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I'm only begging my CNC adventure but have been non stop machining for hobby (and some profit) since high school. A few things i'd recomend are
That clamping kit is not going to work, you need to order the 3/8ths' stud sized kit, then you'll have to put the "t-nuts" into a vise and mill the smaller portion of them a little thinner as the X3 table slots are metric sized and just a bit too small for the t-nuts to fit, but the slimming down is a 10 minute job at most and is in no way going to be "half-assed" or anything like that..i've seen people ranting about it, but hell, it beats making them from scratch and you'd spend more time on google trying to find a set thatfits un-modded than it takes to mill a little material off each T-nut and call them good.
1.) Going on ebay and ordering a "batch" of endmills off some one, try to avoid anything chinese, as i have watched about every import end mill i have go from new to trash can within a few minutes of machining anything other than aluminum or plastics (maybe overstated but i'm sure you catch my drift) - You can get a set of say 30- 50 end mills for about 1-2 bucks a piece ordering on ebay (and believe me after working there at one point i don't really care for ebay in general) but sometimes you jsut won't get the same deal elsewhere... Also, look for a set that ha some irregular endmills in it as well as some that have either the TiN (gold) or AiTiN (black/blue) coatings. I've found that there's a LOT of times i need a longer endmill than what's typical, and now watch for long ones when buying that i can just slip further in the collet for regular work and when i need them really rigid
2.) Get yourself a "screwless" or toolmakers vise, You can get one that opens about 5 inches from either Enco (IIRC) for about 100 bucks or so, they are nice because they are low profile, have great clamping force without the jaws moving and mis-aligning your part. And generally you can get the same work-holding (jaw opening) in a much smaller vise. i am a newb to CNC but from what i've been told the screwless vise is what's preffered in a CNC setup, but having no formal experience with CNC to give my own opinion i can't say for sure, but i will say that i love my screwless vise, and i want another one that has the 5" opening to replace my current vise thats used on my machine most of the time
aside from HHS endmills i've absolutely fallen in love with the cobalt and carbide material end mills as well as the coating which i belive is abreviated AiTiN - Black almost blue'ish coating (not talking about the indexible types but regular endmills made from carbide and cobalt) they last through hard material cutting without flinching but require some skill and thought because they can chip rather easily if you have slop in your table or even too much play in your Z gib/or forgot to lock the Z in place when manually milling. they can be pricey, but get yourself a 1/8th, 1/4, 3/8ths and 5/16th's in carbide with the AiTiN coating on them and you'll be in hog heaven ( i rarely have much use for endmills 1/2" or larger, unless i'm just roughing stock to shape, or using a facing mill, so buying multiples in the smaller sizes will really pay off, especially when you break a little 1/8th one and can't finish the job with anything larger)
some more things:
HF has a black case with a HUGE selection of TiN coated drill bits (all the small fractional bits, as well as the inch and letter sized in the most common sizes) and they are pretty cheap. they have lasted me a LOT longer than any HF endmills and other cutting tools, and with a drill bit sharpener you can refresh them for a long time to come.. now days when i break a bit or need something stronger for SS and such i go to the local nut-n-bolt supplier and buy cobalt drill bits, very tough, long lasting and go through stainless like it's nothing!
They also have cheap digital calipers, and one set they have will read fractions which is nice when you need a fractional bit and time and use have worn the markings off some dril bits (i have so many drill bits that i have a cup for small ones and a drawer for larger ones - these are ones that are "extra" and don't have cases to organize them) sometimes they're on sale for 10 bucks..also if you order bearings for anything, buy them through VXB and you get a free caliper with your first order of 50 bucks or more and they are the same "type" but much better built versions of the cheapo HF digital calipers (i abuse the HF ones, and keep my nicer ones inside for reading "clean/finished" parts)
Grizzly has center drills from 4 for 5 dollars (import) to 2-3 bucks each for better ones but probably still import (can't recall)
Also, get yoruself some dovetail cutters and some keyway cuters, although rarely used in my work they are invaluable to have when you need a small slot in something and can do similar work as say a 3/32 endmill, but can feed a lot faster in the same material
here's a decently cheap set of parallels http://www.littlemachineshop.com/pro...gory=988300808
also, V-blocks are always handy to have, i have a nice set likethese (different maker - non-import) http://www.littlemachineshop.com/pro...gory=988300808
the one thing you didn't know the name of is a "Z axis tool height setting gauge" (probably ha shorter name but that's what i know it as) here's a decent one at LMS http://www.littlemachineshop.com/pro...gory=988300808
if i think of more i'll updatre my reply
Originally Posted by turboglenn 
