Thank you all for your replys
Wizard69
.. I guess Im on my own as I really dont know anyone that knows anything about a lathe or a mill but Im ok with buying new and having to do a bit of maintenance and tuning (with yawls help of course). I agree on everyones suggestions on buying separate machines and Im still trying to figure out what would be the best brand to buy. As for the tools I could use all the help I can get with this as well.
1. Bench grinder ( I already have one)
2. 1 belt sander (what brand is a good one and where do I buy it)
Kalamazoo or a couple of other American made units are available. If not an import. Note you can get by without this when starting a shop but they are handy for deburring and even sharpening stuff
3. Micrometers (what brand is a good one and where do I buy it)
Starreted and Mitutoyo are acknowledged as better brands. There are however a number of other perfectly good brands and then there are imports from China. Also don't discount used.
As for buying new there are many outlets for machinist tools. The big catalog industrial suppliers are places Like MSC, Travers, Crosby and a whole bunch of others depending upon your location.
4. Squares (I have one but any recommendations of various ones are welcome)
The first thing I would do is to question the squareness of your current square. To get started I'd suggest a combination machinist squares with three heads. One head being the square, one being a protractor and one being a centering head. Personally I like these but it is a big initial expense to get started. Instead you might want to consider a small machinist square.
5. 6 caliper (where would I buy this)
6. Scales (where would I buy Scales at)
For places to buy note the above mentioned supplier but there are literally hundreds of places to buy machinist tools. Even Woodcraft a chain of stores focused on woodwork has a selection of Machinist grade tools.
7. Wrenches (I already own a bunch)
8. Hammers (I already own a standard hammer but where do I buy soft hammers)
9. Holding hardware (where to buy)
10. Lighting (already own)
Don't be surprised if it isn't good enough. The issue of lighting constantly frustrates me.
11. Eye protection (got it covered)
12. HSS tooling (what is HSS and where do I buy)
Whoops excuse the abbreviations. HSS = High Speed Steel. Here I talking about often square HSS bits used on a lathe. Usually this steel is supplied as small blanks that must be ground for a specific use.
Note for lathe usage you can also buy what is called insert tooling that is a combination of a holder and a pre sharpened insert. These are great but you really need to learn to work with and sharpen HSS as sooner or latter you will need a customs ground cutter that insert tooling can't cover economically. Also HSS tooling is cheaper.
13. Drill bits (where would I be able to buy high quality bits and what would be the name brand)
Lately I've been disappointed with brand name drill bits, this from two different suppliers. Quality control seems to have slipped with the advent of cheap imports. Given that I'd look for a set of fractional, letter and number sized drills from one of the catalog dealers mentioned above. Often these go on sale. If you are in metric land you still need a fairly large set of drill bits.
In any event these complete sets come in a indexed box that helps keep everything organized.
14. Hack saw (I have a standard one but any recommendations welcome)
15. Files ( I own a few but Im sure there not very good
. Need recommendations here as well)
Actually there is no such thing as a bad file in my mind. If the file is worn out it can be retasked for other things.
16. Work bench for the lathe (got it covered)
17. Tool box ( I already have 3 one for garage one for trailer and one for basement (my son races motocross) but Ill buy one just for machining
The issue is some of your machinist tools will need protection from the jumble that is most tool boxes. This is why "machinist toolboxes" often have a lot of thin drawers. You really don't want precision and frankly expensive tools getting banged around in a normal tool box.
18. Dehumidifier (I already have one in the basement but soon Ill have to use a humidifier due to using a woodstove
19. Center drills ( I need recommendations here as well)
20. Misc. hand tools (Im pretty sure I have this covered as well)
Shopshoe
.. once I get some tools and a lathe I will order some materials from online metals. I also plan on buying some books
If you have a local steel supplier that sells drops at a discount you can save a lot of money on steel from such a supplier.
1. miniature internal combustion engines
2. model 4-stroke gasoline engines
3. Machine shop practice volume 1 and 2
4. Text-book of advanced machine works
I might note that there are a lot of online resources that will help,with learning to use a lathe. Everything from really old and out of print books in PDF files to US Military manuals in PDF.
Beyond all of that there is a huge number of guys doing some really impressive YouTube videos. Kieth Fenner is one, MrPete is another, OXTools and a bunch of others, have a good number of videos online. These guys fall,under the heading of really knowing what they are doing. MRPete has several hundred short videos that walk you through from the very beginning when it comes to machine shop basics.
I looked at the john-tom.com website and found that the wobbler engine would be a good start for a newbie like me.
Again thanks for all the replys
It should be noted that I didn't cover expendable so in detail. I mentioned HSS for the lathe but eventually you will need things like taps and dies. Right now I would suggest buying as needed for taps and dies. I prefer HSS taps over the carbon steel ones that come in the cheaper sets. In fact I don't even consider the carbon steel sets to be worth investing in. It isn't confinement because you need to buy a new tap everytime you need a new size but it is far chooser than trying to buy a HSS set of decent quality. Besides for taps you can buy in 3 piece hand tap sets for each size. Thus you get a taper, plug and bottom tap in one purchase. At least for me it makes more sense to get your bottom tap at the same time you get your taper tap as there is often a need to have the bottom tap available.
Other expendable include stones or diamond plates for sharpening stuff. You will also benefit from,smaller stones or sticks to deburr with. In fact there are all sorts of deburring tools one can buy. One can start with the basics though. Oh and diamond dressers for grinding wheels are very handy to have because a clean flat grinding wheel is one key to,successful grinding of HSS.
You may also find yourself in need of counter sinks, counter bore tools and other special purpose cutters. These can be bought as needed. Or now that you have a lathe you can start to consider making cutters. Making a cutter is one way to get a bit of skill in hardening and tempering of tools steels.
