Tools Used Less Than Expected

alloy said:
And my starret adjustable parallels. Never once used them on 25 years.
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I use them on occasions , but my planer gage sees more usage for real work . I set the adjustable parallels for some sine bars once in a while .
 
Tapered mandrels. I have a complete set by 1/32nds from 1/8 inch to 1 inch, never have found a hole in anything I was turning that would quite fit.
 
My B&S #1 dividing head clone. I have all the gears and adapters, but it has just stayed on the cart. I normally use a small rotary table instead - I have 3 of those!
 
#1 - Haimer Taster. I last used it probably 2.5 - 3 years ago. I really only use it as a poor man's CMM because I can rapidly measure something up with it and my DRO. (Not something I need to do often.)

#2 - Tormek drill sharpening attachment. Slow and fiddly. I've never been able to achieve consistent results with it. As soon as I figured out 4-facet grinding on my single-lip cutter grinder, it became a dust collector.

#3 - Miller Spectrum 625 plasma cutter - bought it to cut out steel targets, and imagined there would be a lot of other uses for it. Apparently not - I haven't even exhausted the first piece of the consumables.

GsT
 
When I bought my Tormach CNC, I added the 4th axis (a steeper driven RT). I hadn't a specific use for it but wanted to expand my capabilities. That was twelve years ago and I believe that I have used it once.. To be fair, I have a 12" RT which is semi-permanently mounted on my RF30 clone.

Both a steady rest and a follower rest came with my Grizzly G0602 some seven years ago and neither has been used. The right project hasn't come along yet. My faceplate is used for checking headstock alignment rather than the more typical use. If I had a set of lathe dogs, I might be more inclined to use it though.

I have a sine plate that has been used once or twice in the past five years and a 5C collet fixture that has been used once. I'm sure if I took an inventory, I could come up with other examples.

For me at least, how often a tool gets used depends in part on how easily it is set up. My 12" RT has a semi-permanent place on the mill because it is too heavy to install and remove without very good reason. I find it useful at times and because I have a second mill, I am content to leave it in place. The 4th axis RT is also bothersome to install and remove but it takes up too much real estate to leave on permanently so it sits in the cabinet under the mill. I used to avoid single point threading because of the bother of messing with change gears. Likewise, using power feed required messing with the gears so I would tend not to use it. Now that I have an ELS, setup for threading or power feed involves flipping a switch and pushing a few buttons so I use them much more frequently.

Although I haven't used the above mentioned items very much, if at all,I still wouldn't want to part with them. Almost certainly if one of them went out the door, I would have a project that could not be completed without it.

edited to include missing "not"
 
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Wow, that means at some point I will need my brand new in the box plasma cutter?

Cool. Never used a plasma cutter before :cool:
 
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