Recommended Tools and Machinery for Your Team's Machine Shop

[MrForbes]

There's a reason a vertical mill weights a lot more than a drill press

[Gary Dillard]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

Some may share my opinion that Harbor Freight does not make ANY decent tools.

Noted and understood; I finally broke down and spent the money to buy a decent cordless drill after going through 2 cheap ones from HF which were next to worthless.

I have my share of cheap tools and they serve their purpose, but my wrenches and sockets and power tools are all Craftsman. My screwdrivers are all Craftsman as well, but I'm considering switching to Harbor Freight because I seem to lose them faster than I wear them out.

As far as the $1500 machine shop goes, that seems like a reasonable budget for a team without deep pockets to shoot for versus having nothing or spending it all on one piece of equipment. You could debate whether a bad lathe is better than no lathe, but for most stuff we're doing it is more than adequate.

[George]

[ Indeed they do; does anyone know how to un-skip one? We have a nice Starrett that someone made skip, and it just bugs me that ")" is not anywhere near vertical.

To “unskip” dial calipers you use a narrow piece of shim stock or feeler gage .0015 to .002 and insert it between the pinion and the rack, then you can reset the pointer on the dial to where you want it. or, as the old timers do just reset the dial.
As long as the caliper does not skip when you open it up everything should be good
If it does check the rack for chips & dirt
eo

[George]

Hi All,
For those with bigger dreams, a bigger budget or just more space:

Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com)
1pc Knee Mill (R8) #40393-1VGA $1899.99
1pc Drill Press ½” #44505-0VGA $ 459.99
1pc Band Saw #93762-1VGA $ 199.99
1pc Grinder 8” #90022-0VGA $ 54.99
2pc 1” Indicator #623-0VAG $ 11.99
1pc Compressor #93271-0VGA $ 169.87
ST $2796.82
American Machine Tool (http://www.americanmachinetools.com)
1pc Lathe 13x40” #YCL-1340 $2395.00
ST $2395.00
CDCO (http://www.cdcotools.com)
1pc Mill Vise 4” #21003 $ 95.00
1pc Mill X feed motor #22301 $ 259.00
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 0-6 Micrometers #32653 $ 69.00
1set Telescope gages #34101 $ 12.00
1set End Mills #45901 $ 48.00
ST $ 654.00
Enco (http://www.use-enco.com)
1set Lathe tools #383-4300 $ 37.95
1set R8 Collets #231-4611 $ 37.95
1set QT tool post #TC505-2253 $ 145.95
1set Rotary Table #TC200-1144 $ 395.95
1pc Arbor Press 3Ton #805-1045 $ 179.98
1set Broaches “A” #307-2793 $ 78.99
ST $ 876.77
Shooting Star (http://www.star-techno.com)
1pc 2 Axis DRO #BT-2 $ 599.00
1pc 3Axis DRO #BT-3 $ 749.00
ST $ 1348.00

TOTAL $8069.59

I have left out most of the hand tools Ya gotta stop somewhere!
You can fill in the blanks with the remaining $$$
And Yes I would add a sander (HP 12" disk is a good one)
Taxes and Shipping is still not include

The lathe is the best deal out there and comes with a one year “no questions ask” warranty with very prompt service and shipping
(They also have a “how to operate a Lathe” and “how to operate a Mill” on their site)
This is much better the Harbor Freight lathe of the same size
And Shooting star has a 5 year warranty, a very good unit for the price
Again I have hands on experience with all this equipment

The Mill can be modified in many ways with the power feed as the start
And you can add a column spacer for more height, with the DRO it’s a very good and friendly machine

Harbor Freight has the best deal on Roll-a-way Tool boxes (90320-9VGA)
At $399.00 there is no beating it
Having toys with no toy box to keep them in is a sad thing



Geo.

[viperred396]

Great List!

Approximately how much space do you think this would all take up?

[DonRotolo]

Properly set up for use on a multi-person shop, I'd want no smaller than 15 x 25 feet or so, but this can be a little smaller or a lot larger.

In addition to the belt/disk sander combo (I like the 9"/6x48" Harbor Freight unit) I would include a basic 8" table saw; great for cutting sheet goods. This machine needs a lot of free space around it, so get one with wheels and store it in a corner, pulling it out as necessary. A 10" saw can cut thicker material. No need for a $1000 machine, a 'portable contractor's saw" for half that will be more than adequate.

George: Again, thank you for the effort, I am sure that several teams will benefit.

Edit: The NASA machine shops use 8' x 25' or so, but that's not what I'd call a "proper" set up, particularly for HS kids just learning the machines. For a one-man shop, it can be a LOT smaller though.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Jamie Kalb

Okay, I've been wondering about this for a while: Is there any reason not to chuck endmills in a drill press with an X-Y vise and use it as a mill?

A drill chuck isn't designed to handle side-loads, especially those involved with milling. All sorts of bad things will happen. Not to mention that the bearings and quill are much smaller in a drill press compared to a mill. You'll probably damage the bearings and the quill won't be stiff enough so you'll likely get a ton of tool chatter.

[George]

“Approximately how much space do you think this would all take up?”

8’x 10’ would work, maybe a little less
Jan Cory in AZ mounted about the same equipment on 4’x10’ and it works great, very compact with power panel built in it makes for EZ-setup (240 V 1PH)
A single car garage would be a perfect 1-2 man shop
A two car garage and you have enough room for a team to build
It’s the old story more the more room the better!
Something I forgot to mention before is that the bigger machines are 240V 1PH the same as most household stoves or dryers
The amps are low enough that a 50 amp circuit will work.
Don’t forget the First Aid kit.
Geo.

[George]

Hi All
Something I forgot to mention before is that all these machines are 120V 1PH and so will run about anywhere, a couple 20amp outlets would be fine
Don’t forget the First Aid kit.
Geo.

[jamie_1930]

I'm just wondering if someone could give me a list of some of the things they do with their lathes and mills for FRC. I would love to get some for my team, but I'm going to need a good justification of what we'll do with them. I used a lathe a lot my first year to make wheel spacers, but that's all I can remember specifically.

[sanddrag]

I have a 7' x 12' "one man shop" at home, and here's what I have in it:

8x14 lathe
CNCed Benchtop Mill (5"x11" XY travel)
Small Floor Standing Knee Mill (about 4.5"x14" XY travel, about 800lbs)
10" drill press
14" band saw
4HP 29 gallon compressor
40" tool box
Two upright floor standing cabinets
8 foot by 20" deep workbench, with vice, and two 2-foot wide under bench cabinets/drawers

Tucked away in another area, I have a 12" sliding miter saw. Still need a good sander.

It's pretty tight, but I do quite well in there.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by jamie_1930

I'm just wondering if someone could give me a list of some of the things they do with their lathes and mills for FRC. I would love to get some for my team, but I'm going to need a good justification of what we'll do with them. I used a lathe a lot my first year to make wheel spacers, but that's all I can remember specifically.

We have our lathe going almost continually during the season.

We make all our shafts from rod or hex depending on what they're used for. In a typical 6 wheel drive train that is about 12 true shafts and 4 tensioning shafts. Add in any other custom transmissions and that number grows quickly.

Spacer. We make so many delrin spacers for gearboxes and all sorts of things that we almost always tack a 6 foot delrin rod onto the end of any McMaster order just to make sure we have it.

Drilling and tapping concentric holes in a shaft is easiest on the lathe.

Making adapter pieces to go from square to round tubing (loving called squovals by the students) this requires a 4-jaw chuck.

Knurling rollers.

Boring out gears and sprockets.

Making bearing pockets.

Turning threads off bolts to make axels, see our 2009 robot with about 30 of these...

Making new AndyMark output shafts. This is part of how we make our drive pods.

Those are just reasons I can think of off the top of my head. I think the lathe is the one indispensible machine tool in any shop.

Edit: Also make sure to get hex collets when you buy your lathe tool set. With all the Hex broached gears AndyMark sell this makes custom transmissions much easier.

[MrForbes]

What he said....and outside of FRC, a lathe sure comes in handy when building an underwater robot



We didn't use the mill at all the past two years for building the FRC robot. Having access to a Rotex punch might have something to do with that?

[George]

“I'm just wondering if someone could give me a list of some of the things they do with their lathes and mills for FRC. I would love to get some for my team, but I'm going to need a good justification of what we'll do with them. I used a lathe a lot my first year to make wheel spacers, but that's all I can remember specifically.”

Let’s see, axels, shafts, wheel hubs, wheels, pulleys, gears, sprocket mounts, bolt patterns, gear boxes, motor mounts, knobs, handles, angle brackets, slots, bearing bores, bushings, transmissions, frames, arms, chain adjusters, claws, pivot points, bolts, brackets, joints, steam engines,
And approximately 28 robots so far. (plus Parts)
You are only limited by your imagination
It’s not just the parts you can make but the quality that makes everything go faster
(Planning and good Prints help)
Have Fun!
Geo.

[sanddrag]

Here's a thread on another forum I frequent, regarding smaller shops:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=63118

In the first post is a beautiful sub 100 sq-ft shop that I would consider just about ideal for a team with limited space, who is just getting into machining and such.