That new-to-me lathe is costing me a lot!

[Downeaster]

Not being fond of walking back and forth between shops, I've ordered seconds of dial indicator, parallels, 123 blocks, some machinable copper round stock to make a machinists hammer (Wholly BAT, shitman, copper is expensive!) a machinist's protractor and the precision level.

As soon as a couple of people that owe me pay up, I'll be getting a micrometer too. Now that I can actually turn to .001 tolerance, the vernier calipers aren't going to get it done any more.

 

[gggGary]

for 95% of what you'll be doing, a quality digital caliper will be more than enough. Metric wiithout doing math a bonus.

I scored a nice older Mitutoyo from a retired machinist. The display digits are a bit small and dim but It's my goto.

 

[Wingedwheel]

My Mitutoyo works beautifully but likes to drain the batteries if I leave them in it when not using it however my Cen-Tec(HF) keeps on pluggin along and comparing the two they are spot on with each other.

 

[atom4488]

Fortunately for us, digital precision instruments have become readily available, accurate and super cheap. My Mitutoyo does the same thing; it somehow drains its batteries when being stored for lengthier periods. I'll look for a cheapie soon.

@DE, I've found lots of high-quality used machine shop tooling, supplies, instruments etc on Marketplace, mostly dirt cheap because most folks don't buy that sort of stuff. Have a look, you might be surprised what you find.

 

[Downeaster]

The old Seneca Falls just went down the road. Some feller drove 3 hours from Augusta getting here after 6PM to grab it.

The cash from that transaction will be turned into a 4" mill vise for my benchtop mill and maybe a set of ER32 collet blocks and collets. Vise has been ordered, still contemplating the collets. Not sure how much I'd use them, I mostly work on bigger stuff and they only go up to 13/16ths.

Input from other home shop machinists on how useful they are is invited.