you I have noticed a lot of things in my shop that I'm not using, I don't want to have to think about if I will use them again so they sit there collecting rust. I don't have enough to time make chips as it is without taking time to properly store or get rid of things that I'm not using now. I have a todo list 3000 years long, in the unlikely event I live that long I may start selling things I'm not using, but for now I have better things to do.
 
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