Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop

[ehfeinberg]

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.

[DanMystery]

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.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by DanMystery

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.

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!

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

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.

Good luck!

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.)