Lathe, mill, drill - any good

[Boy from Oz]

After 9 months of planning I am just about to start my 240z, LS1-T56, 250 GTO, project. I have been slowly building up my resources; mig, etc, and was looking at a pedestal drill when I came across this.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/500MM-BC-LATHE-DRILL-MILL-COMBINATION-MACHINE-NEW_W0QQitemZ250037095734QQihZ015QQcategoryZ105827QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Does anyone use something like this? I thinking that is might be a good investment right at the start of a project. It's Aussie dollars, equal to about $US900. Thanks

[Guest Mike]

Looks like fun:D

[Pop N Wood]

Harbor Freight sells similar units for less. It would be nice to have something like that. I also would like to hear from someone who has one.

 

My drill press has been pretty useful for my LS swap, and I did have to pay a machine shop $50 USD to machine down an alternator bracket. Such a rig would be a "nice to have" tool, but not absolutely necessary.

[Boy from Oz]

Yes, it's was those little $50 here and $70 there that I was thinking add up to making this a good investment, to say nothing of those frustrating hold-ups because something just doesn't fit.

 

The capabilities look reasonable but I'm just not sure. Even if someone has just seen one, your comments would be appreciated.

[defrag010]

I use a lathe at work to polish camshafts, and an offset capable lathe w/ counterweights to grind on crankshafts.. and it's one of those tools that is nice to have and make an investment on if you do alot of fabrication every day. If you are just getting it for this project, you won't need it and it will not be an investment or pay for itself if you won't use it much outside of the car project.

I thought about getting a lathe a while back, but for the infrequency that I need to use one for my personal stuff, I just decided to save the money and do whatever I need at work.

[Rumnhammer]

I have a Smithy that is very similar to that, and it is very useful has saved my ass a few times with my current RB swap and I've made quite a few things with it. The pro's will poo poo on it saying that 3 in 1 machines suck, but screw them, these machines work just fine for the hobbiest. They save room and are cost effective for the occational user, which I am and most of the people that buy them are. Why buy a 20K dollar bridgeport if you only do the odd peice now and then?

Chris Rummel

[BRAAP]

The Smithy is a decent unit with good accuracy for the hobbyist doing small projects, as rumnhammer stated. The Smithy will allow the operator to build some pretty high tech and high quality one off parts. You are only limited by your imagination.

 

Whatever you do, do NOT buy the Harbor Freight version, or ANY of the Harbor freight machine equipment. Ask any self respecting machinist what he/she would use for the type of projects you have in mind, even go to a few production and custom machine shops and ask the guys running the equipment.

 

If you are serious about custom fabrication and want to go further than just building just a couple of brackets here and there, enroll in a machine shop class. Things like feeds and speeds, cutter designs, angles, are important things to understand. You’ll learn how to properly machine different materials and to achieve longer cutter life, finish quality etc.

[blueovalz]

This is almost identical to one that Grizzly offers.

[73ZCAR]

Looks a little pricey to me.

 

Search google for ENCO and look at their small lathes and drill presses.

 

I'm pretty sure for around 6-700.00 you could find similar capabilities.

 

Mike.

[BlackBeaut]

From my experience of owning a Warco branded version I'd have to say NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

To clarify that a bit more, the lathe element is fine, although missing useful features for easing thread cutting. The mill attachment is absolutely fecking useless!! For a start it's so far off the lathe slide bed that you need to buy a riser block just to get your work close enough and the lathe slide bed is far to small to easily clamp decent pieces too and has limit motion. I've had to replace the mill head on mine as the casting that forms the quill clamp cracked so I couldn't lock the quill in place so when milling anything the quill just judders up and down so I couldn't get a flat cut. The system used to raise the mill head up and down and clamp it in place is pretty useless and even when you think you've got it solidly clamped if you push the cutter a little too much then it can grab the metal and loosen the whole mill head leaving a lovely big gouge in your metal. I've recently been trying to cut a 12mm wide slot with mine and got this sort of result:

That was with a 1mm depth of cut, so I had to go backwards and forwards 30 times to get through that bar. I'm now going to have to repeat that job using a 3/8" cutter, and then open the slot out to 12mm, to hopefully not overload the mill head

 

I'm now activily watching ebay for a semi decent milling machine so I can stop wasting my time!

 

Cheers,

Rob

[Boy from Oz]

Thanks guys - once again. I think the idea of enrolling in an evening machine shop class is the way to go. You get to use industrial equipment and they even supply the materials - 8 x 2 hr session and only $100. I know my way around such equipment having machined parts for helicopers many years ago and I just hope my skills aren't too rusty. I will just have to prepare some drawings. Only problem I now have is coming up with a new present for my wife's birthday later this month - an limited slip diff perhaps!

[spork]

Yup, try the machine shop class, then decide on the equipment to buy. A lot of times if you do some looking and asking around, you can find some used equipment for sale and gets some pretty good deals. Just check for play in the tables, and bearings and so on. Tight Tolerances are the key when buying used equipment.

[proxlamus©]

i took me a materials and manufactoring process class last semester..

 

learned the horizontal lathe.. and vertical mill.. and the CNC machine.. mm that was fun

 

definatly have a better respect for materials and products for cars/airplanes etc

[johnc]

I use a Smithy Ganite 1324 to make bushings, spacers, shafts, etc. Works great on Delrin and Alumnim but is a little down on power for steel. What helps is lubrication and I use a mister with all cutting.

 

I do have a problem where the X and Y axis' will shift if the I start getting a vibration in the machine. I think a lot of that has to do with the table I have it mounted on.

[sweetleaf]

I agree the smithy is probably one of the best bang for buck combo machines. If you want to learn a lot about these types of machines and their capabilities, I would brows the internet for machinist forums. The are pretty precise. Lots of small engine builders use them.

[Brad-ManQ45]

I purchased the 12 speed 20" swing DP from HF on sale for $339 and then had a 20% off coupon.

 

I have been extremely pleased with it.

 

There is no runout and it has a LOT of torque.

 

It's great for drilling holes in square tubing and other metal, which is exactly what I bought it for - I tried using a little bench top for it but that took forever.

 

I have drilled holes in quarter inch and half inch mild steel with no problems and no sweat - except hefting the pieces.

 

I would agree that for a mill or lathe that HF is probably one of the last places to look, but for a drill press, assuming you do your homework, you can get a good buy on something that works well for its' purpose.

[Darrel]

Here's a couple sites for lathes and mills.

 

http://www.littlemachineshop.com/Info/minilathe_compare.php

 

http://www.mini-lathe.com/