Advice From a Newbie

Newbie, newb, n00b or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. [from Wikipedia]

When it comes to home machining, I am definitely a newbie, so it may seem presumptuous for me to offer advice when good advice is available on the Internet from so many experienced machinists (and I would certainly encourage any other newbie to take advantage of that advice). But when it comes to newbies, experienced practitioners sometimes have a common failing - they have forgotten what it was like to be a newbie, and they sometimes assume that everybody knows things that have become second nature to them. So I have decided to keep this record of things I learn as I work my way past the newbie stage and into becoming a more experienced machinist.

I'm going to keep this "journal" in reverse chronological order, so the most recent entries will be at the top. If you want to read the entries in the order they written, scroll to the bottom and work your way up. Other than that, the entries are entered as they occurred to me and I thought something was worth noting, so hopefully you will find them useful no matter what order you read them in.

[May 12, 2016] More Information about "Tooling Up"

The OxToolCo channel has a video on this topic directed at machinist's apprentices: https://youtu.be/7xX69e0sawE

A related list of tools is available here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2684399/Apprentice%20Machinist%20tools.pdf

[April 12, 2014] "Tooling up" your new Mill

[made some additions and edits, converted list to spreadsheet Dec. 2014]

If you are a first time purchaser of a lathe or mill, then you are also going to need "tooling" to go with it. Some lathes/mills are offered with what are called "basic tooling kits," but most are not. In any case, it is not unusual that the eventual cost of tooling exceeds the cost of the lathe or mill. This item will refer specifically to mills, but some of the items required (e.g., drill bits) will be need for either. There is a huge variety of machine tools available, but a small subset of these is needed for "just the basics."

Updates: Alphabetized the list. Added a second column to the list to include some other useful items which perhaps do not qualify as "basic" but which may be good to have depending upon your particular needs; of course this "other" list could easily be as long as a tool catalog, and will vary from person to person depending upon the types of projects being worked upon.

Note that this is not an "everything you need" list - not included are such items as lubricants, cutting and tapping fluids, tool boxes, work benches, screws and nuts, etc.

The list above includes just a few of many machinist tools available. The home machinist will likely continue to purchase other such useful items as these:

• angle blocks
• angle plate
• fly cutter
• magnifier
• micrometer
• taps and dies
• tweezers
• V-blocks

[2012] Buying Tools

If you are interested in home machining, then you are interested in tools. As you get deeper and deeper into home machining, you will likely spend as much or more on tools and tooling as you spent on some of your machines. It's all too easy to to buy a tool because it looks interesting, or because you think you may need it someday, and end up with a expensive tools you rarely use. My method for maximizing the value of my tool purchasing dollars is to make a list of tools I think I will need, and organize the list into three categories:

• basic tools I will use all the time (files, end mills, drill bits, etc.)
• tools I think will be useful for planned projects
• tools it would be nice to have, but I can probably find a way to make do without them
• tools I can't afford (OK, that's a fourth category, but I'm never going to buy these)

When I order a tool a definitely need for a project, I generally order some of the other tools on my list in order to get the maximum bang for the cost of shipping. I also keep an eye out for sales and for good used items on CraigsList.

[2012] How-to Videos

There are hundreds of videos available on YouTube and elsewhere (and for purchase). If you watched them all you would never have time to do any machining. But it is definitely worth your time to watch a few selected videos. As with reading, look for videos that address some new technique you are planning on using.

[2012] Keyless Chuck

I purchased a keyless chuck for use on my mill and lathe, and I think this was a worthwhile purchase. However, the 1/2" capacity keyless chuck is rather large, and is sometimes difficult to fit into the available working space. So I am going to need to purchase a second (smaller) keyless chuck eventually. I think I will find plenty of use for both chucks, so I don't regret the purchase, but I probably should have purchased the smaller chuck first. I may eventually move the larger chuck to my drill press.

[2012] Drill bits

I purchased a set of drill bits from Harbor Freight (1/64" series plus number and letter drill bits). While these drill bits have been useful, I have often wished that I had purchased the shorter screw machine type drill bits instead. This is because the working space on small lathes and mills is limited, and it is sometimes difficult to fit a "regular" (jobber) size drill bit into the available working space. I suppose I will need a set of both eventually; alternatively, I may just purchase selected bits in the sizes I need most. If I had it to do over though, I would have purchased the screw machine sized bits first.

[added Nov. 8, 2013]

Since I wrote the above, I purchased some screw machine length drill bits and I can only say that these are almost a necessity for use with a small mill. Especially in the larger diameters, the jobber length drills simply don;t fit into the available space. On the lathe, the shorter drills work better for much the same reason; they also have less "play" than the longer drills and therefore center better.

Similarly, small drill chucks work better on small machines, simply because they take up less space. Early on, I purchased a keyless chuck, but I have found it to be of limited use due to its length. Better to spend the money on one or two sizes of keyed chucks.

[2012] On books, reference books, and charts

Many home machining web sites and forums will recommend Machinery's Handbook as a must-have source of machining information. I was able to pick up a used copy (9th edition) for $25, but I have to say that while I have found it interesting, as a newbie I have not really found it useful. True, it is packed with information (more than you will ever use), but the information most useful to a beginning machinist (such as drill size tables) is available for free on the Internet. You can even download a copy of Machinery's Handbook if you just want to see what is in it. My recommendation is that as a beginner, your money is better spent on other things. If you do want to get a copy, get a used copy if possible - it's much cheaper and the information is much the same.

I do recommend reading some of the numerous books available on machining, but don't let yourself get overwhelmed. Read the parts relevant to what you are doing, or planning to do. After you have become more comfortable with what you are doing, re-read some of what you have already read - you may be surprised to see what you missed on the first reading.

[March 2013] My First Engine

I built a wobbler - a simple steam engine often recommended as a "first engine" project. That turned out to be good advice - the wobbler required a variety of machining techniques, and was difficult enough to be challenging (to a newbie!) without being so difficult that I lost interest. It took me a long time to build the engine (in terms of calendar days), although the actual build time was not that much. The reason it took me so much time is that, as I worked on the project, I found things on my lathe that needed to be improved (like making a set of tapered gibs), and found there were tools that I needed that I didn't have. I even took the time to make myself a boring tool, which was and educational project in itself. But I guess that the biggest reason that it took me a while is that I was in no hurry - I was just having fun and learning new skills.

[September 2013] Portable Bandsaw

Purchased a portable bandsaw for metal cutting. This was one of my better purchases - real time save.

[November 2013] Making Tools

There is always debate about the benefit of buying tools versus making tools. For a beginner, I think there is a lot of benefit in making tools, especially some of the simpler tools that end up being frequently used. First, there is the obvious benefit of being a learning experience. Then there is the satisfaction of having made something, without having to spend days or weeks to finish. It's an opportunity to make mistakes (and learn from them) without the frustration of destroying some part with a lot of work in it. There is the satisfaction of using tools you made yourself. There is the satisfaction of looking back at some of the first tools you made (perhaps not so well) and seeing how far you have come.

There is sometimes a cost saving. Now. this assertion is often contentious, because some people will say, "It took you an hour to make that tool. Your time is worth $85 (or whatever) an hour. You could have bought it for much less than that." Now, this is likely true for the professional machinist, who not unreasonably wants to spend his time making money and not making tools to make money. But for the hobbyist, the story is different. Some hobbyists will rightly point out that they would rather spend their limited hobby time making an engine, or a clock, or whatever their interest may be, than making tools, and this is a fair point. For the beginner, however, who does not yet have the tools and skills to make everything they would like, this is an investment in learning and in "tooling up" for future projects. Even the experienced hobbyist may find it useful to make tools from time to time, either to take a break from the usual, or to build a tool that cannot be bought (or bought affordably). In short, this is a consideration which will be different for each person, depending upon his or her skills, interests, and budget.

[September 2018] Moving Equipment

My recent purchases of a surface grinder, a large surface plate, and a pantograph inspired me to make this update. When setting up a home machine shop, a very practical concern is the difficultly of moving heavy machinery. Ideally, a shop will be located at ground level, with a garage door sized entry, and will be equipped with a gantry crane. Unfortunately, most of us don't have this luxury, and are therefore potentially limited in the size of the machines we can install. There are of course other concerns, like the possible need for 3-phase power, but I won't get into that here.

Here I want to talk about the difficulties I face, which I sure are similar to those shared by many other home shop owners: My shop is located in the basement. Although there is a "ground floor" (split level) entrance, the entrance has to be approached over a lawn and down a small hill. The entrance(s) to the shop are door sized - limited to about 26 inches in width. To address thse concerns, I have recently purchased and built two items which have been a great help:

• utility trailer (purchased)
• shop crane (purchased)
• heavy equipment moving cart (built)

The utility trailer I purchased is a 5' x 8' open mesh floor trailer with a 4' ramp gate and a 1.600 lb. capacity. The trailer I purchased does not have a removable gate - if I were going to purchase again I would look for a trailer with a removable gate. When moving heavy equipment, I put either 2x4s or thick plywood on the mesh bottom for better support.

The shop crane has a 2 ton capacity, but note that this is reduced to 1 ton with the boom at full extension. It would be nice to have a larger crane, but I also have to consider that I have to move the crane between my garage and shop so it can't be too heavy. I use the shop crane to lift heavy equipment from the trailer onto my equipment cart. I then have to move the crane to my basement shop to lift the equipment into place there. With very large pieces of equipment, I have to remove some parts of the machine to make it lighter, and then moves the pieces separately. This requires a lot of back and forth with the crane, but it gets the job done.

The heavy equipment moving cart was something I built when I got my large (2' x 3', 360 lbs) surface plate. It has been very useful, and I wish I had built it sooner, as it would have been useful for some of my other equipment moving needs.

These three items have addressed my equipment moving needs for the present. Anyone with a home shop may want to consider, building, borrowing, purchasing, or renting similar equipment.