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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking > MetalWork Discussion > What tools do you need to be a machinist?
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  1. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by extanker59 View Post
    Did you think I didn't understand? Typical.
    Can you guess what I'm telling you?


    You're telling me that I'm the greatest machinist you've ever met and that one day, after much effort, maybe... just maybe... you can be just like me.

  2. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by ImanCarrot View Post
    My lunch box is big...
    But is it a Gerstner?

  3. #43
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    I guess that the lesson for the OP here is that there will always be the arrogant one or the one who will judge you by your looks (or both wrapped up in one) instead of what you learn and produce. You'll have to live with them too.

  4. #44
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    to get back to the real question on hand...TOOLS.

    When you are first starting in the trade you more than likely be an operator. Tools are also dependant on the shop and the type of work they do. For example some shops a 0-1" mic would be no more than a paper weight, and operating a lathe is slightly different than a mill. Once you progress and start setting up machines you will need various other tools. Most respectable shops offer some type of tool purchase program. The shop I work at allows us to spend 1 week pay (more if approved) and make 10% payments so if I ordered $500 in tools I would have $50 payments e/o week. Take advantage of these. It not only will build your tool inventory, but it will/should be interest free.

    To start out:
    -screw drivers
    -tape measure
    -0-6" steel scale (5R)
    -magnification loupe
    -mini-mag flashlight (led)
    -cosmetic tweezers
    -protractor
    -calculator
    -Inch and metric allen wrenches - ball end *may want a stubby set too.
    -torx wrenches T6-T25
    -6" & 10" crescent wrench
    -pliers set w/ diagonal cutter
    -dead blow hammers (5oz & 21oz or 42oz)
    -Mic set (0-4") *may very depending on shop
    -0-6" caliper
    -0-12" caliper
    -.011-.500 gage pins *import
    -81pc gage block set *import
    -0-1" (.001 or .0005) dial indicator with granite base stand
    -tip set for dial indicator
    -interapid #312b-1 (.0005) dial test indicator *only brand I'd buy
    -0-4" depth mic

    This is not a complete list but it is a good start. Some of the thing can wait longer than others. As all of you probably noticed I did NOT put the bible in there. The machinist handbook is a very valuable tool, but don't go out and get one right away. The first time you have to ask to borrow someone’s, then its time to buy one. If you have to ask, you probably have enough general knowledge to understand the contents. As we all heard earlier you CAN use any tool box. I have used my Crapsman for 12 years it is only storage for your tools not a status queue. Though, obviously some like to think so. Please, don’t be cheap on the measuring tools (mics, calipers, etc.). Buy Quality names like B&S, Mitutoyo or Starrett. You will probably find Mitutoyo to be the best value. They are jus as good as the others and highly respected in the trade. If you have any questions as to why I chose any of these tools please ask.

    Brad

  5. #45
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    Oct 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by cad01 View Post

    To start out:
    -torx wrenches T6-T25
    -pliers set w/ diagonal cutter
    -dead blow hammers (5oz & 21oz or 42oz)
    -Mic set (0-4") *may very depending on shop
    -0-6" caliper
    -0-12" caliper
    -.011-.500 gage pins *import
    -81pc gage block set *import
    -0-1" (.001 or .0005) dial indicator with granite base stand
    -tip set for dial indicator
    -interapid #312b-1 (.0005) dial test indicator *only brand I'd buy
    -0-4" depth mic

    Brad
    Shouldn't the inspection room/tool crib have gauge blocks and pins? I liken them to a surface plate. Owning your own is convenient, but the shop should have a set for the machinists to use. Just about any decent DTI will get you started. I have interapid in the good box, but started the trade with a Sears Craftsman (1977) which I still have and it still works reliably.

    What is forgotten too often in this thread is that quality tools cost money, and a person starting out is at the low end while being saddled with the need to fill a tool box with useful tools. Chinese tools offer a lot of bang for the buck and while not something that will follow a tradesman through his career, they will let the guy get off the ground and running.

  6. #46
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    erm, you lot missed the point, either that or you politely ignored me... a lunch box here in the UK is the size of you package... in your pants if you get what I mean...

    If I have a big lunch box does it make me good in bed?

    Discuss with diversions lol
    I love deadlines- I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

  7. #47
    geez you guys must pack a small lunch ,theres not a package big enough to handle the size of sandwiches that i like to eat , so to answer your question I'd say no , strictly for the reason you wouldn't have enough energy from a lack of nutrition ,
    A poet knows no boundary yet he is bound to the boundaries of ones own mind !! ........

  8. #48
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    Smile

    Quote Originally Posted by dertsap View Post
    you can't judge a guy based on his box but you can judge an employer by the vehicles in the parking lot
    Love that one, and soo true.

  9. #49
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    May 2009
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    141
    Well other than a good tool box it sounds like I already have a good start on the tools that I'm going to need. Thank you for the guys that took some time to answer my post and not get wrapped into the tool box trash talk. I just wanted to know what I was going to need in the future so I could prepare my self and know how much it was going to cost me to switch jobs. A lot of guys come to school with out the tools or books that are required and look like fools. That is something I don't want to do in the future when I start a new job. I like to be prepared and have the tools that are required on the first day so I don't have to look like a fool and borrow stuff from someone I just met.

    We have all of our tool boxes lined up in the shop at school and some people treat them like bumper cars when they pull theirs out so there is no way I would ever bring something nice there. I saw a guy get a large scratch in his nice Kennedy chest last week and no one to blame. There are three different shifts of classes so there is no way to know that happens to your box when your not there. I bought a cart from Harbor Freight for $150.00 on sale and it works just fine. There are several drawers to keep my tools in as well as a top that flips up exposing a deep storage area. As a bonus the top doubles as a work surface and gives me a lot of space to spread my tools, and prints out on so I don't have to balance every thing on my machines table. Nothing looks worse than handing in your school work with grease stains all over the paper, yet I see it happen every day.

    Most of my tools are Mitutoyo or Brown and Sharp. The Starett tools are nice, but way too expensive for me. I'm looking to buy a 0 to 6" set of micrometers and I'm wondering if the Fowler ones would be good enough for a while? I have a small shop at home so if something can't be used for work I can leave it home for my own use.

    I even have a Machinist hand book. I bought it at a used book store for $5.00 and it's in great shape. The only flaw is that it's from the 70's It's still a good reference though and way less than a new one.

    Thanks again for all the help. Hopefully I will be done with school in a year or so and can start looking for a new job as I'm getting sick of working out side all year round.

    Dale P.

  10. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by ibuildstuff4u View Post

    Thanks again for all the help. Hopefully I will be done with school in a year or so and can start looking for a new job as I'm getting sick of working out side all year round.

    Dale P.


    How long have you been taking classes? You may get hired before you graduate from school. That's what happened in my case. Parker-Hannifin called our trade school and asked the instructor if there were any good candidates for their machine shop. My name was submitted and I hadn't even finished the 1st quarter. They gave me a job. Good luck in your choice of becoming a machinist.

  11. #51
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    Oh mangifying glass and tweezers to take the chips out of your hands.
    I love deadlines- I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

  12. #52
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    And super glue for cuts!

  13. #53
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    Safety glasses and toe tecto boots (the superglue does work btw). Bib and braces engineer's overall- the ones without the arms so it doesn't get wrapped round the spindle/ chuck.
    I love deadlines- I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

  14. #54
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    Quote Originally Posted by ibuildstuff4u View Post
    I even have a Machinist hand book. I bought it at a used book store for $5.00 and it's in great shape. The only flaw is that it's from the 70's It's still a good reference though and way less than a new one.
    Don't waste your money on a new one, they still haven't even gotten around to putting R-8 tapers in there. Pages and pages on B&S tapers, but nothing new in the past 30 or 50 years.

    Nail clippers for metal slivers.

  15. #55
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    I'm a bit late to the toolbox discussion, but it was so good I couldn't help it... (and don't take this personally, SDCNC, it's not.)

    Quote Originally Posted by SanDiegoCNC View Post
    Two guys come in with the same qualifications and one rolls in with a Kennedy and the other with a Craftsman. Which do you think gives a damn about his occupation? Honestly guys... which one?
    You don't know by their tool box.

    What brand of tool box or tools a machinist uses is completely and utterly irrelivant. Period. Anyone who would judge a machinist by his toolbox is nothing short of ignorant.

    Not an insult, but you have NO WAY of knowing anything about anyone by the way they dress, what they drive, or where they put there tools.

    You want to know about a machinist? Ask him how he'd go about machining something, or dialing something in, or setting something up. I've known dozens of so-called machinists that had awesome tool boxes and great tools, but didn't know how to use them.

    I'm just telling you how I see the issue and how some employers look at it. I've owned my own CNC machine shop before and whenever someone came by, called, or sent me a resume, one of the first things I'd ask is 'do you own your own tools', 'what brands are they', and 'what kind of box do you own'? To me, that was almost as important as 'where did you learn the machining trade'? I would use those questions as a measurement of how serious a person was about his choice of occupation.
    I've NEVER seen an employer that gave two craps about what tool box they had their stuff in. Not one. If there really are employers out there that do, I'm sure I wouldn't work for them because that tells me more about them than my toolbox tells them about me.

    And "where" you learned the trade has just as little to do with the quality of the machinist as his box.
    Matt
    San Diego, Ca

    ___ o o o_
    [l_,[_____],
    l---L - □lllllll□-
    ( )_) ( )_)--)_)

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)

  16. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rekd View Post
    I'm a bit late to the toolbox discussion, but it was so good I couldn't help it... (and don't take this personally, SDCNC, it's not.)



    You don't know by their tool box.

    What brand of tool box or tools a machinist uses is completely and utterly irrelivant. Period. Anyone who would judge a machinist by his toolbox is nothing short of ignorant.

    Not an insult, but you have NO WAY of knowing anything about anyone by the way they dress, what they drive, or where they put there tools.

    You want to know about a machinist? Ask him how he'd go about machining something, or dialing something in, or setting something up. I've known dozens of so-called machinists that had awesome tool boxes and great tools, but didn't know how to use them.



    I've NEVER seen an employer that gave two craps about what tool box they had their stuff in. Not one. If there really are employers out there that do, I'm sure I wouldn't work for them because that tells me more about them than my toolbox tells them about me.

    And "where" you learned the trade has just as little to do with the quality of the machinist as his box.



    Please refer back to post #26...

  17. #57
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    To the guy wanting to know about what tools to buy. Where I come from, and it is mostly medical here. Most shops DO NOT require any tools and they are normally provided. We normally don't hire snobby high flyin' "I love me" machinists. We are more developmental with our people. We train them. I've never been to school, and started my career in machining with nothing more than a desire to learn. I now work in engineering and have been a machinist for 15 years. All of my tools are sitting in drawers that I have purchased over the years. I use my 1" mics., 6" calipers, and occasionally my depth mics. (I have a set that has several lengths from 1" to 6"). Having your own tools is a personal decision. The tools you use do NOT indicate your ability. My "RED KENNEDY" is at home, in the shed, locked, and has been for about 5 years since the company insisted we all take our boxes home. It is the companies intent to own it's own tooling. That way all the tooling is standard and calibrated by our own people. To reiterate, if a company is hiring you just because you have "Starrett", or "Brown & Sharpe" in your "Kennedy" or "Gerstner" box. Look for another job, they will fail because the customer looks at the parts. They could care less about what tool made them. It's all about the end product. Not the method of obtaining it.
    Good luck,
    Eric

  18. #58
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    Yeah, I'm betting most of the guys who roll out a 'Red Kennedy' probably don't know how to regrind a drill... write a program without the aid of computer software... make their own custom tooling, or have a multitude of other basic 'non-essential' skills. And I can assure you that shops who 'DO NOT require any tools', are relying on workers who cannot function in a real world machine shop. They've taken a lump of clay and molded their workers to become one-trick ponies. Their worker's skills are limited. I run into those guys all the time. They're incompetent to the extent that they cannot be trusted to do more than modify speeds and feeds within programs... and they're not very good at that either.

    Look, we can sling slurs all day long. The truth of the matter is that, for the most part, I don't give a crap what kind of tool box or brand of tools you guys own. That's your personal decision. But I stand by what I've said earlier about many employers and what they think. Trust me on this... I talk to many shops in the course of my normal week and we discuss issues like this amongst ourselves.

    Let me ask a question... why should an employer pay top dollar for a 'machinist' if they roll out a Craftsman box with a bunch of crap Chinese measuring tools inside? I know I wouldn't. I'd expect a higher caliber of pride in a machinist's attitude and view towards his occupation.

  19. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by SanDiegoCNC View Post
    Trust me on this...
    No.

  20. #60
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    Well, no matter what. The poor guy who asked about tools is probably fearing getting a job in machining now. Frightened to death that if he doesn't look right, he can't get a job machining. I'm sorry, no matter what somebody might believe. You don't get your first macining job, being the best machinist. Discredit me all you want to SDCNC. I'm confident in my abilities and do not need to prove them to you or anybody else. Thank you for your friendly comments. It appears to me that if anybody who wants to be a machinist by your standards has to go by your route. You are the best and we will all strive to be as good as you. Where I come from, way out here in the midwest, a man is only as good as the work he does. Being from San Diego, I can see that for your neck of the woods. It only has to look good, but then again, it's not going to go into somebody's body, is it?
    Sincerely,
    Eric

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