Re: Tools to have?
 

For the lathe that we used, we have done spacers [about 40?], shafts [wcd/gearboxes dozens of these], pulleys/rollers, hubs for wheels, custom minibot wheels, custom wheels in general etc.
Pretty much anything round goes into the lathe. You will find more uses as you go along, I am not saying machine tools are necessary but they can help a lot. For example I don't see any other way to make a shaft true then with a lathe.

Re: Tools to have?
 

In addition hubs, gears, and pulleys. All your round parts will need a lathe because it is very hard(almost impossible to make them accurately) to make them without one.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Budget Aside, I wanted to get your input on my ideas about a few new tools to buy..

Here's a list:

Rolling Cabinet 30" $150 http://www.harborfreight.com/11-draw...fQ%3D%3D%0D%0A

16" Variable Speed Scroll Saw $64.99; $59.99 with coupon. http://www.harborfreight.com/16-inch...saw-93012.html

Combination 4" x 36" Belt / 6" Disc Sander $79.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-...der-97181.html

3-1/2 HP 14" Industrial Cut-off saw $99.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/3-12-hp...saw-68104.html

18 V Cordless Jigsaw $29.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/power-t...saw-68242.html
1 ton Arbor Press $47.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-a...ress-3552.html

Horizontal/Vertical Metal-Cutting bandsaw $249.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/horizon...saw-93762.html

115 Piece High speed drill bit set $35.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/115-pie...index-528.html

Automatic Center Punch $2.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/spring-...punch-621.html

130 Piece Tool Kit with Case $34.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/130-pie...ase-68998.html

6" digital Caliper w/ Fractional & metric readings $24.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/6-digit...ngs-68304.html

10 Piece Diamond Grit File Set $7.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/10-pc-d...sets-6989.html

7" Wire Stripper w/ cutter $4.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-...ter-98410.html

Ratcheting Crimping Tool $9.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/ratchet...ool-97420.html

Soldering Station $19.96 http://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Stat...4412642&sr=1-2

60 Piece Alloy Steel Tap/Die Set Metric & SAE Fractional $39.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/60-piec...set-35407.html

10 Rolls 3/4" x 60 ft Electrical Tape $4.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/interes...tape-6047.html

12 in Ratchet Bar/Clamp Spreader $3.49 http://www.harborfreight.com/interes...der-46807.html

5 gallon wet/dry vacuum blower $44.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-...wer-94282.html

3 Piece Folding Hex Key Set $6.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-to...eys-94905.html

22 Piece SAE & Metric Combination Wrench Set $17.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-to...set-47467.html

Multi-purpose Workbench with Lighting & Outlets $99.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/multipu...let-99681.html

Workbench w/ 4 drawers, 60" hardwood $159.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/60-inch...nch-93454.html

7" x 12" Precision Mini-Lathe $699.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-...the-93799.html

16 Speed Heavy Duty Floor Drill Press $279.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-...ess-43378.html

Re: Tools to have?
 

The amount of harbor freight I see on that list somewhat worries me... Personally I would avoid HF for any tool that need to be powered, but there are people that have gotten good deals with Hf.

Re: Tools to have?
 

When would your team use these tools? If you can't think of a time that you think you would use these tools most likely they wouldn't end up getting used. It seems to be that if you are building your robot out of metal components that the Scroll saw and Jigsaw might go unused. But if you think that these would be used in the prototyping phase then they would be good purchases.

I think that while this is a good list of tools that your team may use i would recommend considering what tools you used last season or wished that you many have.

The list above are some on the tools I wonder if you would actually use. IMO having a full set of taps and dies aren't needed. There are very few times in FIRST where i have even considered using a die to be necessary. And while in some rare cases it might be useful to have a full tap set why not buy multiples of the few sizes that your team uses. If you only use 1/4 20 hardware the other sized taps would be unnecessary.

I would say the same thing about the multi-tool and allen wrench sets if you think that your team may use all these different tools than this would not be a bad purchase, but i think you could better spend your money having more than one of the sizes that you use most often. Nothing is worse than losing the one needed wrench size, and having to make due.

Lastly the work benches, I think that your team could built much cheaper ones that would better fit your work space. Buying some 2x4's and making some tables could be a fun team activity allowing some newer members to get acquainted to your teams tools and or shop.

Re: Tools to have?
 

I don't believe this stuff has been mentioned, but how's your electrical tools looking? A good soldering iron, pair of sharp diagonal cutters, auto strippers, and preferably an ideal crimper will alleviate most of your electrical worries in season.

As well, if you don't have a budget set aside for this, make sure before you go buying stuff you might use, that you replenish stock of materials you did use and probably will use.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Jigsaw: we've found that a jigsaw is a great tool to have for anything, really. We'll definitely use it for field construction, and it's also very useful for prototyping with cardboard and wood.

Scroll Saw: We would really like to get one in order to cut polycarbonate and various other plastics and thin sheets into shapes that aren't accommodated by straight-line cutting saws.



That's true. We used 1/4 20 taps a lot last season and we just figured maybe having a whole set would be helpful and not constrict us - if we had other bolts we wanted to use, then we could, etc.

As far as Allen wrench sets, we mostly use 5/32 and 1/4 but I haven't really seen a place where we can just buy a load of 5/32 allen wrenches or something. So sets made sense.[/quote]



That's definitely true. We'll keep that in mind. Good idea.


In the list I included a soldering station, strippers, and a crimper :)

Yes, replenishing metals & other materials we'll use comes before our tools budget.

Re: Tools to have?
 

You can buy a bunch pretty cheap from McMaster Carr.

In fact, we gave out bundles of them wrapped in a bow as alliance gifts last year (our PR lead came up with this :) )

Re: Tools to have?
 

Our team owns a Band Saw (min. throat), a Drill Press(Machinist Mentor to Teach) a Mini lathe, a cut off saw for wood but can cut Aluminum, a tap set, Bearing Press, Battery Chargers, Battery Tester, Soldering gun, multi- meters, crimpers, rivet guns and plenty of hand tools. I feel we need a Scale that will weigh a complete robot, broaches, and better storage.

We also have plenty of hardware and Aluminum.

Re: Tools to have?
 

One of my favorite tools in a set of ball end hex bits. Ih you have a drill with a clutch it makes assembly really quick.

Re: Tools to have?
 

I can guarantee you that the taps and drill bits you've linked are complete garbage. You simply cannot purchase quality cutting tools in that quantity for that price.

I would recommend buying taps as needed (and high quality ones...we're not talking $10 a piece either, more like $2-3).

If you want to get the all in one drill set, at least buy 5-10 quality individual drills of common sizes (#7, #21, #29, F, etc). Those 4 will probably be your most commonly used drill bits if you use #8-32, #10-32, and 1/4-20 hardware.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Prepare a set-aside for replacement drill bits and taps. Novices have incidents that are tough on small tools. A multitude of 7/16" open end/box end wrenches is a must.
If you are looking for power tools, I'd recommend a machine that will allow precision drilling/boring for precise located hole patterns if you can utilize CAD models for robot design. A lathe would be nice to have (we use 1940's South Bend lathe in a mentor's basement for small cylindrical work) if you suspect that you cannot design using off-the-shelf shafts, bearings and gears/sprockets. Another use for a lathe is for modifying readily available parts that you may want to change diameters on or add or snap ring grooves to.
Our team has been adding tools as the years progress based on a targeted need from our mentors. It all depends on the expertise available for instruction and the past need for abilities.
Don't purchase machines just because resources are available. Engineering is about doing what you can with the resources available. Try to maximize your efficiency.
Good luck, and may your resources remain solid and grow over the years.

Re: Tools to have?
 

That's absolutely the right advice with regard to taps.

In the past, I've bought a 45-piece (I think) set of metric and Imperial taps, dies and handles on sale for about $30 (CAD)—but those are just for insurance on the day when you absolutely need an oddball size during a late-night work session, and for the cheap but adequate handles. (Canadian Tire's Boxing Day and Fathers' Day sales are good for amassing a collection of FRC-grade tools cheaply.)

Buy high-quality machine-rated straight-flute thread-cutting taps, in each of the common sizes. Unless you know what you're doing, don't use them under power. But take advantage of their strength and precision to avoid worrying about breaking them. (It's not the broken tap that's the problem, it's the part you just ruined on the last machining step.)

Re: Tools to have?
 

I gotta agree here. We purchased quite a lot of machines and tools this offseason but we made sure not to skimp on the power tools and machines. You don't want to risk quality, robustness, and most importantly safety just because something is cheaper.

If you are on a low budget and are allowed to purchase items online, check out ebay and craigslist. We found some great deals on Craftsman tools on craigslist and plenty of older drillpresses and bandsaws on there as well. Occasionally, you'll find a solid and well priced lathe or mill, but you have to jump on those pretty quick. Tool chests can also be found from Snap-on and Crafstman for around $300-500 on CL.

Don't think you need to purchase everything in one season for your build space. Make a few compromises now for what you'll have in-house so that you may purchase more high quality items and substitute things like mills/lathes by contacting local machine shops. You can always purchase more items as you go along and raise more money.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Sadly Craftsman is not all that much higher on the totem pole than Harbor Freight anymore.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Hmm a lot of the items on sale we found were quite old. Many people were selling tool chests and cabinets as is with many hand tools inside. I would hope the older stuff was still higher quality.

Re: Tools to have?
 

We have had good experience with older craftsmen [6< years ago] tools, in general we have had good experiences with old tools [drillpresses, saws, table saw, radial arm, saw, various power hand tools] we have picked up.
They don't make them like they used to. :rolleyes:

Re: Tools to have?
 

Some of the most reliable equipment we have is from the original outfitting of our school's shop in the early 70s.

Depending on your relationship with the school you may be able to get first shot at equipment that is being replaced.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Harbor freight can be useful for cheap non-powered tools as long as you take it all with a grain of salt.

There were about a half dozen scroll saws in my high school's shop. I don't think they were ever used once for FRC in the time between when I was a high school freshman and a college senior. Jig saws were more versatile.

Don't buy this brand. For all your cordless tools, pick a single name brand and voltage, and ONLY buy that. Only needing one cordless tool charger is better than six different brands and voltages. The Ryobi 18v line of tools at Home Depot are relatively decent quality for their price. DeWalt and Makita are better quality (and more expensive).

These are the only Allen keys you should ever buy: http://www.mcmaster.com/#high-torque-hex-keys/

I've used high-torque Allen keys for years and have yet to strip out the hex key on any of them.

Re: Tools to have?
 

So, I don't really understand what's wrong with HF tools..

We've had a few HF power tools for a few months and there's been nothing wrong with them. The drill press drills, the miter saw saws, and the grinder grinds. They never broke, had any safety issues, or otherwise been a concern.

While they probably could work smoother (the miter saw just has a weird feel to me, after using a Ryobi last year), they work fine and we don't have any major issues with them.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Old Craftsman was still high quality. Most is made in China now...or just overpriced and not very good.

Wait until you've had it all for a year or so and if you use it hard enough it'll be broken or developing issues.

If it works for you that's great, but there's certainly better stuff out there.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Earlier this year we bought the Porter Cable Vertical Band Saw that Lowes currently has for $450. It's annoying that you basically can't find a bandsaw under $5-10K that runs in the 500-1000 ft/s range that you're supposed to run when cutting aluminum. I got this one because it looked decent, and it has a 1600 ft/s speed. Most of the low price vertical saws run at about 2500 ft/s since people typically want to cut wood. We tossed an 18 tooth per inch bimetal blade on this saw, and we've been pretty happy with it so far.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Would an ordinary (too fast) bandsaw with a VFD have worked?

Re: Tools to have?
 

Our school lives off of the Band Saws and Drill presses. We introduced some new stuff last year, though, more on that later. We have three band saws. One for wood and two for metal. One is a horizontal (love that one <3 ) and the other vertical one I'm not too fond of. They're simply invaluable. This year, we used a 3D printer for some of our motor mounts and pulleys, and the pieces held up quite well. Now mind you, I wouldn't make load bearing pieces out of these parts, but for sensors, motor mounts, and pulleys they're beautiful. We also started using a mill and MIGHT be using the lathe this year.
One thing we ALWAYS use in the shop is the 7/16 nut driver/ratcheting wrench. The heat bar was mentioned already, we used it to make a custom "dustpan" (it literally looks exactly like a dustpan, except sturdier, with cutaways, and a bit bigger) out of polycarb.

Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Shop
 

We want to make a plan for the following year or couple years (depending on how much we will need) to build up the machine shop. What machinery you guys think a machine shop should have?

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...t=machine+shop

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...t=machine+shop

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...t=machine+shop

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=machining

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&highlight=CNC

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&highlight=CNC

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&highlight=CNC

Some of this info is a little old and may not apply to your budget/space constraints, but there is a lot of good info already on Chief.

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

First, what type of tools do you have now? Its hard to suggest different tools if we don't know what you already have.

There are already a bunch of great threads regarding what tools to have for machine shops. Such as this or this

However, since every team is different, your circumstances are sure to be different then the teams in the linked posts so feel free to ask further questions. These posts are just a place to start!

Edit: looks like Cory beat me to the links... I was actually going through his past posts to find the different treads. The first two he linked are really good.

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

1st Thank you for a fast response. I'm surprised to see it so quickly.
2nd We have two drills, electric screw drivers, circular saw, large wheel band saw, drill press (its small and makes it hard to hold small pieces to make holes in them) jigsaw, sets of ranches, hammers, and other regular tools. We don't have any more advanced machinery. We are separately planning to organize funding and space therefore if you can propose machinery with good space and budget availability.

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

Aside from what you listed, there isn't much more barebones stuff needed to build a robot.

The next most useful items can be a larger bandsaw, an arbor press, and a small lathe (and someone who knows how to use it!). This is just my opinion though. More drills and some rivet guns help too. Mills and lathes are great but if you do not currently have space/funds for them, you can definitely invest in good measuring tools and make some great parts on your drill press and bandsaw. I cannot believe how often I meet teams who do not own calipers and such.

Good luck!

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

A larger drill press with a 2-axis vise attachment would also help. (Or just the 2-axis vise; that would probably help with the holding small parts problem.) That gives a bit of an improvement to positional accuracy, as well as holding parts being drilled.

A chopsaw might also be a good investment; it's good at making large pieces of raw tube stock into more manageable lengths, and at the proper angle for use on the robot, if it's a miter-cutting type.

Don't forget the toolboxes to hold stuff... or for some of the benchtop-sized tools, a cart might be useful. (Just make sure that that cart is sturdy enough.)

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

Scotchman Cold Saw
Bridgeport Knee Mill with DRO
Rotary table for the knee mill
V blocks
100 gallon compressor
Pneumatic pop rivet gun
Makerbot 3D printer
Jett Lathe with DRO
Shop Vac
Drill press
Pneumatic rivnut gun
Notcher
4 foot metal shear
4 foot Electric press brake
press brake dies V and gooseneck
Tig Welder
Welding table
Grinders
Band Saw
Reamers
Arbor press
Hex broaching tools
Haas CNC Mini Mill with a indexer $$$
Gibbs Cam
SolidWorks
Fabricam
If you had the big bucks a Mazak 2000 watt laser cutter.

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

We love our shopbot.

http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/shopbot_buddy.htm

The ability to go from cad to a real part in 10 minutes is a good thing. -And yes it will cut aluminum, if you are careful with you cutter selection and feed rates.

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

This! but my list is a little more basic (and in a slightly different order).

BIG drill presses (we like to have two) with their own vices, center drills, wigglers, etc.
Height gauge + surface plate (aka, sink cutout from your local countertops place) makes layout easy and accurate.
Harbor freight calipers (only buy the 6 inch digital ones, they are $10 on sale)
Horizontal/ vertical bandsaw. For us, we can do 90% of what we want to cut in the horizontal setting.
Dedicated Disk Sander (Stand Alone)
Dedicated Belt Sander (Stand Alone)

Then comes the "advanced stuff" This is what you get when you want to get fancy with your bot.

CAD capable computers (Autodesk supplies free student licences to their software) and a printer, this allows you to prototype faster and build smarter. Added bonus = you can print part drawings out and then you don't have to explain them quite as much :D
Mill (DRO optional) and appropriate tooling, this opens the world to precision machining.
Harbor freight hobby lathe, good for spacers, shaft couplings and bushings (not much else).
Dedicated metal vertical band saw.

And naturally, money and space (and insurance) allowing: we get to dream BIG
CNC Mill
CNC Router
Proper Engine Lathe
Maker bot
Small laser cutter (or a big sponsorship :D )

Anyway, Its your shop. Dream big and then work to make it happen. The "basic" category lets you build most things in FRC with a relatively new team. As you become more experienced, you will find that expanding the shop's capabilities to the "fancy" category will allow you to build anything. Getting even nicer into the "dream" category, well, that's when things get light and pretty (think robotnauts :) )

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

We currently have the following:

Metal bandsaw
Multiple bench grinders
Multiple table sanders
Two tabletop drill presses
Two floor standing drill presses
Three-axis manual mill
12" lathe
Miller MIG welder setup for aluminum (Argon, wire feed gun, etc.)
Lincoln MIG welder setup for steel (Argon/CO2 mix, etc.)

And we just recently gained access to:
3D printer
Laser cutter (mostly for acryllic)
Water jet
and soon a CNC

(These won't be in house, though, since our shop is fairly small.)

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

This sums up my wish list very nicely....

But it really depends on what kinda space/utilities you have (3 phrase 220v anyone?).
As well as what your team can afford and know how to use.

Also a big part of it is designing for what you mean. Teams that have only laser/water jet do a lot of a sheet metal, teams that have cnc do milled box/billet, teams that don't have any cnc design for manual milling only. (very generalized) So being able to design for what you have a is a big key, getting some copies of solid works or inventor and then training would probably be something to do first...

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

Best tool to have ever is a sonic screwdriver.

The close second is organization, sadly for my team this isn't a joke.

The incredibly close third is safety glasses.

My team's shop is a converted wood shop, but just switched blades on the saws and bits for the drill(press)s. If you guys tend to do complex designs, then a mill would be great for you. If you decide to get a 3d printer for prototyping, go with printrbot, they are really cheap kits and the designer actually has video tutorials to assemble them.

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

Quoted for truth.

Mark is 100% right. Having tools is one thing but being prepared to design to utilize those tools effectively is something all on its own.

Before you shell out hundreds to thousands of dollars on in house machining equipment, I would make sure that your team is can design to utilize that equipment. It would be sort of pointless to get a Haas CNC but end up only using a few times a year for jobs that could just as easily have been done with a hand drill.

Additionally, at least on my team, finding manufacturing sponsors (CNC Laser and 5-Axis CNC Brake in our case) that can make parts for the team is often more useful than just getting low-end machine tools in house.

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

And, more importantly, CARE for it. It won't last long or turn out good work unless it is carefully maintained.

Storage. One of those huge cabinets filled with bin boxes, with each bin labeled as to what goes in it. Like bearings, shafts, motors, brackets, pulleys, etc... Tell me your team doesn't ever say "I know we had one, but where is it?" only for it to be found a day after you order another one from McMaster.

Re: Tools to have?
 

Team 2013 has access to large power tools such as a lathe, milling machine, band saw, drill press and also a 50 ton press all in our sponsors shop, along with griders, drills, impact guns and so on. We also have an arber press and a large amount of hand tools (wrenches, taps, vise grips etc.) offered to us thanks to our sponsor. We also have a tig welder which makes it so we can weld our own pieces which is how we made much of our climber and our frame.

We used our mill and lathe to make parts which otherwise we would have to have found bought alternatives or get someone outside to make them for us. They are very useful for making parts accuate down to thousands of an inch instead of using a center punch and a drill which many teams are forced to do when trying to make parts accuarately.

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

I took a look at the materials George mentioned and found some more current prices if anyone's interested.

Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com)
1pc Mini Mill (R8) #44991 $599.99
1pc Mini Lathe 7x10” #93212 $499.99
1pc Drill Press ½” #60238 $ 64.99
1pc Band Saw #93762 $249.99
1pc Grinder 8” #37823 $ 54.99
1pc Drill Chuck (2mt) #42340 $ 14.99
ST $1484.94
CDCO (http://www.cdcotools.com)
1pc Mill Vise 4” #21003 $108.00
1pc Clamp Kit #24802 $ 45.00
1set Parallels #37201 $ 28.00
1pc Drill Chuck #25003 $ 15.00
1pc Arbor (5/8) #21303 $ 4.00
1pc Edge finder #60601 $ 5.00
1pc Wiggler #60603 $ 7.00
1set End Mills #45901 $ 58.00
ST $270.00
Enco (http://www.use-enco.com)
1set Lathe tools #383-4300 $ 59.14
1set R8 Collets #231-4611 $ 82.52
ST $141.66
TOTAL $1896.60

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

I am a senior FIRST member. My school is fortunate enough to still have a metal shop. I know the traditional argument is that a lathe should be purchased before a mill, but let me give you my experience.

We definitely use our milling machine a lot more than the lathes. Cutting keyways is not a chore for the lathe. Milling slots in tubing for retracting arms is not for the lathe. Many of the round things we use in robotics can be purchased easily.

Custom shaft couplings for different sized shafts- if you don't have these on hand, they can be made on a lathe quickly and for a fraction of retail price. Saving time is huge bonus in this game.

If you do lots of work with gears or anything that spins, drilling true holes in the center of something must be done on a lathe for the close tolerances of gearboxes and such.

I have a lathe at home. I've done threading work on it for robotics parts. You need a lathe for cutting obscure thread sizes.

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

If your team is fairly large and there are many members that are trained in the shop, then I would personally stay away from combo machines. They can sometimes be more expensive than individual machines and they do not allow for multiple pieces to be machined at once. With a combo machine you can work on one piece at one time which may not be efficient if there are many people who wish to use the machine. If you have individual mills/lathes etc., then more people can get experience and it may be more efficient when making parts.

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

This may be a naive question, but what is the benefit of using an actual mill versus using a drill press with an X-Y table attached to it? I imagine that precision is the main benefit. Is it really worth paying $500 for a mill though, rather than having to take a couple reties with a drill press?

Or is there something else beneficial that the mill does for you, that a drill press just can't?

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

A drill press can't mill. You cannot (or, at least, should not) put an end mill in a drill chuck and start cutting slots or removing material with the side of the cutter. Generally speaking a drill press can only sustain loads that are nominally up-and-down. A mill can sustain loads in all directions: up, down, left, right, in and out from the operators perspective.

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

Ah, sustaining loads, thought I was missing something. Thanks for the info!

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

I would strike the wiggler. I've used one maybe twice in three years. A small drill bit or straight pointy rod can do almost as well.
Also swap the mini mill for something heavier, maybe a used Bridgeport. The difference is palpable for both cutting and for the extra travel you get.

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

Our shop has most of the basics (drill press, laithe, chop saw, pole bender, sander, mill, ect.) so if we had to go in for something, we'd probably go for the Shopbot or a hobby laser. The only problem with that is that that would probably put me out of the job. So I'm pretty fine with the things we have.

Re: Machinery in Machine Shops
 

These would probably also be handy. Especially the organization. We just operate in the schools wood shop, which the high school shares witht the middle school. And we steal all our hand tools from the middle school cabinet, it's kind of pathetic.

Re: Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop
 

Our drill bits were always a mess, just thrown into a bin of whatever sort was available. I really didn't want to take the time to construct an organizer for drill bits.

Then we found this drill bit organizer:
http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/details/0346712

Right now, the drill bit organizers are on clearance, less than $50 including shipping. The really great feature is that it has a metal drill bit sizer on the top ledge. Students just stick the drill bits into the sizer, figure out the drill bit size, then put the drill bit into the right bin.

We got ours in mid-December 2014. It has worked out much better for my team than I ever expected. I highly recommend it, or at least making your own version of it.