Tooling for New Mill Owner

[BobWarfield]

Every now and again, a newcomer wants to know what basic tooling they should acquire. The trouble is, as a newcomer, you're not in a good position to judge (been there, done that). So I thought it would be helpful to create a thread where experienced machinists talk about what the MINIMUM set of tooling to get started with a mill might be. By MINIMUM, we're trying to help folks out who are on a budget, but not go crazy with it. Let's also have a NICE TO HAVE category of the first things you'd buy after you get past MINIMUM. And, let's assume they own no tooling whatsoever, not even a calipers. My list is below. What's your list?

MINIMUM

Workholding:

- Kurt-style vise (or a grinder vise if the mill is really small)

- Parallels

- T-Slot Clamping Kit

Tool Holders

- R8 End Mill Holders

- R8 Keyless Chuck

Note: Some prefer R8 collets, and they're definitely cheaper. I've always used the solid holders and like them a lot better!

Measurement & Layout

- Digital Calipers

- Counterpunch

- Sharpies (Buy a box, they're cheap and hugely handy!)

- Calculator (Online like G-Wizard or handheld)

- Dial test indicator. Don't get a tenths indicator to start, though you could consider 0.0005" indicators.

- Some way to attach the DTI to your mill spindle for tramming. An Indicol or clone (available cheap!) would work great.

Cutters

- Spot drills / Center drills

- Twist drills (I prefer screw machine length as they're more rigid. I almost never use the jobbers, and most peeps will already have some of those anyway)

- Endmills: 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 in 2 flute and 4 flute. At least 2 of each size.

Other

- We haven't talked about how you will cut stock to size. Hopefully you have a bandsaw or chopsaw. Failing that, get a hacksaw.

- WD-40 to use as coolant. If you can, buy a spray bottle and the gallon can of it rather than the aerosol. It's cheaper in the long run.

- Cheap chip brushes

- A decent file

NICE TO HAVE (What to buy after you have a little time with the MINIMUM)

- Make or buy some softjaws for your Kurt vise.

- 1-2-3 blocks, and eventually 2-4-6 blocks

- Edgefinder: I like the electronic kind, which can be converted to probes in Mach3 if you go CNC.

- Small Kant-Twist clamps: Tons of uses beyond clamping. They make great vise stops, for example.

- Deburring cutters. I like the zero flute style.

- Scraper-style deburring tool

- A flycutter or a face mill

- Surface plate and height gage: This one is borderline NICE TO HAVE. But I sure do use mine a lot, especially for layout when manual milling.

Who else has a list for MINIMUM/NICE TO HAVE? Give your complete list rather than just modifying or adding. What's the MINIMUM tooling to start being productive with a new mill?

Cheers,

BW

[John Welden]

Indicol indicator holder is pretty damn useful.

Quality taps.

Set of counter sinks and counter bores is nice to have.

Lixie brand deadblow hammer is a good thing to have for tapping the vise into square and what not.

Always good to have an angle plate and some kant twist clamps.

[Torsten]

The way I started out may be different, the general Philosophy is, buy what you need right now to do the Job you want to do now.
Then you expand to do the Jobs you see comming up next and further down the line. Next you upgrade to do the things you do most go better and or faster. Dont buy stuff just because there cool or wana be that just uses up resources that could be put to better use.
This way if you do little you wont spend a lot and if you do a lot you will acumulate the proper tools quickly without waste.
Everybodys Job lists are different and there are different needs for different People, go with what is right for your needs.
Good Luck

[pofo]

This is a timely post for me as I just bought a Bridgeport and need to get tooling.

What sources are there besides Enco?
How good/bad is the Enco brand tooling? If bad, then what brands should I look for for dial indicator and the other items?