SpudFiles

Should I get this mill/lathe/drill?
I might get it in august if I start saving now and don't get a job, or get it in a couple of months if I do get a job.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=46199
If I do get it I will be making some pretty cool stuff.

Wow! I didnt know they had those I was going to get either a mill,lathe, or drill press but that looks like a killer deal!

Theres alot of custom machining you can do to a spudgun and make it look all custom and stuff.

Hahm ya I was thinking of all kinds of stuff to make.
Hmm, prop guns for me and my bros low budget movies, umm, Paint ball gun mods, airsoft gun mods, and jst make cool objects.

Yeah I was debating on one of those and it was going to be tough to decide on just one or two but that looks good!

Research. [mini-lathe.com, littlemachineshop.com, people that own such equipment (ME!), etc]

Prior to purchasing my lathe, I put in tons of research. Simply because its a several hundred dollar purchase, including tooling. [$650 for me]

The simple problem with combo machines, is work space. If your milling a fairly large item, you may not be able to because of the chuck. The height adjustment when it comes to milling is simply ineffective. It moves the spindle out, instead of moving the whole body. Two problems, typically these combos use essentially a drill press for the milling, and if you spindle is extended its going to exert great pressures on the spindle shaft. A drill press spindle isn't built for heavy loads perpendicular to its typical vertical travel. Eventually your shaft will spin off center, especially considering that the spindle shaft has to be lowered out of its housing. If I recall correctly also that lathe does not have a auto carriage feed, a really nice feature.

I've read, and am a member of several hobbyist machinist forums, and groups. The word of mouth over in those places is strongly "combos suck!"

I'm currently researching my next buy, a vertical mini mill. Once you start getting closer into buying the actual thing, contact me, or notify of a thread pertaining to your refinement of decision. I have much advice to offer on different sizes, tooling, technique, etc.

Thanks pimp,so it would be better do just get a mill not a combo?
Thats not a problem because I have a drill press and have access to a lathe.

What ever you get I’ve got a job for you

Lol!

Yes, I'd advise that the mill, and lathe be separate machines.

I'm currently in the purchase of the mill as I said before. So if you shot me a IM I could help you. I think most of the problems lay in the $200+ of tooling, and problems I here with the machine it self. Backlash and such, so installing some means of DRO [Digital Read-Out] can fix that problem.

BlueTooth, in the future lets not waste a post on 'lol'. Shoot for something higher, and informative then 3 letters.