Beginner machinist seeking advice

What are some of the top tools you would suggest for a beginner to go ahead and get that just started as an apprentice machinist

Start with a Starrett 6 inch scale. It will probably be one of the least expensive tools you will need and you will use it the most.

Jknight3 said:

What are some of the top tools you would suggest for a beginner to go ahead and get that just started as an apprentice machinist

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here is one opinion


dee
;=D

Keep it simple until you know if you want to keep doing this.. What you need, and what you want...

I've got stuff I've bought that I've never used, I've got stuff I bought because it was interesting and different,
and I'd never needed or used one before and use it all the time.. (specifically a tube mic)..

I DO NOT, and HAVE NEVER owned a six inch scale, believe it or not. Maybe its because I put my sugar and my cream in my
coffee cup before I put the coffee in and have no need to stir? Though I ALWAYS have a Stanley Decimal tape measure close.

Keep it simple and basic until you know what you need... What you WILL need, basic hand tools, screwdrivers, wrenches..
Allen wrenches, not Allen Brand (they SUCK!!!!!) Bondhus or Eklind, several sets, because you will lose them.
A small set of torx wrenches is a god send for machinists.
The itty bitty screwdrivers.. If for nothing else, they are good for getting the crud out from under your fingernails.
A calculator or 20...
Back up Sharpies and high lighters, well hidden so nobody else knows you have them.
Nail clippers.. Those sharp little edges are awesome to grab the tiniest little metal slivers, far better than tweezers.

Buy it as you need it.... or want it..

One of the most useful and USED things that I have had in my pocket for the last 50+ years is a good magnifying glass. Actually, at the present I have three on me at all times.

My first was a Hastings 10X triplet. This is a high quality magnifying lens that us usually found in one of those teardrop shaped, brass frames with the lens in a brass cell inside that frame. I got my first one when I was in my teens and am probably on my second or third one now. The original black finish is long gone from the brass, but the lens works as well as it did on day one. My eyes were better back then so the 10X magnification was a good choice.

hastings triplet - Bing images

Sometime ago I added a 20X Hastings triplet. It is smaller in diameter but mounted in the same size, teardrop frame and cell. It is handy for things where the 10X is not enough. It is like a low powered microscope.

These Hastings triplets are sometimes referred to as the king of magnifiers so you can expect to pay a good price for them. Mine cost around $35 to $45 each and the prices may be higher now. They are worth the price as they are well corrected and give you a good image over the entire field of view without distortion, color fringes, curvature, or other defects that simpler magnifiers will exhibit. They consist of three elements (lenses) that are glued together to achieve this level of correction. And as a bonus, the design is completely symmetric so they work equally well in both directions.

Finally, a few years ago I found a nice 2X or 4X combination magnifier and LED flashlight. I with my ageing eyes, I find this very handy for a variety of things where my eyeglasses are just not enough, but where I want a larger field of view than the Hastings triplets would give me. It is a rule of magnifiers that power and field of view are in inverse proportion to each other: more of one means less of the other. And the LED flashlight is very handy in many, many situations, including when studying things with the lens. The LED is angled to illuminate the magnifier's field of view. Handy.



I also carry a small tape measure in my pocket at all times. It has both inch and cm/mm markings. Very handy to have instantly available on occasion.

Beyond that it is hard to recommend something that will be useful to everyone in every situation. Some shops will expect you to have your own tools. Others will forbid them. I have been in both, once at the same company. Dig in and see what you will need. The toolbox suggestion was a good one. Whatever you get, you need a box to keep them in.

I'll second Bobw's comment about nail clippers making excellent splinter-grabbers, but even better than the standard nail clipper is its "cuticle nipper" variant. Unfortunately, they can be a bit hard to find in the stores. I've found 'em most often in one of the larger Wal-Mart stores, under the Trim label, for about a buck fifty. Here's what they look like: Lacross Cuticle Trimmer | The Best Nail Tools | Real Simple

Once you're done buying everything mentioned so far, learn Vietnamese and moonlight as a manicurist.

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A flexible 6-inch rule with 4R graduations is maybe the single most useful tool around a turning center. But don't spend the money on a Starrett because after you've dropped it the first time it will have begun its long, slow transformation into a radius gage...

I happen to think Keith Fenner's list is pretty darned good, and sufficiently generic enough for most (manual) guys. Just remember one of the golden rules of getting along in any workplace with personally-owned tools... if you have to borrow it once, fine. If you have to borrow it a second time, it's time to buy your own.

Bobw said:

Keep it simple until you know if you want to keep doing this.. What you need, and what you want...

I've got stuff I've bought that I've never used, I've got stuff I bought because it was interesting and different,
and I'd never needed or used one before and use it all the time.. (specifically a tube mic)..

I DO NOT, and HAVE NEVER owned a six inch scale, believe it or not. Maybe its because I put my sugar and my cream in my
coffee cup before I put the coffee in and have no need to stir? Though I ALWAYS have a Stanley Decimal tape measure close.

Keep it simple and basic until you know what you need... What you WILL need, basic hand tools, screwdrivers, wrenches..
Allen wrenches, not Allen Brand (they SUCK!!!!!) Bondhus or Eklind, several sets, because you will lose them.
A small set of torx wrenches is a god send for machinists.
The itty bitty screwdrivers.. If for nothing else, they are good for getting the crud out from under your fingernails.
A calculator or 20...
Back up Sharpies and high lighters, well hidden so nobody else knows you have them.
Nail clippers.. Those sharp little edges are awesome to grab the tiniest little metal slivers, far better than tweezers.

Buy it as you need it.... or want it..

Click to expand...

YES!!! I can't even begin to count how many pens, pencils, markers, and highlighters I have gone thru over the years. Mostly due to me putting it on my desk/toolbox and coming back 5 minutes later and it's gone.

I would recommend a Brown & Sharpe 6" and 12" scale/flexible rule. They make a really nice one that has little black dots on every other graduation, every 1/32" maybe... It makes them much easier to read. I have a TiN coated 'made in USA' brand, it's nice because it sticks out from everyone else satin chrome.

I would also suggest just going with cheap china brand 6" calipers and 0-3" mics UNTIL you know how to take care of them, then buy Mitutoyo and don't look back. You can certainly buy the best right off the bat, but you will be sorry when you drop them and need to have them repaired.

Jknight3 said:

What are some of the top tools you would suggest for a beginner to go ahead and get that just started as an apprentice machinist

Click to expand...

yer best bet and cheapest way is to find a retired machinist or a box at a garage sale....and buy the whole lot...making sure there is mic's and calipers and whatnot....many old ladies after the guy dies sell there stuff at a FRACTION of the real cost and most are like....get this crap outta here will ya...I know that from this since that's how I got a lot of my cool expensive tools to.....SELL OR GIVE IT ALL AWAY UPON RETIREMENT....that's what I am going to do with most of it...will keep all wrenches and basic stuff for machining some crap in my garage but after seeing these old guys and what happens to their stuff....i will be making dam sure that once I am too feeble to crank I will be picking out some young kids at a school such as yerself and give em a sweet present....you can have it all