Papakeith said:
Regarding the 3 in 1 machines. For the money spent they don't seem to be as bad as you all seem to make them. Am I missing something here? Is it possible to get a usable Mill for similar money? I'm not looking to repair anything. I want to set up and go.
Papakeith.
I have to agree with everyone here on the 3 in 1 machines. A couple friends of mine have them and they only use them for drill presses now.
They are very limited in size. There is not very much travel on the beds and like Kiwi said, not much room between the bed and vertical chuck. Only good for very small parts.
May I recommend that you try to find someone selling an old American made mill and lathe. These are available through the recycler or maybe that online auction site. I purchased an old Index mill several years ago for $1,100.00. It belonged to an old machinest that took very good care of it. My first lathe was an old Logan that I paid about $ 600.00 for. Still use it today. I upgraded to a larger, brand new Aisian built lathe a few years ago but, my old American made lathe holds a closer tolerance. Many of the smaller lathes are 110V also.
If you find one, inspect it closely. You can usually tell the condition of a lathe by looking at the way's. Are they clean or do they have a bunch of nicks in them from abuse. Same with a mill. Look at the table. Operator abuse will show up here.
Most mills are 220V and many of them are 3 phase. If you have a dryer outlet in your house, it should be 220V and you could wire it off of that. If you find a mill that is 3 phase, you can buy a phase converter to run it off of single phase. You can usually find a 3 phase machine for less money than a single phase one since most people don't have 3 phase power.
If you are mostly interested in learning and making chips, an older machine may be the way to go. If you get serious about it you can always upgrade later and sell your old machine for at least what you paid for it.
Just my $ .02
Ol'89r
