How far would you take it buying tools/machinery ?

[Belgian1979vette]

Reason is i could buy some machinery at a decent price, what I'm aiming at is :
- mill
- lathe
- a machine that can grind flat surfaces like shims

I've alway dreamt of building my own race car, purely for racing on a nearby
F1 racetrack.

:skeptic: that is after i finish the vette :smash:

 

[Twin_Turbo]

I'm looking for a decent priced mill & lathe too but i want gear driven, not belt and most fo them have too much slack in the bearings and are just plain worn out. It's quite costly rebuilding the recirculating ball auto feeder and gearbox. I refuse to buy chinese junk.

You should try to get your hands on machinery that used to belong to technical schools, that stuff is always maintained very well.

 

[BBShark]

Old machinery, like a knee mill or lathe that is a reputable brand can last a lifetime. That's the way things used to be made. Old far east copies of mills and lathes are usually worn out and can't really be rebuilt (or are not worth it).

Before buying equipment like this, take a look at what tooling will cost. Sometimes that can cost you as much as the machine. For instance, I dont think you can buy an angle lock vice for less than $500 and that's just to hold onto the part.

 

[Belgian1979vette]

Any brands in particular ?

For lathes i was looking at TOS, for a mill at Deckel

 

[Twin_Turbo]

TOS = Chech stuff but good quality. The small Celtic ones are nice for home stuff. Buddy of mine has one, works like a champ.

 

[BBShark]

Deckel is a good mill. Tons (literally) of them are out there so servicing should not be a problem.

 

[GTR1999]

For vettes and general machining I use a KO Lee surface grinder, Bridgeport mills, (1) with a J head and (1) 2J head, Hardinge Lathe and SouthBend 10K tool room lathe. These were the backbone of American machine shops the past 60 years but now sad to say most are gone. A lot of the used machines here are being sold to countries outside of the USA now, a lot to South America, India, etc. These are very good machines and will do anything you want with them for a vette. Like a vette they have to be checked out good prior to buying, a lot of dealers could double for used car lots!

 

[Belgian1979vette]

Well Garry that is some pretty nice setup. Hope to get that far one day to.