New PM1340GT Coming Soon!

[JohnOZ]

Hey Guys,
Down payment check on the way to Matt! May be a couple of months before receiving which leads into a question for Ray and anyone else who'd like to chime in although Ray knows exactly what I'm getting regarding accessories. The question is about tooling up. There are probably thousands of different tools and of course thousands of $'s to buy. What should I basically start with? I know about cutting off holders/bits, etc. And, also about indicators and micrometers which run from $20.00 to hundreds. But I'm not knowledgeable enough to not spend money on what is not needed. Those things I know about above is very, very basic though. I don't mind spending money for good tooling but don't want to be foolish either.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

JohnOZ

 

[Ray C]

The tool I reach for the most are manual sizing calipers (looks like a doctor's stethasope without the rubber hose) and of course, all the other things you mentioned.

New or used? I happen to have some of my father's older stuff that I still use but I've done very well by the Shars.com micrometers and DI's. I have mics from 0-3" and about four DI's. Two read in thousandts with a +/- 15 thou range and two read in half-thous with a 5 thou swing. I'm pretty sure they cost about 30-40 bucks each. They serve my purposes well and seem to read very well as I've setup gauge blocks on the granite and seem to be fairly linear.

I also have manual depth gauges, telescoping bore and ball gauges. They're used a lot. Next is a good quality thread pitch gauge. Forget the cheap pieces of junk that come with tap/die sets. Beg, borrow (but don't steal) a decent one made of good metal - Metric and SAE.

Also, the cheapo range indicators from Harbor Freight. On sale they're 15 bucks and they serve all kinds of purposes. They work well and I get a lot of mileage out of the cheap HF mag bases. Over time, I created a whole basket full of adapter pieces.

Ah, yes. Machinist blocks and parallels of all shapes and sizes. Parallels are especially useful to stand-off a piece in the chuck jaws -But do yourself a favor and never forget to remove the parallel from the jaws before you hit the switch.

One thing I never thought I'd get so much use from is a quality granite slab. I have a big heavy one and am thinking of getting another that's a little easier on the back for quick checks. I use that thing at least once a week. Gauge block set. For the longest time, I had a handful of gauge blocks but I got a full set no long ago. Mondo say: Good!

OK, there's a start...


Ray

Hey Guys,
Down payment check on the way to Matt! May be a couple of months before receiving which leads into a question for Ray and anyone else who'd like to chime in although Ray knows exactly what I'm getting regarding accessories. The question is about tooling up. There are probably thousands of different tools and of course thousands of $'s to buy. What should I basically start with? I know about cutting off holders/bits, etc. And, also about indicators and micrometers which run from $20.00 to hundreds. But I'm not knowledgeable enough to not spend money on what is not needed. Those things I know about above is very, very basic though. I don't mind spending money for good tooling but don't want to be foolish either.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

JohnOZ

 

[JohnOZ]

Thanks, Ray. After I posted I remembered one item in particular I'll need - 5c Collet Set. I guess the more I watch youtube and see what others have will guide me as well. Measuring instruments of all kinds appears at the top of the list. And, along the way an assortment of types of marking tools, etc. I'm just assuming now, but since you're the only response, I get the feeling that it's intuitive about what you might need for a particular project after a while. Asking questions on the forum and perusing catalogs among other things. Thanks again!

JohnOZ

 

[Ray C]

Shars for the collets too. They're fine. Better ones probably exist but I have no complaints about mine. A full set of about 50 will run about $300.

Most important marking tool I have is several little bottles of Dykem layout fluid. Comes in hand. Scribe tools are easy to make and if you need a precision line, use a razor blade. An optical center finder is handy too and easy to make.

6 and 12" electronic calipers are handy to spot check things but when I really want to measure something, mics are the way to go. HF for the calipers 20-30 bucks.

I also find thread mics to be very useful. I always check any important work with them.

That's pretty much most of the daily-use stuff aside from drills, taps, reamers and other quasi-consumable items. You can do a lot with a little!

Ray

Thanks, Ray. After I posted I remembered one item in particular I'll need - 5c Collet Set. I guess the more I watch youtube and see what others have will guide me as well. Measuring instruments of all kinds appears at the top of the list. And, along the way an assortment of types of marking tools, etc. I'm just assuming now, but since you're the only response, I get the feeling that it's intuitive about what you might need for a particular project after a while. Asking questions on the forum and perusing catalogs among other things. Thanks again!

JohnOZ