Ventilation Concerns

If you plan on making light saber hilts then I'm guessing you will probably end up wanting a 12x36" or 13x40" lathe, although a 10x22-30 would probably be acceptable. While you wait for schools to re-open, you might consider getting a small lathe as something to get going with, Sherline, or Taig (both currently available and USA made), Unimat (vintage Austrian), Atlas 6", (vintage USA which was also sold by Sears under the Craftsman brand until the 1970s) or one of the Chinese 8x16 or 9x20 lathes (readily available from a number of sources). These are fairly small and lightweight (smallest about 40lbs upwards of 250lbs for the largest), and relatively inexpensive $500-1500-ish.
Small lathes remain useful after you get a bigger lathe, they don't take up much space and the skills you gain will transfer to bigger lathes. Also fairly easy to resell if you really find you don't have a use after getting a bigger lathe (I actually use my smallest lathe the most).
There are tons of educational youtube channels to help you learn the basics of machining.


On welders, if you don't think you need one then don't use one or watch any videos on welding. I recently took some welding classes and bought a welder, for some work I have on an old truck I am restoring. Didn't really expect I would have a lot of work needing a welder though. It is now one of the more used tools in my shop, it is amazing how useful being able to hot glue metal together is.

MIG (wire feed) welders are pretty easy to learn to use, and one of the light duty ones (perfect for somebody "who doesn't need a welder") can be fairly inexpensive.
Definitely don't watch any TIG welding videos as you will probably want one for the work it sounds like you are planning. TIG is neither easy to learn or cheap, but it is probably one of the more useful types of welding for small hobby work. I was taking a TIG class when Covid closed the schools.
I took a MIG class which I'm glad I took, but MIG wouldn't be hard to learn from a book / youtube. TIG benefits a great deal from a real class with an in person instructor.


Welcome to the madness. :xmaslights:
 
First, welcome aboard fellow PNWer.

Aaron makes some great points on welding. I have done a lot of welding both MIG and TIG. I find that MIG is easier but I have done a lot of TIG on SS sheetmetal and don't find it much more difficult.

If you do buy a welder you don't need a $3000 plus machine. You can buy 110v or 220v MIG machines like the Lincoln or Miller used for $600-$1500.
I have a couple of friends that have purchased the Vulcan multi ($999) unit from HF which does MIG, TIG and Stick. They actually perform very well and is what I am thinking about buying. Their duty cycle is like 20% but unless you plan to make a living with it, that would serve any home shop well. As you stated you don't think you will do any welding but you may decide differently down the road and it is easy enough to add one to the shop.

As for lathes, I wouldn't get any lathe that is less than 12x36 at 2HP. That is what I have and have found that for 85% of the things I do, it is more than sufficient. Swing is more often the bigger issue over length. I have rarely used more than 24" of the length, but I have used 99% of the swing on my lathe and had to remove the section of the ways under the chuck on several occasions for oversized parts.

My way of thinking is try not to limit yourself on equipment based on what you think you might do at this time before you even get started. Once you get into this, you will find that having the equipment opens up many possibilities as to what you might do. There is nothing more frustrating, at least for me, to find that I am short by an inch or two because I bought tooling/equipment that was too small.

Edit: At that point you are back to square one and might as well not have it at all.

Buy once, cry once.
 
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I have to agree with Papa. As for learning, there are some really excellent YouTube presenters. Joe Pie, ThatLazyMachinsit (actually has a teaching series.) I took an evening class at the local Jr college, wasn't impressed. I've had a MIG welder for a long time. It doesn't make me a welder but a 4.5" grinder makes it look better. My first machine tool was a Jet 9 x 49 mill that i got as part of a buy out. It is far from new but for my skill level perfectly fine. Sure glad it isn't any smaller. Very easy to run out of Z axis. Same when I need to roll the head over to horizontal for X axis travel. A knee mill is much more adaptable than a bench mill. I found that with only a mill what I could do was very limited. I debated a long time on what to get for a lathe. looked at several used ones but didn't know enough about what it would take to make them useful. Finally decided to buy new. What size??? From having been in manufacturing I knew that I'd be disappointed if I got too small. Mind you I had no clue about what I was going to use it for. Turns out I do a fair amount of repair work for my old business. I'm more likely to run out of swing on the lathe than length. I ended up buying a PM1440HD. It is Chinese and has some of their manufacturing issues but is an OK machine overall. I'd probably go for a Taiwan made machine next time.

Worth noting as others have said on other posts, the machines are the cheap part, it's all the accessories that can really add up. Some Chinese things are fine for hobby use, some are junk. Ask on this web site if you have questions. You will get a variety of opinions but have something to base your choices on. I really like using the DROs, not an absolute necessity but faster and easier!
 
I'm a bit of a YouTube junkie and I think "That Lazy Machinist" is one of the most under rated presenters of machine shop knowledge there is. I never don't learn something watching any of those guys. For me that stuff beats the crap out of the bickering on the normal television. That's not a fair comparison, sorry. I'll just say I enjoy much of the technical content I can tune into On YouTube.
 
Thanks for all the recommendations. I devoured all the Lathe and Mill videos from Blondihacks; I really like her style, she explains things clearly and is also entertaining. I also started watching This Lazy Machinist videos a couple of days ago. To be honest, the videos I was watching were part of his "online course" series, and I found them a bit slow paced and long for what they covered; however, just last night I realized that he had another section for videos that were hands-on projects where he teaches skills, and I've found those capture my attention very well.
 
andrewgr said:
Thanks for all the recommendations. I devoured all the Lathe and Mill videos from Blondihacks; I really like her style, she explains things clearly and is also entertaining. I also started watching This Lazy Machinist videos a couple of days ago. To be honest, the videos I was watching were part of his "online course" series, and I found them a bit slow paced and long for what they covered; however, just last night I realized that he had another section for videos that were hands-on projects where he teaches skills, and I've found those capture my attention very well.
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His rather good sense of humor grew one me. Rather opposite of AVE :)

blondie hacks "Quin" has really picked up her game. She is also new at the machining but quite obviously smarter than your average Joe...
 
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Quick thoughts on welding: toxic fumes and ozone. Open doors or weld outside if possible. If your better half's car is in the other side of that garage, move it. The ozone will attack rubber such as tires and valve stems. A fan in a doorway or window can be very effective cost wise and functionally. My welding table is on wheels and moves to garage door or outside as needed.

The most used tool in my shop is the broom.
 
Another good source of information and entertainment is Abom79 on YouTube.
 
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