[Lowfategg]

One thing I would like to point out is the following,

Teams build all sorts of different robots with a very wide variety of tooling levels. Different teams have different needs depending on the way they both design and build their robots. Some teams are very happy with a bandsaw and a drill press, while others would die without their CNC Mill. There is no problem with this and both styles of teams can build highly competitive robots. But do be noted that this year I found that the size of work you might be working on greatly depends on robot design, the game, and also even projects that are completely non-robot related. As such you should plan ahead to some of the things you might be doing on your machines that you might have never thought of when you buy them.

For setting up our shop this year, we collected the following. Our whole robot lab is in a two car garage, which we do everything in.

Large bench drill press 1/2" chuck (One of the most used tools in our shop.)

“Bridgeport” knee mill 9x32" w/DRO (During the build season this was the most used tool in the shop, but if I could buy one again I would get the larger 42" table. You can get them cheap if you look hard enough, we grabbed ours for $500. They might be big, but worth their weight in gold compared to benchtop mills.)

“Southbend” lathe 10x24" (Probably the third most used tool in our shop, its really hard to do lathe work on anything else but a lathe. I would highly recommend getting one somewhere from 9-11" swing, but once again this depends on the type of work you are planning on.)

6x4" horizontal bandsaw (Plain and simple, every job starts off on this machine. It cuts stock and makes quick work of cutting off just about anything that will fit in its somewhat low capacity, but still a perfect fit in any FRC teams build space.)

Bench grinder and sander w/disc (Could not go without either of them. Used for not only sanding but also: deburring, sharpening lathe bits, and more.)

MIG 140a Welder w/spool gun (If you want to weld a MIG welder with a spool gun and pure argon gas is a good way to go.)

3 ton arbor press (used for broaching, pushing off Fisherprice pinion gears, and other things.)

Other tools include: miter saw, table saw, small vertical bandsaw, small drill press.

That is what worked for us this year. Also remember for both the mill and the lathe there is a lot of extra tooling you will need to buy in order to make it worth your while even using them. Along with that you should properly train your team members to use these tools correctly and safely.