Should I buy a mill or lathe as my first piece of equipment?

[Hawkeye]

I have to agree that the SB9A is worth picking up. If you happen to come across a Hercus lathe, it is an Australian-built, licensed copy of the SB9. It has V-belt drive instead of flat, but most of it is identical to a Southbend. They come in the same configurations - A, B and C. The A is the top model. AR from Hercus has the roller bearings.

 

[gearhead]

Anyone know about the Clausing 4914? I can't find definite specs on it. Some sources say it's 9-inch, others 10.

Here's the ad. I may want his band saw too!

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/tls/2793854270.html

 

[British Steel]

Take a look at http://www.lathes.co.uk/clausing/page4.html - the Clausing you're looking at!

Looks to me like a decent light-industrial lathe, has a QCGB, power feeds, so some of the nice-to-have boxes get ticks

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[Kevin45]

For your first piece of equipment, on a personal basis, I would say that if you have a chance to get a decent mill for the price, get a mill first. I've been a ModelMaker/ToolMaker for 30+ years, and I would venture to say that I have used a mill probably 4:1 over a lathe. If all you are going to do is make round ones, then by all means get a lathe, but to me a mill is way more versatile. It always seems that something is getting made or modified that has an irregular shape or a square shape to it.

Just my $.02 from experience. Everyone is different.

 

[gearhead]

For your first piece of equipment, on a personal basis, I would say that if you have a chance to get a decent mill for the price, get a mill first. I've been a ModelMaker/ToolMaker for 30+ years, and I would venture to say that I have used a mill probably 4:1 over a lathe. If all you are going to do is make round ones, then by all means get a lathe, but to me a mill is way more versatile. It always seems that something is getting made or modified that has an irregular shape or a square shape to it.

Thanks, Kevin. The verdict is still out, I suppose. I haven't plunked down any cash yet. I'm still doing a lot of looking. I'd love to have both machines, of course, but we'll just have to see how it shakes out. I think I very likely would have use for both a mill and lathe, but not having had a chance to own/use them on a regular basis with my current work, that's simply a guess. I would have a definite need to make "round ones," but probably need oddball shapes as well that a lathe won't handle. Hard to say how I'm going to make the decision, although it occurred to me that if I got a lathe with a milling attachment I could probably crutch along a bit easier than if I had a mill and need to turn some parts for a chain drive or gear drive system that I'm designing.

 

[donthack]

Bought my lathe first, then the mill 5years later. Very happy now. The lathe came first because of lower price. The lower buy in makes things better with my wife, the chewing about wanting to do more makes the case for the mill. Love to use both, That is how I did it.