- Joined
- Oct 28, 2024
- Messages
- 33
My Sherline lathe and mill are the only machines I bought new. I have easily doubled their purchase price with tooling and accessories, not including general tools like tool boxes, micrometers, calipers etc.
The mill seems to be the real money pit. Most lathes come with a steady rest, tailstock drill chuck, centers, a 3 jaw chuck, and sometimes a 4 jaw chuck which is enough to get you started off. Maybe a collet chuck and follow rest as soon to buy items but that will take care of most people for sometime.
A mill usually comes with nothing, so a vise, drill chuck with adaptor, appropriate collets, some end mills, flycutter etc can easily add $1000 over the purchase price and that is pretty much just bare essentials. Indexable face mill, rotary table, angle plate, hold down set, spindexer, dividing head, etc you can just keep writing checks, make sure to wave hello to the rabbit as you pass on by.
Then you have general use tools, tool boxes, drill bits, metrology tools, misc tongs, hammers, wrenches, scribing tools, lights, oil cans, fluids, rolls of emery cloth... Depending on existing shop tools, if you don't already have one you will want to add bench grinder and bandsaw or chop saw.
I think it is safe to say you could easily spend another $2000 in the first year at least if buying everything new.
Points well taken.
2000 bucks? Easy! And believe me, I've been a scrounger and re-furbisher all my life, so this 'new purchase' idea is a novel concept for me.
I never would have taken this approach ten years ago (before retirement). I have to keep reminding myself that we kept our noses to the grindstones all of our lives to get to this point, but old habits die hard...
Fortunately I have 45 years of tool purchasing history behind me, so I already have a full complement of every other tool needed for working metal (short of a lathe or mill). It's amazing what you can accomplish with a chop saw, bandsaw, belt sanders, grinders, a set of really good/sharp hand files, and lots and lots of time and patience, lol.
One regret - I purchased an 8" Craftsman rotary table many moons ago at an auto parts swap meet for $10 - it seemed like a good deal (duh!), it was in perfect condition (still wrapped in the greasy paper) and I thought it would come in handy for use with my new Craftsman drill press. I hung on to it forever but never used it. Then a buddy of mine spotted it while helping us pack for our latest (and greatest, and last, hopefully) move to our current location, and he offered me $200 for it. Figured I'd never use it, so why not? Aarrrrrgh......