Why should I NOT buy a 3-in-1 machine?

Setup, Setup, Setup.

I had a 3 in 1 machine several years ago, and the main thing it taught me is that I never want another 3 in 1.
The change over from mill to lathe and back is very time consuming and irritating.
The tail stock and chuck get in the way when milling anything other than the smallest parts. So if you are using the lathe and need to change over to mill a decent sized part be prepared to remove the chuck, tail stock, and tool post. Depending on the machine size these can be rather heavy. now you have to put the mill vise where the tool post was, as that is your milling table. Ever tram a mill vise? want to do it EVERY time you change from lathe to mill? also look closely at the pictures/videos, the cross slide doubles as the milling table or vice versa the width of it is laughable compared to even a small mill.
Just my 2 cents if you have the space and budget go for 2 machines.
If you want quality Taiwanese machines have a look at precision Mathews I now have their largest current Taiwanese lathe and mill and am very impressed with the quality so far
 
There are many very good multitasking lathe/mills available, there are however none that a home user of average income will buy.
 
Let's go a little further on what you are going to do. If this is hobby use and you don't have much space, then I suppose that it is okay. But you will find that you will be tearing the machine down and resetting it which can take a lot of time. Also your accuracy will suffer because you will be force to change the machine set ups often. If this commercial use, no way. You be losing money for the two reasons that I just mentioned. Also as George stated on turning brakes, there is a liability and safety issue.
 
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