Thread: First lathe and mill

Hey all, Greetings from the Sunshine Coast.

I've wanted a lathe and mill for a good while now to play around with and make small projects as they came along but could't really justify the outlay and didn't have the room to set them up. I now own and run a small bike shop on the coast and have the room to set up some equipment at home. I'll be making some tools such as bearing press dies that will be used at work. I also plan on making a few other things once i've mastered some skills.

Main thing i am after is a recomendations on what i should get. It's a pretty new world to me and have fairly limited experience but tend to pick skills like this up pretty quikly.
I like the idea of a Mill/ Lathe combination but is that the best way to go? Space and price are of some consideration but useablilty and quality are probably higher up on the list. Here's a few things i have been looking at.

Screen Shot 2016-05-09 at 10.02.11 AM.jpg
K007B | AL-320G Bench Lathe Package, Includes Stand & Tooling | For Sale Sydney Brisbane Melbourne Perth | Buy Workshop Equipment & Machinery online at machineryhouse.com.au
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K147 | TU-2506V-20M Lathe & Mill Drill Combination Package | For Sale Sydney Brisbane Melbourne Perth | Buy Workshop Equipment & Machinery online at machineryhouse.com.au

Weather or not i go the combo machine the lathe is the machine higher up on the priority list.
Thanks in advance for your help.

I would say get a separate lathe and mill.
Get the biggest one you can fit.
you may need to do some long shafts for servicing forks or making long presses, so make sure you have the bead length as well as the fixed and traveling steadies.

Either one of those would be fine for making most of the stuff you would need for push bikes.

(I Worked in bike shops as a mechanic for a good number of years)

I have worked with a combo lathe/mill for a couple of small jobs. My advice would be to stay away from them. The mill has a very limited work envelope. I tried to use it to drill some holes and found that my homemade press for my electric drill was far better and faster.

Dean

Thanks guys, I've been doing a decent amount of Googles and the seperate machines seem to be the go. I looks like a good idea and i wish it worked but seems having the combo compromises a lot on some of the features.

Welcome to the forum.