Beginner

Hi im new to home machining, I've used lathes and mills through work but im now venturing into set-up up my own home shop. I live in the UK which is the important bit. Now I have a press, tig/mig welder, vice, grinder, sand blaster, tools etc mostly mechanics based stuff and now wanna do machining. I've got my eye on the turret Mill and the gearhead DRO from Warco. I've done my research etc and looked at the mods etc. I don't have 3 phase so they'll have to do.

Back to the point, I watch keith fenner, tom from Ox tools etc on youtube, and from personal experience I know you get what you pay for when it comes to tools. I have 3 mitotoyo indicators, but what I wanna know is what brand of tools should I be looking at. Most of the American guys have Starett and you can buy new or second hand off ebay which is fine, but pickings are abit slim. IS there any other brands british or not that are in the same league as Starett? On the Warco web site you can get an Inch mic for £10?! I don't have one but that can't be any good surely? I'm not even tempted, i'd rather spend the extra £40 and buy a starett.

I wanna build a collection of tools that i'm gonna keep for many years so i don't want junk. At work they use Glanze inserts and tools which seem to be fine, all my drills, taps and reamers are dormer or Bosch as I find their HSS-G (ground i believe) drill bits excellent. Any brand names that you think are really good quality would be greatly appriecated. I'm looking at machining and milling motorbike engine sized stuff, and two other thing, has anyone any experiance with the Warco surface grinder, and does anyone know a company that still makes slotters/shapers?

Cheers Matt

Starrett
Brown & Sharpe
MITUTOYO


3 brands I can think of off hand. I have a Federal brand dial indicator that is very nice also.

TESA, Make good electronic verniers sometimes available on ebay.co.uk. I bought 2 so I would have a spare when the first one failed. Many years on I have never used the spare as the workshop one just keeps on going in spite of being dropped in cutting oil on more than one occasion.

Moore & Wright are a good UK brand, if you can find them.

Thanks for the replies guys, I have a Moore and Wright mic, but its in inches. Think i'm gonna have to go with the Mitotoyo and Starett pieces, I didn't know starett do metric so all is good. Still wanting a shaper, I just don't have the room for a big unit.

There are times when I wished I had bought a landed property with a good size garage to house
a full compliment of machine tools and welding machines.I get with a small balcony machineshop and just manage to squeeze in Japanese Mini Lathe,Japanese Vertical Mill,cheapy M.I.C. Drill Press,Bosch Bench Grinder,DIY Vertical Makita Bandsaw and a fitter's workbench.
Currently the biggest engine built is the 15 cc Nemett-Lynx which is stretching the machine tools to their ''max''. Guess I will stop at this engine size.

Still wanting a shaper, I just don't have the room for a big unit.

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Atlas and south bend both made nice 7" sharpers IIRC into the late 1950s.
these were advertised in popular mechanics and featured in articles. The infomercials of the day if you will.
IMHO likely most home shop shapers will not be badly worn although there may be exceptions.

There are plans on the net to build a shaper for the home shop. IIRC ther is a fair amount of welding on it and some machining. But you can likely handle it.
Tin

Do you know off hand where I can find these plans, don't mind looking myself just trying to save half an hour. I watch mrpete222's video yesterday, he's just acquired a Rhodes shaper that I'd love to own and probably sell the misses to get my hands on. Think a home build is in order. It the ratchet auto feed that puzzles me, unless there's another way to power it, but will research and update if I decide to have a go. Cheers fellas.

First look and found this http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/showthread.php?t=9292 - what is a/the gingery?

what is a/the gingery?

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A better question is who is gingerly. Dave Gingerly is an american modern author best known for his series building a metal workshop from scrap.
He was a Do it yourself-er before the start of the current DIY Make movement.
The original series of 7 books in soft cover can be had for about $10 each american. Or you can now purchase a hardcover complete volume for $75.

1 charcoal foundry
2 Metal lathe
3 Metal shaper
4 Milling machine (horizontal)
5 Drill press
6 Dividing head and deluxe accessories.
7 Sheet metal break.

The whole idea is a boot strap machine shop that can be build starting with basic wood working tools and a few metal working hand tools.
Build a simple furnace make patterns and make the machine parts from recycled aluminum. Of course you need to by some steel and hardware.

http://gingerybooks.com/index.html






Tin

Look no further than the download section here.
The first file /lind is the plans the other two build photos.
Enjoy.



http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/downloads/files/1930s_Shaper_Pt1.pdf

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/downloads/files/1930s_Shaper_Pt2.pdf


http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/downloads/files/1930s_Shaper_Pt3.pdf

It the ratchet auto feed that puzzles me, unless there's another way to power it, but will research and update if I decide to have a go.

Click to expand...

Details on page 5 of the print.


ITC SHaper Book

Tin

It the ratchet auto feed that puzzles me, unless there's another way to power it, but will research and update if I decide to have a go. Cheers fellas.

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In this modern age of Arduino, Raspberry Pi and beaglebones and with the availability of inexpensive stepper motors etc you could do electronic feed control. HMM CNC controlled 1930s art deco steam punk shaper???

Have fun
tin

Thanks so much Tin falcon, gives me a great starting point.