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Chris.s.
10th Jul 2005, 06:01 PM
Hello, I found this forum while searching for information on lathes today, so I thought I would get it straight from the horses mouth. Has anyone had any experience/opinions on the combination lathes/mills that are avaliable for around $1500. I am keen to get into machining at home nothing to heavy. Also are there any short courses provided in the Sydney area for basic machining?

Cheers Chris

HavinaGo
11th Jul 2005, 02:13 PM
Chris,

I'm no expert but the combination machines would be low on my list of priorities. This is mainly due to the lack of a decent sized table for drilling/milling and concerns about rigidity .. does depend on the construction of the combination machine.

Got to say the small lathes, with screw cutting gears for metric and imperial seem a nice compromise (AL-50 at Hare Forbes), so long as I remember theri limits .. lack of back gear is a pest. The medium size machines look promising but I'm put off by the lack of imperial and metric thread cutting so that takes me to the AL-300/330 or 340 which are more likely to be out of budget .. bother! Anyone with experience of these?

... I've not seen a small mill/drill that meets my requirements exactly but the bigger HM-30 looks usable even if a bit big.

Hope that helps

Ashore
11th Jul 2005, 11:46 PM
A lot of ships built in Japan up to the 90's had combi units lathe with a drill , miller and some even ahad a shaper. These gave you all the machines in a single package. Problem they usually only let you use one thing at a time , being the only drill when someone was turning posed a problem
They also had limited speeds and speed changes were not always user friendly espically with imperial thread cutting
Other wise I can see no major problem for a single operator , as long as the motor is big enough and the cost is right. They will proberly not be as good as indivudial units but how good do you personally need






Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.

rodm
12th Jul 2005, 11:40 AM
I had the AL-280P combination for a couple of years and it was great as a lathe. Milling was very limited to samll jobs and it was prone to chatter.
I always thought it was my lack of skill that caused the problem but when I got a second hand RF-31 mill it made a huge difference to my finish.

The small mills can shape up aluminium or small modeling jobs but not useful for anything serious. The general consensus on Machining Forums is the X3 is the entry level and bigger (meaning heavier and more rigid) machines are preferred. I would only go one of the smaller mills if I was going to experiement with CNC. This is based on the lower cost of ball screws and components for these units. There is some great home made units out there and kits for these are much easier to obtain.

I have the AL330A lathe and at 400kg it is a heavy beast. I shifted it from the ute to the shed and it took about a week for my back to recover. I did use a chain hoist to lift it onto the stand though. The lathe is perfect for me and because of the weight and power it can really hog out swarf by the bucket load. The geared head is very convenient as this saves changing gear wheels but it does generate a lot more noise which is particularly noticeable at night. Because of the noise and the close proximity of my neighbours to my shed I got an additional lathe, the AL50-GA which is a belt drive but much smaller lathe. Can't understand it but SWMBO said at this point no more lathes or metal thingies in the shed. :o
I actually prefer to work on the smaller lathe as I can feel what is happening whereas the larger machine just bullies it way along.

I have related this so you can see what happens if you make the wrong decisions. My decisions were made out of ignorance as I was new machining but as so many have said on this forum get the best you can afford otherwise you will be left wishing you had. Combination machines are fine for small jobs but there are always compromises with this type of machine.

The first thing you should think about is what am I going to use a lathe and mill for. This will determine the size of the job and from there choose the machine/s you need. A frequently asked question in machining forums is what can I make with my new lathe. More often than not the lathe will only make a component of a finished article and unless you know the direction you are heading trying to fit a lathe into your shed activities could be a dissapointment.

Tooling is a huge expense and if you intend to use the machines to their capacity then expect to pay as much for tooling as you do on the original purchase price of the machines. My wish list is still long. Steel and alloys cost an arm and leg these days so collect any solid material you see and become friends with a scrap metal yard.

There is a bit of a negative tone to my response but this is not intended to put you off but rather more to make you aware of what I have experienced. There is a big market for second hand machines and my AL-280P was sold for alomst as much as it cost me so there should not be a high risk if you want to experiement.

If you want any metalworking links or specific detail on the machines I have then just ask.

Chris.s.
12th Jul 2005, 01:07 PM
Thanks for your replies, its as i suspected it would be a comprimise but perhaps one that still meets my requirments at first anyway, my shed is small and already crowded so space is an issue, plus i rent so it may not be a long term installation, so weight is also an issue. I know whatever i get sooner or later i would be wishing i got the next model up.

Cheers Chris

cookeg
12th Jul 2005, 04:44 PM
Hi Chris,

These machines are quite cheap on ebay. Make sure you go and see the machine or similiar before you buy though. I was recently looking for a lathe and the lathe/mill combination sounded great. When I went to hare & forbes I was very dissapointed. They are considerably smaller than they look in the pics. It became quite obvious that for my needs I would need something considerably larger. I ended up buying a Sheraton in good nick for less money. At 1300kg+ I doubt it would be the ideal machine for your purposes though. I then brought a vertical mill slide and this combination meets my needs.

Cheers,
Garry