Ready to take the plumge !!

[Jimk 33131]

I have my own shop and I am setup to do electronics and I did clock repairs but now
thanks to my good friend Don 1966 I am hooked on model engines , I am working on
my second build I am ready to order some tools for my shop , should I get a mill or
a lathe wondering which I should get first , since I am rather inexperenced I would
like some advice from some of you guys . Newbe in waiting!!!!

 

[ShedBoy]

Get the lathe. You can do milling on a lathe with some attachments. Get a face plate too as these are a marvelous thing once you start using them. There is a thread around somewhere with a good list of things needed.

Brock

 

[Rayanth]

Jim,

I very recently struggled with these decisions myself and was given a ton if valuable advice from the forum. Look for my thread 'taking the plunge' in the questions and answers sub forum.

You can also look up my post 'Newbie shop' in the shop sub forum to see my decision and setup.

One key thing to keep in mind - a good mill is easy more expensive to tool up than a lathe, and to get a mill to do lathe type work is more expensive still.

Please read the first thread I mentioned to get all of the great advice I have already been given.

And whatever you choose, enjoy! And post pictures!

- Ryan

 

[smfr]

I had this quandary too, and chose to get a used Emco which is both a lathe and mill. These come up on eBay/Craigslist from time to time, for example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/310404543459 and http://www.ebay.com/itm/150844660328

Avoid the Chinese-made lathe/mill combos where the milling head is at the same end as the lathe headstock; you'll never have enough space to work and do setups.

I'm pretty happy with my older Emco, which looks like this:


The major annoyances are that the milling table is deep, rather than wide, so there's very little room to set up something like a rotary table. Also, changing between milling and turning requires changing setups, and it uses an odd-sized spindle thread (Myford-style 1 1/8" 12TPI).

Simon