Dont buy it until you have a job for it?

[sdelivery]

Roundstock?
I have collected quite a bit of various materials myself but can sometimes be in the right spot so I have nothing into it.
Be aware of the materials around you sometimes people don't realize what things are made of.

 

[woodchucker]

Don't buy it until you have a job for it seems to be the mantra of the modern machinist. In normal times that is the best way to avoid tying up money in tooling you might never use. This thought process presupposes that the things we might buy will be avaliable.

As one of those crazy prepper types I believe a time may come when we might not have near instant access to any tool we can imagine. That is why I am willing to tie up some money in cutters and tooling I might not have a job for right now. No need to talk me out of it. It's pretty much done anyway. Lol! Humor me!

I only stock up on things that I can either get insanely cheap for great quality or it's worth paying full price because it is absolutely necessary. Most of the tooling I bought is USA, European, or quality Asian.

I've stocked up on basic tooling like carbide lathe and mill inserts and endmills and enough hss lathe toolbits to last a lifetime.

I bought lots of reamers surplus for $5 lb. Lots of to size, under, over, and odd sizes that snuck in my stock. I have complete sets of metric from 3 to 13 and 1/8 to 1/2 and a sae over under set. I'm looking to grow my larger reamers above 1/2".

I bought SD drills from 33/64" to 1". Mostly USA made but NOS on Ebay.

I bought a complete set of Woodruff key seat cutters from 202 to 1200's. These do come in handy for all sorts of crazy projects.

I bought annular cutters from 3/4 to 2" in 32nds increments. Almost all Chinese but they cut beautifully.

I bought keyway broaches from 1/8 to 3/4" and 3mm to 18mm.

I bought corner rounding endmills in several standard sizes.

I bought 60° dovetail cutters

I bought a T-slot set.

I bought a taper reamer set along with single reamers so I have 7/0 to 10. I also bought taper pins to go with it.

I have both metric and standard capscrew counterbores up to 5/8 and 14mm.

I know there is some stuff I'm missing that I have on hand.

I have a nearly complete set of MT2 shank drill bits from 1/2 to 7/8.

I need a few Shell mills but I'm just looking for deals.

I have lots of solid carbide boring bars and quality insert holders for the lathe.

What type of cutting tools am I missing?

well damn... did you put them in the what did you buy???
maybe do a review of some of them?

haha... now you dun done it...

 

[woodchucker]

I am not sure that may be so crazy after all. I was watching one of those crazy videos from a third world country, where they spend the time to rewire an alternator. Stuff like that may be a lost art, or close to it here. But the way parts are getting so hard to come by, it may not be far off until we see labor costs being back to a small part of the overall cost of a repair.

let me hijack this by saying the lack of parts to repair also leads to tons of waste in our landfills. that and stupid packaging.
and stupid designs.

my old craftsman shop vac had a filter cap that you resused... now the current filters they build them in... tons more crap in the trash...

if you could get half the parts you need and could repair we would be in better shape...

 

[jwmay]

Don't buy it until you have a job for it seems to be the mantra of the modern machinist. In normal times that is the best way to avoid tying up money in tooling you might never use. This thought process presupposes that the things we might buy will be avaliable

Yeah I still think everything I need will be available if/when I need it.
Actually your list is so long I can't even remember half of it. So the thing that causes me more problems than anything is breaking little drill bits and not having a replacement. Oh and not having a decent METRIC drill index. Actually maybe better would be to get a number, letter, fractional, and metric drill index. Did you say that?

 

[Batmanacw]

Yeah I still think everything I need will be available if/when I need it.
Actually your list is so long I can't even remember half of it. So the thing that causes me more problems than anything is breaking little drill bits and not having a replacement. Oh and not having a decent METRIC drill index. Actually maybe better would be to get a number, letter, fractional, and metric drill index. Did you say that?

I have two 118 piece standard sets and a cheap metric set. I'm going to spring for a nicer metric set someday.

With supply chains causing havoc everywhere I can't be sure of anything.

 

[Shootymacshootface]

I have bought an excessive amount of tooling, for a home shop. The reasoning is that I don't want to have to buy anything after I retire. Also, my son is a full time machinist and he does side work in my shop. He uses my tools and has brought a lot of tooling in that I would have never thought of getting.
I am very fortunate to a great used tool dealer somewhat close by. He puts a lot of effort in to getting good stuff for his business, and we are on a first name basis!
Here is a glimpse of the machining side of my garage.

 

[Janderso]

I have bought an excessive amount of tooling, for a home shop. The reasoning is that I don't want to have to buy anything after I retire. Also, my son is a full time machinist and he does side work in my shop. He uses my tools and has brought a lot of tooling in that I would have never thought of getting.
I am very fortunate to a great used tool dealer somewhat close by. He puts a lot of effort in to getting good stuff for his business, and we are on a first name basis!
Here is a glimpse of the machining side of my garage.
View attachment 386765View attachment 386766View attachment 386767

I love your shop and I like the layout.
Looks a lot like mine, cozy

I'm finally to the point where I might consider only buying it when I need it.
When you are a tool nut, it's very fulfilling to own tools and machine tools.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

As a rule, I don't consider myself a prepper as such. Others may say different. . . Being stuck in a wheelchair puts a lot of things in a new perspective for me. I do have a good stock of machine tooling and a fair supply of wood working tools. In both cases, tooling that is better than my own poor skills. But what I do have is the knowledge to use anything I have, even if I don't have the immediate skill, Should the need arise, I can build the skills, especially those that have been lost from not being used. My particular interest is in manual hand tools for wood working. And tons of nails and screws. Of course, I have tons of machine screws as well.

Power tools are nice, hell I couldn't get by much without them. But consider if the power is off. I'm an old man and have a small source of income, for now. But even that hangs by a thread, the power bill is almost as much as I can pay. Those hand tools may be put to use yet. But I still scour sales, yard sales, Craig's List, eBay, and the like for things that I could possibly use one day. Never mind whether or not I know how to use it, but do I know what it is. That;s what matters here.

All of this aside, I am, or was, a master electrician. But an "old school" motor and controls electrician. And have a stash of relays, timers, fittings, brushes, and the like. I know how to modify brushes so a motor will work again. And, worst case, can rewind small motors. But all that comes to naught if the power is off. Unless I can fabricate something to make the power. That's where the machine work and carpentry comes into play. I know a lot about "old school" electric gizmos. Things that haven't been used for a hundred years. They still work, just require a lot of monitoring and upkeep. Despite my chair, that's where I shine. Knowledge of how to build and take care of such machines.

Bottom line, I concur wholeheartedly with the premise behind this post. Set things in place so you have what you need, when (not if) you need it.

.

 

[Shootymacshootface]

I love your shop and I like the layout.
Looks a lot like mine, cozy

I'm finally to the point where I might consider only buying it when I need it.
When you are a tool nut, it's very fulfilling to own tools and machine tools.

Thanks Jeff, it's definitely a tight area. My son wants a Robodrill. If we get that, I'll lose the entire garage.

 

[Batmanacw]

As a rule, I don't consider myself a prepper as such. Others may say different. . . Being stuck in a wheelchair puts a lot of things in a new perspective for me. I do have a good stock of machine tooling and a fair supply of wood working tools. In both cases, tooling that is better than my own poor skills. But what I do have is the knowledge to use anything I have, even if I don't have the immediate skill, Should the need arise, I can build the skills, especially those that have been lost from not being used. My particular interest is in manual hand tools for wood working. And tons of nails and screws. Of course, I have tons of machine screws as well.

Power tools are nice, hell I couldn't get by much without them. But consider if the power is off. I'm an old man and have a small source of income, for now. But even that hangs by a thread, the power bill is almost as much as I can pay. Those hand tools may be put to use yet. But I still scour sales, yard sales, Craig's List, eBay, and the like for things that I could possibly use one day. Never mind whether or not I know how to use it, but do I know what it is. That;s what matters here.

All of this aside, I am, or was, a master electrician. But an "old school" motor and controls electrician. And have a stash of relays, timers, fittings, brushes, and the like. I know how to modify brushes so a motor will work again. And, worst case, can rewind small motors. But all that comes to naught if the power is off. Unless I can fabricate something to make the power. That's where the machine work and carpentry comes into play. I know a lot about "old school" electric gizmos. Things that haven't been used for a hundred years. They still work, just require a lot of monitoring and upkeep. Despite my chair, that's where I shine. Knowledge of how to build and take care of such machines.

Bottom line, I concur wholeheartedly with the premise behind this post. Set things in place so you have what you need, when (not if) you need it.

.

You would be invaluable in a long term situation.