Re: Vertical Mill for FRC
 

True, but many of them come with the certification. If you have the money, new is better, but you can open an Ebay case if it's fake.

Re: Vertical Mill for FRC
 

Don't cheap out on calipers. You will be amazed at how often they are used, and while there are many very capable brands - the good ones are smooth and just feel perfect. We got a "medium level" 6" caliper last year and the kids use them constantly. But they are no where near as nice as my old, beat-up Mitutoyo, Brown and Sharp, or Starret models.

Re: Vertical Mill for FRC
 

One the other side of the fence. I buy Harbor Freight calipers for general use. They are noticeably not as nice as Starret or Mitutoyo. But they are also a 10th of the cost. I can loan them out without requiring a first born as collateral for their safe return. Somebody mikes a moving grinding wheel, I can laugh.

Re: Vertical Mill for FRC
 

I really agree with Frank on this. I bought the $17-20 pair of Neiko 6" calipers on Amazon. You can get 6 of those or one Mitutoyo. If they break from misuse or accidents, it's less costly to replace.

FRC isn't ISO 9001. Hobby mills and cheap calipers get the job done just fine.

Re: Vertical Mill for FRC
 

We use two calipers. One is in the machining tool box, where everything is nice and sorted and clean (and I like to keep it that way), and the other is in the communal toolbox, where things get bumped around with the rulers and the like. Both are in their own boxes. However, even after ~5 or 6 years of constant use, the ones in the communal toolbox are still accurate to +- 0.001", or better. Both are Brown and Sharpe dial calipers bought for about $100 each years ago by one of our mentors. Good tools last, as long as students are told how to use them properly.

Re: Vertical Mill for FRC
 

For manual machines, we really like the hss end mills from latheinserts.com.