Tools you shouldn't have bought

[Holescreek]

I am a tool junkie. I have to fight myself everytime I receive the machinery catalogs.

I get bummed out when the catalogs arrive. There's nothing left in them that I want. -Mike

 

[shred]

I no one think i am need 100% happy with band saws you no i have a love hate relation ship with them to get them to cut straight i swear you can spend a live time trying and adjusting it a tool that seem to take a lot of maintenance. I confess i am bit of a tool junkie how ever shred i would respectively dis agree with you on the new vs Sb I have both Sb and the china brands and there is no way to compare the Sb is hands down far better then the china brand

I agree a decent SB is a better machine (though this topic is approaching one of the major forum no-nos). I still prefer the feel of my wobbly old 1936 Sheldon to a brand new, far more precise, 12x36. But my point is any working lathe, even a cheap one, is far far better for a newbie that wants to make things than the nicest SB that needs a few parts and pieces oh and a total rebuild just to turn a part or waiting a year or more to turn up ready-to-run at a reasonable price. If they discover they aren't serious, they're only out $400 if they pitch a 7x into the lake instead of reselling it. If they are serious, they'll burn through far more than $400 worth of tooling, time and stock learning what they need to know to appreciate a bigger machine when one does turn up.

 

[kustomkb]

The only times I have regretted buying tools is when I cheaped out on quality thinking "I'll only need it once"

Well the quality ensures there won't be a second time! :-[

 

[rleete]

Shred, I hear ya. I would have loved a nice full sized lathe. But money dictated getting a chinese machine or rebuilding an old workhorse. That would have resulted in never making anything and a partially disassembled old lathe. This way, I'm at least learning to use something.

Maybe after I get some experience, I'll find and restore an older, larger lathe. For a first timer, it's probably a better choice to get a cheap-o that runs. I have no illusions that there are better machines out there, and have no problem with criticisms of the cheaper lathes, mills, etc. Hey, you get what you pay for. But it works out of the box, and sometimes that is more important than absolute accuracy.

 

[Stan]

I have many tools sitting in boxes that have never been used but I wouldn't say I shouldn't have bought them. If you can buy ten new endmills from Boeing for $5.00, why wait until you need one. When you need it, one import costs that much and is of lower quality. Almost all of my Starrett measuring tools and most of my tooling came from yard sales. flea markets or surplus stores, not when I needed it, but when it was available at the right price.

 

[John S]

Round here it's know as Magpie Fever

JS.