Rocket Machine Shop Intial Purchase List
This is the initial purchase list for my Rocket Machine Shop
In May, 2007, with some bonus money, I'm planning on buying a lathe and
milling machine for motors and other metalworking projects.
I have built a 15' x 36" x 40" high workbench of 2 1/4" thick plywood.
For the lathe I've settled on the new G4003G variant of
the Grizzly G4003
For the milling machine, it's most likely the ZAY7045
/ ZAY7045FG from Lathemaster; alternatively the SX3 which is the G0619 Mill / Drill
from Grizzly. I'm trying to decide on the work envelope for the milling
machine. The ZAY7045 is much larger footprint - but much larger
capacity. And some folks say they use the extra capacity, if nothing
else, to keep multiple setups intact on the bed. Handy enough as it is.
The cost difference isn't that much for the base products - though
CNC'ing the ZAY7045 would certainly cost a lot more and is much less
frequently done.
The ZAY7045
with the G4003G
really puts a hurt on the freespace of that 15' workbench.
I have culled Initial tooling suggestions from many places, including
homeshopmachinist,
Lathe Options and Tooling
I was going to get the Grizzly
G4003 but they've since come out with the G4003G which
does have some nice features and upgrades. It also does come with a
stand that I don't want (and would care not to pay shipping on ) and
doesn't come with the cutters that the G4003 did. So I'll be paying a
fair bit more for the upgrades and tooling additions - but I think
it'll be worth it.
(Ordered) LMS: Turning Tools, 1/2" Indexable HSS
Inserts: http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=1620&category=
G9839, G9840, G9841
LMS 1/2"
Boring Bar Indexable HSS Warner
Ordered Grizzly:
Ordered ENCO:
Starett Metric Thread Pitch Gauge
Thread Measuring Wire Set
Machine Levelers
DyeKem Marking Fluid
Mobil DTE 100 gear case lube
Mobil Vactra Way Oil
Precision Machinist Square Set.
I have H2683
Master Machinist's Level - 12" x .0005" Per 10"
MSC:
Machine Hand Tap Guide (on sale June)
Cobalt Steel Blanks (1/2", maybe also smaller sizes?
Internal grooving (per Jonathan) P/N 62689179 (http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNPDFF?PMPAGE=747&PMITEM=62689179&PMCTLG=00)
External grooving (per Jonathan) (just use parting tool)
Internal Threading:
MSC: Internal
Threading Tool (Circle)
Lathemaster MT3 keyless chuck 1/2" $ and maybe 3/4"
$ (later)
Dye Chem layout dye
Mill Options and Tooling
I had largely settled upon the X3 (Grizzly G0463) but
was pining for the extra power and capacity of the SX3 (Grizzly G0619) At the
time, the SX3 wasn't imported. Grizzly now imports it. My main issue is
that they didn't import it with the larger work table - it's the same
size as the X3. I'd guess that to not compete too much against their
slightly larger dovetail mill the Grizzly G0519 . So
now the SX3 from Grizzly is a compromise. it feels a little small.
Now, to jump to the Grizzly
G0519 it's nice, and roughly comparable to the Lathemaster
ZAY7045 / ZAY7045FG . Of those two, I think they're pretty
comparable. The disadvantage of the Grizzly G0519 is it requires a 3
phase power supply.
The CNC guys say to not bother with the SX3 over the X3 if you're going
to CNC it as you'd skip most features of the SX3. Separately, it would
be much cheaper and with much more help to CNC the SX3 than the ZAY7045
(though the ZAY7045 is essentially a smaller Industrial Hobbies Mill).
Right now, I'm leaning towards the Lathemaster
ZAY7045 / ZAY7045FG over the X3 / SX3 / Grizzly G0619
Ordered
Need or consider:
V blocks (two perhaps, up to 2" maybe?)
V-Blocks
MSC Set (P4x flyer)
MSC: SPI
Extended Range Indicator - 0.060 x 0.0005 :) pricey :)
MSC Cobalt
End Mill Set
LMS Miniature
End
Mill Set <- miniature (for engraving and such?)
Lathemaster Keyless Chuck R8
Fly Cutter
Grizzly Insert R8 Fly
Cutter
H5939 Boring Bar set
(mill, R8); the Lathemaster has a nice case - might go for that (!)
MSC? Bottoming Taps 1/4, 3/8
MSC Cleaveland 1/4x20 Bottoming
& Regular
MSC Tap and Die for CANS 1/2 x 20 or 1/2 x 28?
MSC Chamfering
Set (Cleaveland)
Grizzly Chamfering Set H2994 / H2995
Ordered:
MSC: Engineers
Black Book (or other vendor??)
Letter Stamps
One set of recommendations.
You will need accessories: (a) Milling machine Vise. (The vises which
came with the mill were garbage.) I bought a Polish one from Wholesale
tool for under $100. (b) You will need R-8 endmill holders. Get 1/2"
and 3/8" first. I made the mistake of getting a set from Enco, which
were really bad and subsequently bought a set of Japanese holders which
I still use. (c) You will need a clamping set. (e) a set of parallels
(good ones are expensive and hard to find.) f) V-blocks. I also
recommend getting a separate tool box for milling machine accessories,
cutters etc.
You will need measurment and hand tools: edge finders, wiggler, vernier
height gauge, micrometers, a dial indicator, clamps, gauge blocks sine
bar.
There are many other useful or necessary items depending on what you
want to do, and what other tools you have. i.e. rotary table, indexing
head, boring head, tapping head etc.
More.
Collet(s)
Center drills
End Mills
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/X_Series_Mills/message/188
Mill Must-Haves:
- Indicol indicator holder (buy the real thing on Enco, or a clone
from someone like Shars) and Test Indicator (Interapid make the
best!). You will need these together with a mallet to tram your
mill head, which should be your first step. Avoid coaxial
indicators. The Indicol is your first best choice. The coax is a
handy shortcut for rough work, but no substitute.
- 1-2-3 Blocks: useful when tramming, and for many other things.
- Clamping set to fit your mill's T-slots.
- Kurt Vise or clone. Get a used Kurt on eBay ($180-200) or buy a
clone. I hear LittleMachineShop's is nice. I recommend 4" for the
smaller mills. A 6" is huge.
- Mill Holders. Buy a set. A lot of folks "standardize" on 3/8"
and 1/2" shank end mills. You may want an extra or two in those
sizes.
- End Mills. Get some 3/8" and 1/2" end mills, both 2 flute and 4
flute. Try some American-made--you'll be amazed at what a
difference it makes.
You can now make some chips. Work at getting your mill trammed and
the vise on the table true. Practice some cuts. You next steps
will be a function of what you want to build. I'll break it into a
couple of tiers.
Got to have pretty quickly:
- Drill bits and a chuck. Get a keyless chuck from Lathemaster.
They're fabulous and inexpensive.
- Fly cutter. Leaves a fine finish and good for squaring large
surface areas. You'll need a tool to go into the fly cutter as
well. Lots of folks use brazed carbide lathe tools in these.
- Collets and chuck. You will need to decide what system you want.
I highly recommend going with one of the ER series. Each collet in
an ER can clamp on a wider range of diameters than other collet
systems. They just work better than older systems like R8 or 5C.
- More cutters. Depends what you are building. You probably want
a fly cutter pretty quickly. They leave a fine finish and can be
used to square large areas. Lots of specialized cutters too. I
have a set of Keo zero flute deburring bits that are fantastic.
- V-Blocks. Essential to cutting round things.
- Soft jaws for vise. I only use my Kurt's with aluminum jaws.
You can make them pretty easily, and it's a decent early project to
try. Or, you can buy them from a variety of sources.
- Parallels. Gotta have 'em pretty soon! You stand your work on
them in the vise to get it sitting up high and square.
More Esoteric: Base this stuff on the needs of a particular project
you are building. A lot of it is very cool, but you'll spend a
fortune here, so wait until you need it.
- Rotary tables. Very handy. Don't go too big for your mill and
make sure you get one that sits both vertically and horizontally.
- Angle blocks and Kant-Twist clamps: Because you never have
enough ways to clamp things!
- Angle related tooling: Precision angle blocks and 60 degree
tilting V-block, just to name a couple. Sometimes these little
goodies are way faster than dragging out the rotary table and
setting it up. Sine bars, which will require a gage block set, and
tilting tables are a little more investment for angles.
- Finishing cutters: Corner rounding, deburring, and so on.
- Fancy hole drilling: Reamers, counterbores, spade drills, oh my!
Obviously, one could go on and on. You may also want to experiment
with indexable tooling. Try an inexpensive TPG-insert face mill.
You might like it better than fly cutting.
Enjoy!
BW
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One comment on Bob's advice: following similar advice,
I started out with a Kurt style vise, which I still have
and can use for its rotating base. For 98% of my use
now, however, I prefer the screwless type of vise (4").
The latter is quicker to square up without an indicator,
and has larger jaw range without moving jaws around.
It also has a tapped hole in the side of the fixed jaw
to which I mount a stop so that I can use an edge finder
to set X and Y zeros for CNC, and then I can repeatably
mount pieces against those surfaces without re-zeroing.
This has been a big time saver for me.
Alan
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