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Thread: New guy
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8th Dec 2018, 01:15 AM #1Intermediate Member
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New guy
Hi,
i have just joined, and to be honest, down have a huge amount of experience with fitting Turning. My main passion is restoring classic bikes. I have a Hafco AL50G lathe,
a Hafco HM10 small mill/drill, a decent size drill press and have just acquired a herless SM1 vertical mill. Dont ask me why but i have.
Anyway, I am thinking thati would be best served by selling them and buying or swapping them for a combination lathe /mill .
I am short on space and dont use them a lot.
Any advice on these much appreciated
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8th Dec 2018, 06:52 AM #2Philomath in training
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- Norwood-ish, Adelaide
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Unless you really have to, I would say don't.
For starters, you are unlikely to get anything close to replacement cost for your existing machines, so if you decided in a few years time that you did need them after all, you would be considerably out of pocket.
The next point is that combination machines always involve some compromise in design to get everything to fit with a reasonable work envelope. That translates for the user into something that is not quite as good as separate machines would be. If you were only doing small, light cuts, that would not be so bad but as soon as you want to remove relatively large amounts of metal it will likely be slower and not give you as good results. People still buy them and get acceptable results but they haven't pushed comparable separate machines to extinction yet...
Michael
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8th Dec 2018, 08:59 AM #3Most Valued Member
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Welcome to the forum! Combination machines are total junk, you would be better just keeping two of your four current machines. I'd probably lose the drill press and HM10.
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8th Dec 2018, 09:13 AM #4Most Valued Member
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8th Dec 2018, 09:21 AM #5Intermediate Member
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- Dec 2018
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Thanks for your views, I think the best way to go would be to keep the lathe and turn the big mill, drill press and small mill drill into a decent mid size mill drill bench mounted?
One of the drivers is lack of space .
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8th Dec 2018, 12:21 PM #6Most Valued Member
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Probably above all else id keep the sm1, Its a lot more capable than the other two and not that big. you could maybe build that and the lathe onto a tight little bench to save space.
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8th Dec 2018, 02:32 PM #7Intermediate Member
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- Dec 2018
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- Perth, West Australia
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sm1.JPGThis is my problem
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8th Dec 2018, 02:47 PM #8Most Valued Member
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- Murray Bridge S Aust.
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Hi and Welcome to a TOP FORUM.
Your problem is easily solved, get some pallet racking and make a few frames to hold the bikes, then get a walkie stacker and stack the bikes on top of each other!!! If you sell a machine, you'll wish that you hadn't, the monetary loss etc. Do you have any GOOD friends close by that are into the same thing as you, could they store/use the machine???
You are not alone in the shortage of space, it's everyones problem. No matter how big a shed you have, it's never big enough.
KrynTo grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
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8th Dec 2018, 02:58 PM #9Senior Member
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- Nov 2010
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- Frankston south
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I know WA is on the other side of oz to where I am, but I didn't realise pictures have a different orientation..............Keep the SM1
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8th Dec 2018, 03:01 PM #10Senior Member
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- Rockhampton, QLD
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Welcome to the forum.
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8th Dec 2018, 04:48 PM #11Most Valued Member
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- Healesville
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It is this simple, you need to get a mrs with more money and get a bigger shed, or if the shed is connected to the house you could knock a hole thru the wall into a bedroom, or lounge room, it doesn't matter, if the mrs complains get a new one
I had 28 or so pommie and usa bikes and had to sell them when we had the "recession that we had to have" to feed kids and pay bills..... yeah it hurt.
cheers, shed
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8th Dec 2018, 10:23 PM #12
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10th Dec 2018, 10:00 PM #13Senior Member
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- Perth
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Space is a problem we all have when starting out. I had one of those combi machines, served its purpose as a starter, while doing a m achining course at TAFE, and learning on bigger 3 phase lathes, i sold it to a fellow student and bought a bigger machine. Like you, have bugger all room to move, Dragon has her car on one side of the garage, me on the other. Bit the bullet and built another shed that backs onto the existing garage.
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11th Dec 2018, 08:50 PM #14Senior Member
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- Jul 2007
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- Perth
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Hi Johnny,
As others have mentioned, keep the SM1 its quite a capable and versatile little machine and if fitted with a VFD more so, it was one of the first milling machines I had. As for space no real suggestions apart from what has been said, long span shelving is readily available at reasonable prices, several sellers in the Welshpool area. Alan.
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11th Dec 2018, 11:59 PM #15Intermediate Member
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- Dec 2018
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- Perth, West Australia
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Well, I did suggest to SWMBO that she could park her can on the street, I could then park mine in the drive and hey presto! problem solvered. She did quite see it that way and declined my problem solving offer.