What were the best investments you made for your shop?

ManualEd · Jan 26, 2017

We're a small shop, with a bit of money left over.

Recently got a .8-4" set of bore micrometers. Got tired of having to take 4 measurements every time with telescoping gages to make sure it wasn't moved or bumped on the way out.

Two years ago it was a CNC lathe, so another machine isn't an option.

Just curious what the best investments in your shops were, and how it has affected how you run and your workflow efficiency?

Larry Dickman · Jan 26, 2017

a nice coffee maker.

oh, we got a full auto CMM too, that comes in handy.

Finegrain · Jan 26, 2017

VMC. Used to like turning the cranks myself but now I really like that the machine pops out parts complete every 2-3 minutes.
Anti-fatigue mats in front of the machines. Lets me work farther into the afternoon/evening.
Off-loading sawing of blanks to another shop that has an auto saw, or the material supplier.

Regards.

Mike

WILLEO6709 · Jan 26, 2017

gage pins- small hole gages suck- plus you know a round pin XXX size fits

Bobw · Jan 26, 2017

Big screen TV makes working Sunday afternoons a lot nicer.. And they are almost free now.

My Wish list..

Nicer cabinets.
Fancy Japanese toilet that wipes my butt for me.
More cabinets/tool boxes.
More work benches.
Nice bar stools for working at the work benches.
Ice maker.

Practical things that you can never have enough of.

Calculators, I got sick of losing them, so I bought 25 of 'em.
Pens.. I like Bic Clic Stiks.
Sharpies... You can never have enough.
Highlighters, same thing.
I always run out of clip boards.

The best money I EVER spent.. I LOADED the drill cabinets.. Almost 3000 split point cobalts..
Curtis hooked me up at 53% off of MSC's 35% off price.

Carts for moving material around, can never have enough of those.

THREAD PAL... I put off buying it for years, and it paid for itself in 2 weeks.

Garwood · Jan 26, 2017

BobW, What's a thread pal?

wheelieking71 · Jan 26, 2017

Finegrain said:
Off-loading sawing of blanks to another shop that has an auto saw, or the material supplier.

I agree with this ^^^^^^

The guys couldn't grasp the concept that the saw was busy work. And the lights on the CNC's would end up blinking while they stood at the saw.
Production definitely went up when I started buying material cut.

Which makes me want an auto-feed saw. Because they don't cut that shit for free. 25-50 cents/cut around here.

Other than that, the screw compressor would have to be the best purchase I have made.
What a screw compressor will do for any work environment where the compressor is in the same room that people are working, is just amazing.
No way would I even consider the purchase of another piston compressor, ever, work related or not. I have one for a back-up. But, only because I already owned it.
If the screw ever goes down, it will get fixed or replaced immediately.

Beyond that, my stereo gets me through the day. The distraction of music actually does the opposite for me.
With music, I can focus. Without music, my mind wanders all over the place, and I get nothing done.

And that screw compressor lets me hear the stereo!

Bobw said:
The best money I EVER spent.. I LOADED the drill cabinets.. Almost 3000 split point cobalts..
Curtis hooked me up at 53% off of MSC's 35% off price.

I did similar a couple years ago when my favorite tool pusher ever, closed his gig.
I bought out ALL his YG1 Gold-P twist drills. Always having the right drill is amazing.

triumph406 · Jan 26, 2017

Sunnen hone
EDM sinker (although I hate using it)

Kyle Smith · Jan 26, 2017

One of these that is not Fowler. Ours has a Mit digital indicator on it, handy as shit. Depth mics suck. This is the first image I found, too lazy to find the right one.

Bobw · Jan 26, 2017

Garwood said:
BobW, What's a thread pal?

Its a thread spec program.. Mrainey here on this site makes and sells it.. Need the specs for
an 11/16-20 J-thread. BAM 2 seconds and its in your face, calculates wire sizes and everything.
Trapezoidal, Acme's, Metrics, Oddballs, Form tap sizes... BAM!!! 2 seconds and you have the info,
no digging around in the Hand Book, no digging up specs, Don't have to find the formula and then
calculate for thread wires.

It saves 5 minutes here, 2 minutes there, the time saved adds up quick, especially if you have
to make a bunch of oddballs.

triumph406 · Jan 26, 2017

HF 20ton press, I'm going to upgrade to a press with a proper ram, but the HF press has been invaulable over the years, pressing in bearings, broaching etc

Big B · Jan 26, 2017

If you still do manual machining on a bridgeport or clone buy one of the attachments that goes into a drill to raise and lower the knee. Mine has saved me a lot of time and even more elbow grease. They cost about $30 when I bought mine 5 years or so ago.

Without question the most bang for the buck that I have spent on my shop.

ManualEd · Jan 26, 2017

Bobw said:
Its a thread spec program.. Mrainey here on this site makes and sells it.. Need the specs for
an 11/16-20 J-thread. BAM 2 seconds and its in your face, calculates wire sizes and everything.
Trapezoidal, Acme's, Metrics, Oddballs, Form tap sizes... BAM!!! 2 seconds and you have the info,
no digging around in the Hand Book, no digging up specs, Don't have to find the formula and then
calculate for thread wires.

It saves 5 minutes here, 2 minutes there, the time saved adds up quick, especially if you have
to make a bunch of oddballs.

I just bought a Surface Pro 2 to run that, and a Mazatrol offloading program.

With ThreadPal, does it give you enough data to program NPT threads complete, start points, end points all that jazz?
I hate trigging it out every time, and it seems like its never quite right too.

Philabuster · Jan 26, 2017

Best investment I made for the shop was the ductless A/C system and lots of insulation in the shop. It is really nice to work in 76°F shop when it is 120°F outside.

Second best investment was my Phase Perfect 30 HP phase converter. Flip the switch and I have enough reliable and stable 3 phase power to cover all my machines running at once. I absolutely love it. :cloud9:

Danny VanVoorn · Jan 26, 2017

I'd have to say it was the house I built for the air compressor and rotary phase converter. I hated listening to either of those and also have more floor space as a bonus, a pretty big project but well worth the effort.

apoc_101 · Jan 26, 2017

Danny VanVoorn said:
I'd have to say it was the house I built for the air compressor and rotary phase converter. I hated listening to either of those and also have more floor space as a bonus, a pretty big project but well worth the effort.

Did the same last year, two compressors, two vacuum pumps, all in one tidy little engineered-in-house out-building with enough ventilation to change the air six times a minute (operating at full blast, but it doesn't ever since it's temperature-triggered). Noisy in there, but we don't have to hear any of it in the shop

best investment so far this year: new workbench, Lista knockoff with 2" maple top, eight feet wide, drawers at both ends. Brightens up my day every time I've got a little project to attend do

robert123 · Jan 26, 2017

Bobw said:
Its a thread spec program.. Mrainey here on this site makes and sells it.. Need the specs for
an 11/16-20 J-thread. BAM 2 seconds and its in your face, calculates wire sizes and everything.
Trapezoidal, Acme's, Metrics, Oddballs, Form tap sizes... BAM!!! 2 seconds and you have the info,
no digging around in the Hand Book, no digging up specs, Don't have to find the formula and then
calculate for thread wires.

It saves 5 minutes here, 2 minutes there, the time saved adds up quick, especially if you have
to make a bunch of oddballs.

As long as you have Internet access, theoreticalmachinist.com has a thread calculator that does the same thing for free, at least for standard threads.

SIM · Jan 26, 2017

CNC

More CNC's

Bar puller for Turning Center
Bar Feeder

GibbsCAM

Upgraded to Marvel Automatic Saw that cuts square, precise and counts the parts

Intramics
Go/No Go Thread gauges

More CNC's

Quickbooks

Upgraded to Marvel Automatic Saw that cuts square, precise and counts the parts

Upgraded to Rotary screw With Air Dryer

Lista Cabinets

Looking back if any of those died today, I'd replace with same or better.

It started with going on a limb to give CNC a shot while putting myself in a hole not 100% sure it would pay off. Then the tooling to make better time on jobs, make jobs better...seems we get to a point and see a bottleneck and each fix is the new best investment till a newer one comes along.

Upgrading from our automatic Kalamazoo to the Marvel was an eyeopener. The old hydraulic Kalamazoo fed fast, cut quick...but lots of tweaking to produce nice square parts...The marvel is slower on the loading feeds...but cuts quicker and having slugs cut dead square to within a few thou makes CNC work SO MUCH faster...no more checking to see if same length, square...its stick it in machine and push green to go. Blades also last longer. Slow and steady and dead balls accurate...aside from CNC, could be most important.

AARONT · Jan 26, 2017

Auto saw. No more all nighters cutting blanks of 4"Ø+ blanks.

CMM. Albeit it's a small Helmel, but it's been a life saver.

Pneumatic tapping arm.

Booze Daily · Jan 26, 2017

Maybe ask your employees. You don't need to mention how much you have to spend.

It might make them feel like they have some input which goes a long way in the moral dept. Plus you might get some ideas you never would have thought of.

What were the best investments you made for your shop?

Stainless

Titanium

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Stainless

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Stainless

Diamond

Titanium

Hot Rolled

Stainless

Titanium

Stainless

Titanium

Similar threads