Are you a mill type machinist or a lathe type machinist.

Are you a mill machinist or a lathe machinist.

  • Total voters
    224
I much prefer the lathe but I came into it in an odd way. My materials just keep getting harder. I started on a pottery wheel, then to wood lathe and now metal lathe. To me the mill is so tedious. All the clamping, squaring, and centering. The lathe is more often just chuck it up and go.

Of course I would probably feel different with a mill that could take a larger bite and had a power feed. (Not to mention DRO.)
 
george wilson said:
This question isn't really a proper question. Perhaps it would be better worded"what type machine do you prefer to operate."

If you can't operate all the machines in the shop,you are not a machinist,but are a "machine operator".

All of the machines are necessary,and if you build anything of consequence,it will be necessary to use more than 1 machine on the project (unless you have a milling attachment for your lathe,and the project is small and fairly simple). I started out with just a lathe and a milling attachment,but my projects were limited in scope. ASAP,I acquired a mill to go with it.
Click to expand...

Thank you George, and I don't even have a milling attachment. That's where I find myself.

I own a Harley repair facility/shop, whatever ya wanna call it. For a majority of what I need to do a lathe fits the bill but there are things I need to do as well that a lathe just won't muster. Thankfully I've got a good buddy that works in a 100k sq. ft. machine shop that runs a mill all day every day and he can help me with most of my needs. There are limitations though, thus the need to add a mill to the stable here at the shop and I'm seriously looking. Just need to pay of the lathe first. There are many crankcase jobs I have to farm out now lacking a mill.

I guess that puts me in the "only have a lathe" category like a few posters above.

NEED a mill though.
 
Last edited:
i like running both and voted that way in the survey. however, if i could have a machine with CNC it would be a mill. spent many years in the business and the CNC mill is so much more interesting than the CNC lathe. in theory, anything made on the lathe can be made on the mill but the reverse is not true.
 
I built a mill fixture for my SB9A. I like both but I find the lathe is fussy (setting TS to do tapers and getting it back in line), also there's some wear on ways near HS which has to be compensated for.
 
I just have a lathe right now, but I'm getting a milling machine next month and am looking forward to it. I'll be happy having both.
 
Isn't this like asking which of your children you like best?

Come to think of it, I have one that turned out better than the other.
Or is it "I have one that turned out worse than the other"?

Lathe or mill, you have to love them both, regardless.
 
I have a lathe and a mill, and I like them both... but to call me a machinist would be a stretch. Maybe a machinist wannabe :whistle: Learning how to make things is a real kick though, and I enjoy it a lot.

GG
 
Like and am learning to use both. Seem to do more work on the Clausing 8525 mill but am trying to find more things I need to do on the southbend 9A
 
I find that both are indispensable, but it just depends on the operation a hand. That's like the question of which to buy first if you could have only one machine. It depends on if you're making basically round, or more complex parts. Some operations can be done on either with a little ingenuity and some can't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top