Starting out and choosing tools

[Brainsparks30Participant @brainsparks30]

Please can someone tell me what I should be looking for with regards to a drill press, a lathe and a mill, or anything else I might need? I know a tool collection has to grow, but where do i start?

I must point out that I dont really know the correct terminology of most machine tool parts (not having touched anything since school long ago) and am likely to get lost in jargon.

I mostly want to be working in up to 16mm scale narrow gauge model railways, model aircraft engines and eventually motorcycle engines. I suppose you could say general light engineering.

 

Any tips on where to buy stuff would be a great help too.

[Brainsparks30Participant @brainsparks30]

[adyParticipant @ady]

Read up on lathes at tonys place.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/

 

get Spareys book

the amateurs lathe

 

Get a second hand one you fancy cheap off ebay.

The good buys come with a bunch of tooling, take your time with that first purchase, a good buy LOOKS good, and you will save a huge amount of time and money later.

 

In the first year or so you will beat the crap out of it, there’s not much point in getting a brand new precision bit of gear.

 

It’s a chicken and egg situation, you need experience to make the right decision for what you want to do so don’t go splurging the cash.

 

Lathing is dirty dangerous and (eventually with practice) highly skilled so you need to find out if you enjoy it, if you don’t enjoy it you won’t be doing it for long.

 

Most modelmaking can be covered by a 3.5 inch size lathe.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I agree with Ady and look at Tony’s place, as there is a wealth of info on there. Ebay is a good source of second hand tools and machines, but without much experience you could easy buy a piece of worn out rubbish or something that is not suitable for your own needs.

 

A good place to start, is to go to one of the model engineering exhibitions and talk to some of the traders there and get a sense of the size and feel of the various lathes and mills/drills ect., the Midlands one is on in a couple of weeks, but do shop around before committing to buy.

 

The Workshop Practice series of books can be very helpfull also, these are usually sold at the exhibitions as well, and you may find it easyer to select any you might need at a show, and of course you can view what you are aiming to achieve amoung the various models on desplay while you are there.

 

Regards Nick.

[adyParticipant @ady]

If you get an old British one then start with one with still functional solid bearings in the headstock and a main leadscrew nut which isn’t knackered.

 

Mine (pictures) had the heck beaten out of it but is great fun and still has good accuracy.

Modern cheap digital stuff makes 1-2 hundredths of a millimeter possible, eliminates lead nut measurement backlash issues and cycles between metric/imperial at the touch of a button.

I had to fix the backgear and the cross slide leadscrew nut myself.

After just over a year or so I can now also make up a new main leadscrew nut if needed, and even have a go at new headstock bearings.

They might not be perfect, but they’d definitely do the biz.

 

The most amazing thing about a lathe is that it can fix itself once you get past that initial clueless phase.

 

Those cheap digital verniers at a tenner a pop are manna from heaven for an amateur, so buy one as part of your tooling up phase.

[Roger WoollettParticipant @rogerwoollett53105]

If you can get to London you might consider going on a SMEE course. There are two and the first (Basic Training 1) is aimed at people like yourself who wish to set up a workshop. The next course starts on 18th Feb 2012.

More details on the SMEE website.

Edited By Katy Purvis on 01/06/2015 11:22:43

[Roger WoollettParticipant @rogerwoollett53105]

Sorry – that link does not work. The address is http://www.sm-ee.co.uk.

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Roger,

This looks like another case where the Model Engineer’s website URL has been appended to the beginning of the URL you entered.

I think this is the URL you wanted.

 

SMEE Website 

 

The first time I entered the link it gave the same problem. I put the link in at first starting with www. When I put the full link in starting with  http:// it worked.

 

(Full link  http://www.sm-ee.co.uk/) 

 

 

Les.

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 01/10/2011 09:54:34

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 01/10/2011 09:56:45

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 01/10/2011 10:00:46

[Roger WoollettParticipant @rogerwoollett53105]

Thanks for that Les. I will try to remember that next time.

 

Roger

[Brainsparks30Participant @brainsparks30]

Thanks for all your replies. I have bought a really nice looking Myford ML7 with some tools including a vertical slide. I think I got a lot for the money! If for some reason its not what I want (unlikely!) I am confident that I would get back at least what I paid for it.

I bought it from a gentlman at who used it to build O gauge locomotives, and apparently has had a good pedigree of similar carefull owners.

The one problem now is how to get its custom built stand up the stairs…I will start a new thread for that.

[Author]

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