Thread: Which would you spend more on lathe or mill?

G'day Craig.
Get a lathe first.
You can mill on a lathe but it is bloody hard to turn on a mill.
Go and talk to the boys at Minitech at Brendale on the northside of brisbane.
They specialise in machines for us hobby types and own and play the same toys we play with.
It is a huge bonus to deal with blokes that actually use the products that they sell.

Hi Hux,

How pertinent this is I can't say, but I'll throw it in anyway.
As a Man arts instructor I have access to the lathes and the mill.I would say for my personal projects I would use the lathe ten times more often than I would the mill.
But hey,thats just me.

What are you most involved in? Surely your other hobbies and interests will determine the mode of your machining needs.

My mate is a retired watchmaker who rebuilds heirloom clocks. He makes the tools to cut the clock gears, so a mill is more appropriate for him.

Having said that he owns about five lathes.

Any one looking for a Myford as he has one for sale.

Cheers
Grahame

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

Hi Hux,

How pertinent this is I can't say, but I'll throw it in anyway.
As a Man arts instructor I have access to the lathes and the mill.I would say for my personal projects I would use the lathe ten times more often than I would the mill.
But hey,thats just me.

What are you most involved in? Surely your other hobbies and interests will determine the mode of your machining needs.

My mate is a retired watchmaker who rebuilds heirloom clocks. He makes the tools to cut the clock gears, so a mill is more appropriate for him.

Having said that he owns about five lathes.

Any one looking for a Myford as he has one for sale.

Cheers
Grahame

Just aquired a Myford Super 7 with lots of attachments .
I am looking at the x3 mill that Minitech has on special at the moment,but I think the MFWAF would be rather upset if I went ahead with the purchase just now.

I would go for the lathe first ,as you can get cross slide table vices and other attachmnets that enable you to do milling on the lathe. I would also go for a smaller lather rather than a large one .The smaller lathe will limit the size of the work you can do ,see my reasoning below.

My experience is if you have a large lathe you will end up working or doing jobs for every one else ,taking up your own fun time, and nine times out of ten when you ask for a few bucks to cover costs they baulk at the thought.
I got rid of my large lathe about four years ago and picked up the Myford just in the last couple of weeks ,but only four people in town know I have another lathe,and they are sworn to secrecy.

Don't get me wrong ,I dont mind doing jobs for friends etc , but It became a job rather than a hobby ,I was getting spill over jobs from a local machine shop and was working to midnight a few nights a week .

Hi Hux,
Thanks for the links on the other post, by the way.
I have just gone through this exercise, a couple of weeks ago for the AL-335 and 6 months ago for the HM-45.
IMHO, it is best to consider these purchases separately and not as a pair. You have to decide what you want to do with each machine and choose accordingly. I think spending more on one against the other might lead you to scrimp one way and you may end up regretting it.
It's hard to put in words exactly what I'm getting at, but I hope you get the idea.
I got the HM-45 because it was a gearhead ( fast speed changes)and could be moved around with an engine crane as I might have to do that myself.
I chose the AL-335 over the AL-320 because it had most of the features of the bigger machines for only $1000 more and would do all I needed, and could also move with an engine crane.
I hope this helps.

Hi Hux
Without meaning to sound blunt you are the only one that can answer your question. Are you going to be happy with a smaller machine and will it have the capacity to do the jobs you have planned for it?

The golden rule is you can do a small job on a large machine but not a big job on a small machine. The other issue is are you going to be happy to just plod along taking light cuts or do you want to hog the parts quickly then run a finish cut. Larger machines have more mass so therfore do not suffer the same resonance problems that smaller machines have so good surface finish is easier on a larger machine.

I went in to buy the HM50 and decided that it was too big for me to shift into my shed. I got the HM45 and have wished ever since I had got the HM50 and made the effort to strip it down and transport it.

The previous responses offer good advice so it really is different choices depending on your situation.

Hi all,

I bought a Hafco AL 340A in May 2005 after considering pretty much what others have considered on this forum. One thing I wanted was a foot brake, plus it came with coolant and a light (some of the smaller ones didn't).

It was a right so & so to move, had a local bloke with forks on a bobcat move it and I used an engine crane and trolley jack to position it and place the cast iron feet I made at TAFE. My TAFE teacher lent me a machine level (8" Starrett).

November 2005 I went to the Sydney H & F sale day and bought an HM 50. Saved a bit on the standard price, but also figured that it came with features and tooling that would be extra on a smaller mill, so the difference in price wasn't that great. My only gripe is that the belts need moving to change speeds. BTW try not to buy a round column mill.

Remember to allow for tooling $$$.

I get the impression that some small and cheap lathes may require much fettling (see Yahoo groups lathe sites). I guess you get what you pay for - but like most here on the forum I can't spend 15 to 20 K on a lathe!

Regards,

Richard

Hi Hux, I dont know your needs but I will tell you what I would be thinking

I go for the bigger is better theory, I don't know anyone with large machines so it's very difficult for me to borrow machine time if I can't make do on my own. Because of that I bought machines that would do most conceivable projects- so I got both a large lathe and mill.

Tooling was initially an issue for me but I had all the basics and built it up as I needed. This let me spend the money on the machines - you always find the money for tooling here or there. It's much easier to buy a good internal threading tool then to upgrade to a larger lathe. You can always grind your own bits rather than buy indexable tooling at first. All these things can add up to reasonable amounts of money.

I didn't actually need that much tooling but if I remember the list of things I *might* have needed(my wish list) I would have spent a lot of money on things I wouldn't have used yet

Is there an opportunity to buy a largeer lathe now and wait until the funds become available for a larger mill? I would think about that. For me, I use the lathe more than the mill but it is not a nice thought to be without one for the times I do need it.

Re the question of a larger lathe+ small mill or vice versa - thats a more interesting one. For me I would have to think about that.. I would probably be swayed by a larger lathe and small mill if I needed to. I think the small mill could handle a bunch of reasonable sized work where the lathe would run in to limitations for me a lot quicker.

At the end of the day, its really tough to say what you need as I don't know what you do, what sized pieces you work with, etc, etc.

My final advise is to get the larger of both with limited tooling, or only the lathe up front.

Disclaimer - I dont know what you do so this advice is only really relevant to me

Jason

Oh yeah, one more piece of advise re woodlee's comment.

I don't mind doing the odd bit for a friend and some things can be time consuming. Most people have no idea how much work goes in to a simple piece which needs to be turned or milled. They usually think because it's small that it is both quick and cheap.

I always show them the pricelist and explain that for many pieces of stock there are minimum lengths to purchase it in, E.g. 5m for alu tube or 100mm for solid > 100mm diameter etc. I don't like to use my own because that usually costs me more than I gave it away for when I have to replace it. Sometimes this puts them off without going any further

The other thing is to keep them there for company when you do it. Don't let them drop it off and come back after they have gone out in the boat or to the game etc, etc.. If I am going to spend 3 hours in the workshop for a favor and not get paid for it then they are not going to have any fun either

Of course I don't make them stay all the time but it does give my mates an appreciation of what they are really asking me to do in terms of a time commitment.

One guy thought that $45 would be good amount for a part he needed done. I made him stay through the work, after $30 materials and four hours work he didn't feel so generous for giving me $3.75 per hour .


Anyway, do stuff for friends, make sure they know whats involved and don't get a small lathe based on the above only.

Jason

Thanks all for the replies. Certainly gives more to think about.
Thinking more about what the max capacity I may want is probably essential. That said I don't have 3 phase so ex commercial gear is highly unlikely - unless I find an extremely cheap Bridgeport and use a VFD
I think the AL335 will be the lathe for me - reasonable capacity without being over the top and still will not chew up too much room in the shed.

I'm going to have a look into this later in the week
http://www.shawmachinery.com.au/Mill...XRXMD45XL.html and
http://www.shawmachinery.com.au/Lath...AXRX1236A.html

Being in Brisbane will make it achievable depending on the $$ factor as it seems to be essentially a HM45 with coolant and power feed plus a heavy cast stand. Always worth a drive to have a look anyway and gets me out in the air away from my study. If anyone is interested I can advise what their pricing structure is like on lathes and mills as well.
The lathe appears to be the AL335 equivalent