I've been thinking about my long term goals in life lately, and I have decided that I need to set up a budget, and plan for what I want if I ever intend to get it. I would like to start saving up to buy tools and equipment for a legitimate workshop.

Some of the tools I'm thinking would be necessary, at least for a good foundation, are as follows:

• Lathe
• Mill
• Welders(TIG and MIG)
• Cutting torches
• Plazma cutter
• Car Lift
• Big compressor
• Horizontal band saw.

Does anyone see anything major not listed?

Does anyone have any recommendations of equipment to look for? Features? $$$ to spend?

I've been piddling on fleabay and see Milling machines starting (used) at about $1275, so I'm figuring 6-7K for something accurate and reliable,

I know prices fluctuate over time, so I'm really just trying to get a ballpark figure to run off of. so I can start setting goals to achieve.

All thoughts are appreciated.

-Eric

 

I'm not sure on what work your looking at focusing on, or the genres of work you may do to suggest some specialized equipment. With that being said however, I would say you biggest restrictions limiting equipment would be your power. I couldn't advise on this however i will give you an idea of what i can do and without knowing your skills just give you a basic rundown.

You can have a look at some of my work in this thread https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fabr...ls1-third.html

All on single phase 240vac 15amp lines.
Structural Welding (larger than 6.35mm-1/4") - 275amp GMAW/MIG welder - 100% penetration on 10mm, can do 12mm-1/2" thick if prepared (i.e. v butt welds, corner fillet weld,etc..)
Light Sheet Metal Welding - 210amp GMAW/MIG
Aluminum & Most Metals - 275amp GMAW/200amp TIG, even tho aluminum's melting point is much much lower than that of mild steel, it takes much much more heat to weld with a fine point of precision, this will test your power source). For quick or non visible/pretty aluminum welding the GMAW/MIG is used.
Brazing - Oxygen + Acetylene

This pretty much covers all the welding you'd generally ever do. Its all well and good to have the equipment, but you need to have a good understanding of the process involved to troubleshoot and make setting up a lot easier. If your going to do lots of welding i'd advise doing a short course to learn the skill (again based on not knowing your skill set).

Machining - I have a 352mm swing x 1000mm x 40mm bore lathe, its a Chinese unit however it does the job very well and not a cheap Chinese unit. It has a digital readout, plus all the additional gears for thread cutting. I also have the same brand turret mill to match, again i couldn't afford to spend 15k on a very nice bridgeport. It does the job well for a s/h used and abused unit, generally get within 0.005mm accuracy. I also have a small 400x400 Surface grinder to complement these.

For cutting the large stock for the large (40mm/50mm+ solid pipe) i use a horizontal bandsaw, its great but only for cutting thick or large steel. If your doing lots of cutting of little items, i'd recommend a vertical bandsaw, however be careful to keep your fingers. Usually have about 5 or 6 different grinders and such, also have a 40 amp plasma cutter which is fantastic for cutting upto 8mm plate, you can cut 10mm but its pushing it, really requires a 50amp for clean cuts in 10mm. I've also got a guillotine for sheet metal upto 1.6mm thick and use a Magnabend 1000 to bend upto 4mm plate without slitting. Look the benders up if you can source one, they are extremely good and more effective benders than your traditional pan brakes and allow for more shapes in the one item.

Good milling machines you can expect to pay s/h from $400+ , it just depends what people are willing to sell it for. But over here in the land of the kangaroo, for about $10-15k, you can get setup a quite decent workshop, that's smart purchasing s/h equipment (welders, mill + lathe and other items).
If your buying new equipment, its extremely expensive to buy lots of good items.

Also keep in mind, things advance a lot with technology, tig welders now having hf start, not more touch starts etc.. Mig welders such as the T&R having pulse mig or P-GMAW, its a pulsing effect on the weld that gives a weld bead the same appearance as that of TIG welding (row of dimes) less warp and other advantages too.

Simple tools like Rivnuts make inserting threads into steel a breeze, if you don't want nuts falling out or isn't vital to your life (perhaps seat bolts) these are quick and great solution to not having to welding nuts or thicker metal in.

So it all comes back to what you want to achieve, what work you want to do. Much of the equipment you will accrue over the course of years otherwise the costs could be hazardous to imagine. You need to look carefully at items and determine the junk from the good, find yourself reputable sellers who test and guarantee their equipment before you purchase it. You can easily spend lots of money buying stuff, the main thing is being smart in your purchases.

Best of luck

 

A good bench grinder comes in handy for me.

 

Vertical band saw
Large disk sander
Large belt sander
Sand blast cabinet
Welding table
Good large work bench

The list can go on forever

 

Id rate a good MIG welder as #1 for a heavy tool in terms of uses per year. After that a good compressor. If you keep a decent stock of metal or do more than one exhaust fab, Id suggest a metal bandsaw. Grab a stand up drill press while you're at it

Lathe and mill are expensive from the start, take up ALOT of space and require a unique set of skills to operate. Id put these at the end of your list

 

I have a 220V Lincoln MIG already back home. I would like to upgrade to something a little bigger in the future. same goes for my compressor. I need to rebuild/replace my old drillpress, as it has a little bit of runout at the chuck.

a metal bandsaw would definitely be a good one to add, both vertical and horizontal. a tubing bender was another tool to come up that would be a good one to add.

Very true. I'm currently active duty military, and intend to use my GI bill benefits for school to learn how to use the equipment.


LSX_SS

your build is pretty intense, I've been keeping tabs on it regularly, looking good so far.

I've been welding for a few years now, but no professional training, I've been asking about an Emergancy Nuclear Welder training program that should be available to me just before I go to my first boat. I've heard a few stories about the training being pretty intense, and very good too.

I've been looking into second hand equipment to build a budget off of. I plan to add 20% to whatever figure I come up with to account for price fluctuations.

right now, I'm just working on a plan. Money is the biggest part that I'm trying to work out right now. I've also been working on designing the shop space to make the best use of space.

 

Most horizontal bandsaws cant be opened to a vertical position, so it only requires a base plate to make a vertical version