Recommended Tools for Bridgeport Part 2

I wanted to post what I learned from this thread and my experience with my mill.

As we always say here, the cost of the machinery is often not the majority of the cost of setting up a machine shop. Our common “required tools" lists typically include the stuff an apprentice would bring to work. The list below attempts to identify all the tools one would need for a new milling machine. It includes tools the apprentice would expect to find on his first day. Viewed as a whole, this could easily be $10,000 of tools.

My advice is to start with the inspection tools and buy second hand. Inspect what you buy, new and old. Inspection should not be an after thought. Its an important skill. If you leave yourself enough time, you can often find what you need locally for pennies on the dollar.

I've tried to divide the tools into categories that I hope will be helpful. I'm looking forward to your comments, especially anything you think I missed.

Inspection tools:

• Surface plate- buy the biggest you can afford or move. Big plates are sometimes surprisingly cheap second hand, maybe because amateurs don't want to move them and pros want recent calibrations. A 18X24 is about 150lbs and can be moved by 2 working men. The next size up, 24X36 is over 3X heavier.
• Master square – could be a cylinder square, Starrett #20, granite square, angle plate or just a trustworthy 123 block.

• Surface gage (or height gage) for marking and to mount a Dial Test Indicator (DTI) on to check parallelism against the surface block.
• Matched Vee blocks - for round pieces
• Thick parallels to elevate parts above the surface plate. Matched 123 blocks can be used. Real inspectors often use cylindrical gage blocks that they almost always call “jo blocks”. (Jo refers to Johansson, a brand of gage blocks). These are also often used in conjunction with a sine plate.

• Dial Test Indicators (DTI) 0-30-0 X.001” and 0-5-0X.0001” or metric equivs. Buy Japanese, US or Swiss to ensure compatibility with most indicator attachments (like Noga).
• Micrometer(s)- lots of advice on PM
• Caliper -lots of advice on PM
• Gage Block Set- doesn't need to be highest grade, may not even need complete set
• Machinist’s level – can be used to detect twist in a part, not just for leveling machines
• T-slot, Hole gages, Radius gages, Feeler and Thread gages

Tool holding:

• R8 Collets – esp 3/8”, ½”, 5/8” ¾”. Collets are not expensive and you don’t need a large set. Buy only the finest quality collets with low T.I.R. (total indicated runout – basically a measure of how concentric the ID and OD are with each other.) I also have a 5/16” (8mm) for my Noga spindle arm.)
• Drill Chuck with R8 arbor – lots of advice about these on PM. I prefer a R8 arbor rather than a 1/2” shank and a tool holder to save work space.

• Fly Cutter Arbor- I use my fly cutter frequently and can produce a very fine surface with it in many different materials.
• Boring Bar Head – US made Criterion are twice as sensitive as the Chinese copies, but also twice the money.
• Slitting Saw Arbor? Maybe unique to my work. Use it all the time.
• Optional: Toolholders – I have several with different end mills in them for convenience. Not always easy to store. Sharp end mills are deadly.
• Optional: Shell/face mill- these are expensive, I don‘t have one. I use a roughing mill and follow up with a fly cutter. A face mill could probably do this with a single set up.

U]Work Holding:[/U]

• Machinist’s vise- This is probably the most used and useful work holding device for a mill.
• Clamping kit- for a Bridgeport you typically want 5/8” tee nuts with ½-13 threads. I prefer US kits. Note that the tee nuts are NOT threaded through. This is to prevent you from jacking the tee nuts up from the bottom of the slots and damaging your table as a result. The screws must bottom out in the tee-nuts (hand tight is good enough). Be aware when you are torquing the top nut that your aren't threading the shank through the Tee nut!

• Edge clamps (mitee bites)
• Angle plate
• Sine plate
• Parallels- I think it’s a good idea to measure the depth of your vise jaws and have parallels 1/16”, 1/8”, ¼, ½” shorter than the vise. I find the short parallels less useful.
• Machinist’s jack/adjustable parallels- useful for supporting long stock.
• 123, 246 blocks- matched pairs are useful (more so for inspection) Individuals can be bolted together or to the table. The Chinese copies typically aren’t made right (unthreaded holes are not clearance holes) and you can’t trust that they will be square, matched. Absolutely essential to inspect them. Look for Moore or Suburban blocks instead. These are really useful tools.
• Machinist’s clamps- I find these cheap second hand. You can also make them.

• Noga Spindle Arm/Indicol - tools used to hold (typically) dial test indicators to "tram" or make perpendicular, the mill's head to the table. See the DTIs recommended above.
• Noga Arm with Mag base - To set the vise parallel to the x axis, I think its better to have a Noga arm with a fixable mag base. I use the same 2 DTIs for that.
• Edge Finder / Wiggler set for locating the workpiece relative to the table cranks/DRO
• Soft faced Hammer(s)

U]Layout tools:[/U] There are a couple different ways to use a manual mill. You can use the dials/DRO to make accurate moves that reflect the engineering drawing, or you can layout the drawing on the workpiece and work to the lines visually, or you can do both. I do both. At a minimum you’ll need:

• Dykem, Sharpies, and alcohol wipes to remove dye
• Scribe(s) – carbide is not always best because its hard to sharpen. Some folks shape the points into tiny blades making HSS more desirable.
• Center punches locate hole centers and give drill bits a place to start.
• Prick punches - pointy so they can be used to find scribed lines by feel. I don't think you need a whole set. And you can grind a center punch for this purpose.

• Combination square - Starrett invented this tool and probably makes the best quality. Starrett also uses the thickest blades (slotted rules) meaning a Starrett combo can use cheaper PEC or Mitutoyo blades/rules/scales, but the other manufacturers' can't use Starrett rules.
• Bevel

• Dividers
• 6” rule (called a “scale” by all machinists I know)
• Tape measure

Mill Maintenance tools:

• Allen keys
• ¾” combination wrench
• Oil
• Abrasive hone(s) for deburring cast iron surfaces
• Acid brush for applying oil to tools/work pieces
• Soft bristle brush for removing chips
• T-slot cleaner

Cutting Tools you will need right away:

• End mills - 2 flute X 40deg for aluminum, 4 flute X 30degree for steel. Start with inexpensive HSS, then switch for M42 cobalt and solid carbide. You'll want a couple sizes of each and I like the roughing versions for their chip breaking. I don’t need drawers full of dull end mills so don’t buy these second hand in bulk. A few “silver bullet” mills will win the day.
• Drill bit set – I would spring for US made M42 Cobalt bits.
• Tap and Drill set- this can be a convenient and inexpensive way to get a lot of capability.

• Spotting drill(s) (i.e. not a center drill)
• Left handed lathe tools for fly cutter

• 0 flute Weldon Counter Sink set, 82 degrees for std US spec hardware
• Counter bore set for ¼” -3/8” cap head screws at least
• Deburring tool