Has anyone had any experience with HF Multi-Purpose Machines?

A good friend has one - I think the same one - and his thoughts on it cant be put into words, at least here on a family friendly site, you know , such as #&^@!*(*& etc etc. He says the lathe is "okay", but he long ago gave up trying to do anything on the mill - its not even a decent drill press.

Seriously, Nelson, surely you have read the dismal revues of these things. Of the dozens and dozens of posts I've read on these, I have never seen an all out praising. Occasionally a "it does what I need" type lukewarm response, but ....
 
I have considered the Shop Task Version, (http://www.shoptask.com/) but would love to see one work in person first. What is appealing to me is the possibility to eliminate the other machines and free up more space.
 
I'd only suggest a combo machine for space reasons if it was a case of "this way or no way". Many times in a project, you need to perform some other function while you are using a mill or a lathe. Removing the work and replacing it has enough accuracy risks without having to re-configure the machine and change it back again.
 
My first machine was a shop task 3 in 1. so/so... fair for what it was, some good points some not so much.
I ended up taking the mill head off after hitting my head on it one time too many trying to see what I was doing on the lathe. Unless you are REALLY cramped for space go with separate machines for usability, convenience, setup ease and also most 3 in 1 machines' mills do not have adjustment (handily) for leveling the head or cutting an angle with the mill.
To be fair a creative person can do a lot on one of these machines but not without a fair bit of frustration !!

A big drawback I found on my machine as far as milling was a serious lack of rigidity... not because the machine was made poorly but do to the heighth of the table and all the points it could move.

Just my opinion from what I experienced. One point I liked about the Shop Task was a larger mill table than it's counterparts.

~Chris
 
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