Wish lists

[bosephus]

I admit it i sometimes get jelouse ... i see what you other fellows are making and the tools you have to work with and jelousy rears its ugly head .

When i first started looking at seriously buying a lathe i knew that it was going to be an uphill battle getting the tools and tooling for it .... living on a fixed income just buying the lathe was a major acheavement .

Now that i do have it and what amounts to very basic tooling i find my wish list keeps growing and growing and growing .

Matter of fact within a matter of days my wish list had already outgrown what i can reasonably expect to be able to buy in the next 10 years .

A good portion of my wish list is just materials .. to make improvements to my machine .

I may have a long wait till i get a few of the things i want .. but it doesnt hurt to dream a little every now and then

I wouldnt mind hearing what some of you started out with and also have on your wish list.

Heres my starting point ..

My grizzly g0602 lathe .
A harbor frieght 8 inch grinder , about 10 assorted sizes of hss tool blanks sourced from a flea marker and a couple new blanks .
A h-f sourced set of micrometers 0-3inch .. a h-f dial indicator , a small home made boring bar , a full set of number letter and fractional drills , tail stock drill chuck ,and a inexpensive live center .

Not a great start but it is enough to get me started .

Now my wish list .the short version ... and i blame all of you for it ..

Material ...gosh there is so much stock i wish i had .

But lets just go with tooling and metrology

Quick change tool post ... ok this is just a luxury item
A decent starter set of taps and dies , spring center , adjustable hand reamers up to 1inch , basic set of indexable insert tool holders, center finder , edge finders,
Small inside micrometers ,, small machinst square , machinst ruler , more dial indicators .. a long travel , and one that measures .001 and assorted indicator holders
A decent set of boring bars , quality hack saw blades ,
A deviding head , .... ok you get the idea

Lets see yours

 

[xalky]

My method of acquiring all manner of tooling is finding like minded people. Craig's list is an excellent resource for used tooling. EBay sometimes. Keep some money set aside for tool acquisitions, nothing speaks louder than cash. Trying to buy everything that you want brand new, will put you in the poor house fast. I befriended a scrap yard up here and I can buy stock for less than 50 cents on the dollar. It's doable.

 

[jpfabricator]

Pawn shops have decent stuff now and then, and most will let tou lay-a-way!

Jake Parker

 

[bosephus]

I know i will get the things i want eventualy , and i do have patience so things do not have to happen over night .

Im mostly interested in seeing what others started with and what is on your wish lists .

 

[Don B]

I admit it i sometimes get jelouse ... i see what you other fellows are making and the tools you have to work with and jelousy rears its ugly head .

It takes time and patients to build up a well tooled shop, for me it's been a 40 year journey, one thing I think that someone starting out needs to sort out in a hurry, especially if there on a fixed income is the difference between what they need and what they want.

One bit of advice I can give is look for parcels of tools and equipment, a few years a go I bought an assortment of tools from a guy, most of the stuff I had no interest in but knew I could resell it, in the end I wound up with a set of 12 inch mitutoyo dial calipers and a little over 500 bucks profit that I was able to put back into my hobby, it took about 6 months and some elbow grease and time to clean up some of the tools but thats the price you pay, I've done this a few times wit different lots of tools/equipment and it's provided me with some extra income to invest in machine tools that I otherwise wouldn't have had.

Have fun collecting your tools and equipment......)

 

[JimDawson]

Like DonB, it has taken me about 40 years to acquire and equip my shop. Look for deals, do a little work and put the profit back into tooling. The Internet has allowed a lot more shopping options than we have had in the past. Craigslist is a great source of goodies, sometimes you can find a real steal on CL, and even if you don't need it, maybe you can re-sell it for a profit. I have a separate bank account that I use just for my shop and toys, and keep a little cash squirreled away in there just for the ''deal-of-the-day''.

Don't become discouraged if it takes some time, if you want it bad enough, it will happen.

 

[Andre]

I'm very lucky to have mill and lathe stuff that my grandfather acquired from Xerox "garage sales" and friends had given him. He did all woodworking so it was just unused and waiting for me. Endmills, drills, reamers, toe clamps, machinist jacks, parallels, surface plate, dial indicator stuff, etc. I have a real head start and I kinda lucked out. Other than that, my wish list (for those who are curious)

Test dial indicator


Rotary table/dividing head/indexer

New bridgeport M head bearings for the mill

A small boring head

Small hole gauges.


That's my wish list, in order of most to least usable. Anything else is just fun toys but I could do my work without them.

 

[richl]

If you havent already done so, join a macbinist club, that puts you in contact with guys like yourself, looking to buy and sell stuff. I have had some success purchasing old tooling and surplus metals from machine liquidators.
The mill and lathe i have now i got through my contacts here. 1 of the guys is always sending me li.ks to machines for sale or free... always good to have extra eyes looking out for you.
Hth
Rich

 

[xalky]

It's taken me about 4 years to get my shop to where I want it.....for now. LOL. I started out with a little used south bend 9" lathe, which I have since sold , which was replaced with a used 12 " Taiwan lathe, that has also been sold, that was replaced by a 14" Nardini, which I will keep.Then I got a Bridgeport. I also bought a surface grinder at auction. Then I got a line on a 20" ikegai lathe, which I bought and it came with a ton of tooling. Each time I buy a used machine, I get tooling that gets added to my collection. I've got tons of stuff now. Every time I sell a machine I make a few bucks, plus I keep most of the rolling that came with it. I haven't lost money on a machine yet. It takes patience and vigilance to find the deals, but a kean eye and persistence helps, and some ready cash.

For once , I really don't have anything on my wish list, which is a little scary actually.

 

[GK1918]

I know i will get the things i want eventualy , and i do have patience so things do not have to happen over night .

Im mostly interested in seeing what others started with and what is on your wish lists .

for what its worth I have been in this business since 1952, I know I have most of what you may drool over, BUT I'm still dumpster
diving and word of mouth which works. I do not refuse any free metals lets say I repross it. Just last week I scored 'three' half inch
by 5" by two ft. alum plates new in a dumpster, feel like a crook but it was in a waste dumpster not a metal one. oh well it takes
time and yes the luxury items makes life easy but we had no such thing back in the day it was a pencil and paper. Funny now I cant
operate a pencil and paper no more. I just came upon a question and answer book drafting dated 1959 I did it, my name & signed by
the teacher how in hell did I do that, even in blue & white, machine parts?? just dont remember, but im saying it takes time. I do
see once you fall into the machining community things will start to pop. good luck day by day just keep asking people.

sam