General question on tooling

[JScott]

Hey everybody, I have an easy question with a difficult answer. After you have all the basic tooling for a lathe and mill such as end mills, tool bits, boring bars, collets, mill vise, etc.  What is your most used or your favorite tooling item? Is it a knurling tool? Collet closer? Rotary table? 
I'm in the process of relocating my hobby shop and setting up to play around again. That is a long story which I'll relate later. I appreciate all your replies and recommendations!

[rubes]

I dont think you will ever be done with collecting tooling. There will always be that next tool that "would make this job so much easier". I think it will be different for each person too. Although not tooling, for me a DRO is a must (I dont have one on the lathe yet though). I have a knurler (two actually) and never used them other than to try them out. The collect closer on my lathe is fabulous but it came with so I didnt have to chase one down. A power drawbar on the mill would be extremely nice. A rotary table (horizontal and vertical) is on my wishlist. In lieu of a vertical rotary I find a set of square and hex collet blocks for the mill vice fill my needs thus far. My Haimer 3d probe very handy as well. I have a Blake coaxial centering tool, but have used it infrequently.

I guess only you can decide what is next for you ;-) Sometimes NOT having the right tool gives you the opportunity to get creative.

[EdK]

If you've already got the basic tooling then I would just get any other tooling if/when you need it.  

Ed

[rleete]

My favorite, and most used tool, is my Starrett dial caliper. As to machine tooling, I'd have to say my hand ground HSS lathe tool bits. I took my time to grind them to get the angles just right, and I know they do about 80% of the turning I do.

[JScott]

Thanks for the input folks. I'll try and update from time to time as the shop comes together.  All the little machines, tooling and hand tools made it last week.  They were shipped from Miami, FL to our house here in Colombia.  There were 5 pallets of boxes and then some miscellaneous items like folding tables and beach umbrellas.  The Horror Fright mill and lathe along with the 4x6 bandsaw have shipped and should be here by the end of the month.  I'll be travelling to the States soon so the final shop set up won't be until the fall.

[EdK]

(05-08-2024, 10:18 AM)JScott Wrote: The Horror Fright mill and lathe along with the 4x6 bandsaw

You may be pleasantly surprised at the fit and finish of the HF machines. I got one of their 7x12 mini lathes three years ago and am very impressed with the quality. Maybe I just got lucky, but hopefully you will to.  

Ed

[JScott]

Mine is the 7x10 and I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet.  I bought it from my friend Sherman last August.  In fact, I purchased his HF mini mill and he included a huge quantity of tooling.  End mills of all diameters and configurations; two flute, four flute, HSS, carbide, ball nose, etc.  A pretty complete set of 5C and R8 collets. A set of ER32 collets with an MT2 collet chuck. All sizes of square tool bits for the lathe in HSS, brazed carbide and a couple of tool bars to hold inserts. All kinds of small, brazed carbide boring bars, and a little grinding vise. Sherman was a tool and die maker that apprenticed in Chicago and then took a job with IBM in Boulder, CO.  As you can imagine he collected a lot of goodies over the 40+ years he spent in the trade.  He gifted me many great items like a sine bar, micrometers, calipers, parallels, even a Moore chair edge finder.  That edge finder is one of my prized pieces of tooling/metrology.
Anyway, sadly he passed away last October.  I was very fortunate that my travels allowed me to visit him twice last year and spend some good time with him.  I'll miss him but I hope to continue his legacy even though its through a hobby.  I'm sure he's happy seeing his machines being used.  I've got a bunch of little projects that I'm going to tackle this fall and winter here in Colombia that I'm going to post here.  And as I said I'll try and keep y'all posted as I start to make some progress.  Cheers!