Best is the next thing you buy, worst!!!, there's no such thing☺

Without doubt a good quality Lathe and Milling machine. Buy quality if you can and then learn how it works and how to use it.

Accessories as you need them. Drills and taps and good files.

Clive

Like most people, I buy tools as and when I need them.
If it's a real 1 off and I can borrow a tool then so be it. If I need it a 2nd time I will usually buy it.

As for the Best tool, Anything that I have paid Good money for good quality. They work and last well.
Dormer Drills, Taps and Dies come high up on the list.
If you are working in Brass / Bronze get a Slow Spiral Drill set. Drilling is an absolute breeze. No Snatching or Grabbing.
Map Gas torch for Silver Soldering. (see the 16mm IDRIS Thread) has made Silver Soldering so easy
My Myford Lathe so nice to use compared to the Chinese machine I bought and started with.

The worst Tool ?
Probably the cheap milling vice. I gave it away after I used it once.
The trick with tools is to buy the best you can afford. The cheapest often fails to last or perform well.

Best, without a shadow of a doubt, 6×4 band saw. Even though it was 2nd hand junk that needed fettling.

Second best, 6″ mitutoyo digital calipers, 10x the price of an aldi set and worth every penny. Though a couple of aldi calipers for mucky work are great too.

best tool was a 2nd cut Sheffield steel file, a joy to use.

worst were some 'cheap' drill bits.

Worst tools : Indian spanners. Absolute rubbish and dangerous with it, I might as well have made paper gliders out of the money.

Best but not including ridiculously priced snapon are German SACO spanners they have never lost against loctite, self locking nuts, garage air-guns, or rusted/corroded nuts and are still in excellent condition.

I also have a set of mini screw drivers made by CW of Germany they are good but they weren't cheap either.

I think over the years I have grown a preference for German hand tools. Items which have everyday use anyway but not necessarily model engineering.

Best is a Hurco Miller for 60 quid, and this was tha cost of moving it, and a Facom socket set, expensive but worth it, worst is cheap hacksaw blades……..

.

I thought Bison was a Polish company. – Or is there more than one.?

Nick

Hi Peter

Best would be the Warco Lathe that I have now also on a par with it the Chester Mill. Worst has to be a drill bit sharpening jiggy thing that I haven't even been able to try and also a tiny 3" rotary table that I could never get anything to fit onto – I have a 6" now which is great. Cheap drills I'm not so sure about now as a lot depends as to how and when they are used and what they are asked to do, they can be handy to buy and have in bulk especially if the budget is tight and you get asked or need to do some less critical jobs – but you absolutely can't be without quality drills to hand to be able to make the choice me thinks.

Have fun with the new lathe.

Garry

Not my best buy, Peter, but if you want a bit of exotica in your early days you might try a tailstock scroll chuck from Chronos. It's hard to find on their website by describing it, so use the reference number 154032.

It's a "unimat style" 3 jaw chuck, the old unimat SL used them and they can be beautifully made

Their downside is they don't grip as tightly as a jacobs keyed chuck and you bash your fingers a lot getting them unscrewed

There is a keyed version, item number 281343093107 on a well known auction site, 120 quid though

Edited By Ady1 on 12/05/2015 10:57:20

Excluding the machine tools themselves my best buy by far was a decent (Newall) DRO for the vertical mill. My worst buys were assorted cheap cutting tools. I now only buy brand name cutting tools.

Andrew

.

I will echo those that listed a DRO as the most beneficial. It makes life so much simpler in many ways. e.g. Just the simple matter of my machines being calibrated in metric and most of the time I work in imperial being just one. – Although a pro machining mate of mine still insists I should have got myself proficient with the machines first before I bought them.

On a more affordable front, I would say the Diamond tool holders from Eccentric engineering would be 'up there' with my best purchases.

Bad tools. ………….. Well exactly that.! Everything that I have bought that was cheap has either been replaced or is on the list to do so. So they have not been cheap after all.

Nick