Reddit reviews InDicol #178 Universal Indicator Holder w/ 0-12" Reach or Longer

> It may all be junk

If it works, and you don't have something better, then it's good enough. You don't need name brand anything, particularly when you're starting out. If you find something isn't up to snuff, replace it when you actually need to.

> A bunch of the tooling (mostly the taps) have some rust

If it's just surface rust then don't worry about it too much. If it doesn't rub off by hand, don't go making matters worse by trying to "polish" it with anything aggressive. Just add a light coating of a thin oil to stop it from rusting more. Taps, drills and the like are considered consumables. Properly cared for they can certainly last for years but if you are using them, eventually you'll need to replace them.

> Some end mills are obviously chipped, but otherwise I'm not sure how to tell which are sharp vs. not. Is it as easy as "this cutting edge looks dull"?

Pretty much yeah; although you don't usually need "razor" sharp; and in fact some materials cut better with a slightly dulled edge (brass comes to mind). Don't worry too much about discoloration from heat either unless it's real bad. A light tan on HSS tooling that's been put to use isn't a big deal but if its closer to dark brown / blueish / purply (and you're positive it's not coated or have carbide) then it's probably shot.

> Where do people get raw stock?

Depends on the project. If Its something that needs to look pretty I'll get fresh material from somewhere. If it's just a few pieces I might go online (Metals Depot usually isn't bad on pricing but it depends on what you can get locally). If I need a lot (weight wise) I'll call up some of the local fab shops and see if they have drops or will let me add onto an order of theirs for a discount.

If it's something that looks don't matter (for myself, structural etc) I'll troll the local metal salvage yard. Price per pound they can't be beat and you can get some crazy stuff you wouldn't otherwise be able. The downside is it's a lot of work and very inconsistent. When I make the trip out I tend to grab things I don't actively need but think I might at some point (case in point, I had about 150lbs of 2" plate sitting in my pile for almost 2 years before I found a use for it, but had I needed to buy it "new" it would have been prohibitively expensive).

> What kind of material should I start with.

Whatever is cheap that gets you comfortable with the equipment. Unless you're working on a project that calls for the "good" stuff, the cheapest simple mild steels and aluminum will be your bread and butter. Brass is also very easy to work with but tends to be more expensive (local market dependent of course). You could also look into various machining plastics (Delrin, hdpe, uhmwpe ec) but not having bought any myself I don't know how those run price wise.

Tool steels (O1, A2, S1 yadda yadda) are nice in that you can make your own tooling with it, but unless you ALSO happen to have a heat-treating oven that can reach and hold +/- 1800F you're having to farm out the heat treat to another shop; and sadly it's usually more cost effective (both time and money) to buy what you need; unless you love the "I made it" aspect.

Before you get too heavily invested materials wise you need to research appropriate feeds and speeds for your tooling and material. There is a decent amount of "wiggle" in what you should be running at, almost an art in knowing how to adjust for your exact piece of material and tools but it's a critical bit of knowledge if you expect to get a decent quality finish without a lot of manual sanding and polishing.

> anything else critical that I'm missing

I didn't see an indicol (offbrand is fine so long as it fits your gear) in your pictures but I could have missed it. You'll need an appropriate indicator as well. You'll need those to accurately tram your head in (making sure it's perpindicular to your table) as well as indicating your vises in (parallel to your tables axis). You can work around it, and indicate other ways but you'll (eventually) need the indicators anyways and the indicols themselves are useful in other ways.

I would get an indicol holder like this for a bridgeport.