tools needed for the home machinist with a lathe and milling machine

[BGHansen]

You have a pretty complete list. I didn't see Dykem but you have acetone for removing Dykem so assume it's on your list.

I use parallels on the mill quite a bit to get work above the vise jaws. Whole lot of options there: 1/8" thick, 1/4" thick, adjustable, wavy, thin, .etc. I don't have any 1/4" ones, but have the rest. I use the 1/8" most. Also have some Chinese angle blocks. You could do the same thing with a scribed line set parallel to the vise jaw.

Another thing could be a wiggler. There are lots of ways to align a prick-punched hole to the spindle. I have laser center finders, edge finders ground to a point, Blake co-ax indicator with a center finder attachment and a wiggler. Probably use the wiggler the most. I also use the wiggler on the lathe to center up a part in a 4-jaw chuck. Put the wiggler in the tail stock chuck, wiggler point in a prick punched hole. Put a dial indicator against the shaft of the wiggler and adjust the jaws until the indicator doesn't move.

I wipe away chips with a chip brush, wooden handle cheap paint brush. Have a 29 pc. set of screw machine length drill bits at the mills. They're nice as they are roughly the same length as end mills and edge finders so you're not cranking down on the table to get clearance.

Best advise is to pick up what you need once you need it.

Bruce

 

[WCraig]

One thing not listed is a drill gauge. An inexpensive metal drill gauge is great for checking common sizes (1/16 to 1/2 on mine).

I think a 4" machinist square is the first one I would buy. It is the one I reach for most often.

Rather than buy everything new, you might want to troll for estate or clearing auctions or whatever they are called in your region. Often there are box lots of small tools that go for a reasonable price. (Pick your max ahead of time and stick to it!) I've been known to buy a lot and sell a few things out of it to end up with my desired tools essentially for free!

Craig

 

[C-Bag]

I agree with all the statements of only buy what you specifically need. The $ you save from not having an un-used inventory of tools can allow you to buy better quality tools when you do. It also only takes 2-3 days to buy something and have it shipped and in your hand. I have been very successful at getting Dial Indicators and Micrometers used from EBAY and Craigs list at affordable prices. My best advise is to go and make something with whatever tools you have and then go buy what you wished you had when you made it.

Everybody is different in their projects so it's impossible to say even without knowing what you are doing. In my work i bought as I needed and mostly CL and eBay used good quality for a fraction of new. Some things like height gages I've had to resurface them because they were no longer flat. But some guys say they have never needed a surface plate and I can't imagine being without my small plate and 18x24 and wish I had room and the $$ for a large one. I found a set of B&S 4 machinist squares for $55 on eBay and along with my 6" Starrett trisquare and 12" use them constantly for laying out, measuring and checking things for square. Down in LA I constantly see machinist tools on CL. If I was down there I'd never have to buy off eBay.

 

[ThinWoodsman]

My best advise is to go and make something with whatever tools you have and then go buy what you wished you had when you made it.

Seconded.

I make heavy use of those cloth-like paper towels instead of rags. I use a full-face shield instead of safety goggles. Chip brushes by the score - one by each machine for the swarf, another with the cutting fluid, one hanging on the bench just for smearing a coat of oil on things.

Automatic center punch - nope, they're handy for one-handed center marking but not for precision.

Deburring tool, not set - costs maybe ten bucks and you get a dozen or so extra blades. Used every time you drill a hole, so it's not a waste of money. More complicated deburring can be done with a file or stone.

Files: lots of these. Flat, triangular, circular, square, single and double cut, bastard and smooth, plus some Swiss patterns thrown in (needle files). Also a bench stone, like the combination Nortion. I'm a big fan of the Gesswein sets, but I admit they are a bit of an extravagance.

Brass/rubber hammer: One or the other, just has to be non-marring. Grace makes a brass hammer with one nylon face, Garland makes rawhide ones, some weighted to serve as a deadblow.

6" scale: Mitutoyo has one for 10-15 bucks that I like a lot

Scriber: Making one is a good project, but they're so cheap that I have a few lying around. One of my favorites is a retractable diamond-tip; got some carbide-tip ones, a bent one, and so forth. Related: dental picks and plastic gun-cleaning picks. I find them useful.

Surface plate: These are like 25 bucks, there is no reason not to have one. Shars has them, Amazon has some. Someone who works in an inspection department may take issue with the cheap ones, but at the price they are cheaper than the usual "sheet of thick plate-glass" alternative, and more accurate.

Surface/radius/feeler gauges: buy as needed.

Vise: One sturdy 4-6" jaw for the work bench (to saw, file, and bang on workpieces) with replaceable jaws (important!), one milling vise for the mill. Somehow I ended up with five or six vises.

Hacksaw: One is the bare minimum; you probably want one for coarse blades and one for fine blades hanging by the bench vise (next to the ball-peen and whatever heavy hammer you use to really whale on things).

Parallels: parallels parallels parallels. Never seem to have too many. Adjustable, angle, extra-wide, you name it.

Hardness tester: only needed if you are heat-treating to spec, otherwise you can just use a file to verify the metal has been hardened

Indicators: This seems to be an ever-growing collection, between the holders and the indicators themselves. Get at least one plunger and one test indicator, just get Shars at first until you have demonstrated to your satisfaction that they are not accurate enough. The price jump from Shars to, say, Mitutoyo or Starrett is huge, so make sure you need the accuracy before you commit. You'll still use the cheap ones a lot because you don't want to drop that pricey glass-faced one.

Wrenches: One thing I did initially was go out and buy a set of those ratcheting box wrenches. This turns out to have been a mistake, because over time I went out and bought duplicates of individual wrenches (some ratcheting, some fixed depending on the application) to keep on or near each machine. Drawbar, hold-down nuts, QCTP, micrometer stop, grinder wheels ... you want the wrench RIGHT THERE, not across the room in a nice-looking wall display.

Cutting and lubrication fluids: There is an endless argument on this so I won't offer specifics. Get the correct way and spindle oil for your machines, get cutting fluid for tapping steel and for tapping or cutting aluminum, get something to squirt on as coolant, sort out a rust-preventative. Mustard squirt bottles, oil cans, grease guns for zerks: as-needed, depends on your machines.

Finally, in honor of the late and original Tubal Cain, I will add: a simple block of wood

 

[Downwindtracker2]

My granite plate is a 12"x18" that was on sale for $36 Canadian at BusyBee. I've used it four or five times. I bought it for layout, but I've used as a flat place to check . My test indicator that I use most often is a imported .0005 that was thrown in with some tooling. He said didn't work. It works fine for me.

Urethane dead blow hammers, since lead hammers are now a bit hard to come by, these work almost as well. Surprising how often things need a swat, and they don't leave tracks. Mine say Stanley on them.

 

[Mitch Alsup]

What I fail to see are the::
a) rotary/indexing table
b) lathe cutting tools
c) mill collets
d) face mill
e) flycutter
f) variety of end mills
g) ball mills
h) form tools
g) thread cutting tools inside and outside
h) .....

 

[ARC-170]

Thanks to all! There's a lot of good info here. My purpose in asking was to find out what tools I would need that are specific to a lathe and mill, and/or in addition to the general tools in a well-equipped shop. It would be nice to have duplicates right next to the machine on some of these. for example, the drill gauge is an inexpensive item that can be in the tool box, by the mill and by the lathe.

Based on the above, I would add the following to my list:

MEASURING
20. machinists's combination square
21. wiggler

GAUGES
9. drill gauge. I have one of these, but it seems like something a well-equipped shop would already have, so I didn't list it, but it's cheap enough that having one by each machine is nice.

TOOLS
10. Anything that is specific to that particular machine

OTHER
6. Swarf brushes
7. Lube brushes
8. Block of wood to put under the lathe chuck when changing it so it doesn't jack up the ways if it gets dropped.

I would say that they following items are optional/use if needed:
Radius gauge set
Feeler gauges

I would say this item is not really needed by an amateur like myself:
Rockwell hardness tester

The other items mentioned, for example wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. , are all tools I would say most shops already have. It's good to know they are needed, but they aren't specific to a lathe and a mill. My list, plus the additions, for the most part are not needed unless you have precision machine tools like a lathe and mill.

 

[ARC-170]

What I fail to see are the::
a) rotary/indexing table
b) lathe cutting tools
c) mill collets
d) face mill
e) flycutter
f) variety of end mills
g) ball mills
h) form tools
g) thread cutting tools inside and outside
h) .....

I didn't include any tooling; I figured that was obvious that the user would have some or most of these items.

 

[ARC-170]

This post might be of some help to you. I was supposed to collate it and put together a list, but have been slacking.

This list was specifically non-machining tools that are needed or at least quite useful for machining.

As usual some went a little overboard so it includes just about every tool known to mankind.


https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/important-non-machine-tools-to-have.66198/

Thanks, this was helpful. I couldn't find anything when I did a search, but I knew that this topic had to be addressed somewhere. I think your link and my post and the responses gives a pretty good idea of what is needed. I may collate all of it into a master list so I can see what I need/want. If/when I do, I'll add it to this so others can see it.

 

[ARC-170]

Everybody is different in their projects so it's impossible to say even without knowing what you are doing. In my work i bought as I needed and mostly CL and eBay used good quality for a fraction of new. Some things like height gages I've had to resurface them because they were no longer flat. But some guys say they have never needed a surface plate and I can't imagine being without my small plate and 18x24 and wish I had room and the $$ for a large one. I found a set of B&S 4 machinist squares for $55 on eBay and along with my 6" Starrett trisquare and 12" use them constantly for laying out, measuring and checking things for square. Down in LA I constantly see machinist tools on CL. If I was down there I'd never have to buy off eBay.

The shipping on surface plates can be $100! And the plate costs half that. I live close enough to LMS to go pick up a small one. I have a Starrett tri-square and I really like it; it's smooth to slide and feels well-made.
I hesitate to buy off CL, but at least I can go look at the tools. I was told that the economy determines how much tools are for sale. I thought about pawn shops, but they seem a bit over-priced.