Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop

[Garrett.d.w]

Originally Posted by roystur44

Scotchman Cold Saw
Bridgeport Knee Mill with DRE
Rotary table for the knee mill
V blocks
100 gallon compressor
Pneumatic pop rivet gun
Makerbot 3D printer
Jett Lathe with DRE
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.

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
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 )

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 )

[Mk.32]

Originally Posted by roystur44

Scotchman Cold Saw
Bridgeport Knee Mill with DRE
Rotary table for the knee mill
V blocks
100 gallon compressor
Pneumatic pop rivet gun
Makerbot 3D printer
Jett Lathe with DRE
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.

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...

[jmiller18]

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.

[brynnanotbrenda]

Originally Posted by jmiller18

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.

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.

[Pendulum^-1]

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.

[Garret]

Originally Posted by Mk.32

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...

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.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

and a small lathe (and someone who knows how to use it!).

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.

[FlyOrangePants]

Originally Posted by George

Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com)
1pc Mini Mill (R8) #44991-2VGA $489.99
1pc Mini Lathe 7x10” #93212-2VGA $399.99
1pc Drill Press ½” #38119-0VGA $ 59.99
1pc Band Saw #93762-1VGA $199.99
1pc Grinder 8” #90022-0VGA $ 54.99
1pc Drill Chuck (2mt) #42340-2VGA $ 7.99
ST $1212.94
CDCO (http://www.cdcotools.com)
1pc Mill Vise 4” #21003 $ 95.00
1pc Clamp Kit #24802 $ 38.00
1set Parallels #37201 $ 27.00
1pc Drill Chuck #25003 $ 10.00
1pc Arbor (5/8) #21303 $ 4.00
1pc Edge finder #60601 $ 5.00
1pc Wiggler #60603 $ 6.00
1set End Mills #45901 $ 48.00
ST $ 314.00
Enco (http://www.use-enco.com
1set Lathe tools #383-4300 $ 37.95
1set R8 Collets #231-4611 $ 37.95
ST $ 75.90
TOTAL $1521.84

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

[asid61]

Originally Posted by FlyOrangePants

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

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.

[abhem]

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.

[Monochron]

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?

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Monochron

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?

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.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by JamesCH95

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.

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