Entry level lathes & mills

[bawked]

At uni 4 of us designed and built this for final year engineering project, we did everything on it.. including the welding and machining. Was an awesome opportunity to learn a ton.

305180

At uni we had access to all the manual and cnc mills and lathes, which I miss since i'm always thinking of things that I could do if I had them.

Looking at lathes, these Sieg C2 jobbies seem to be pretty good value for money. Since i'm flatting I probably wouldn't want something much bigger as no doubt i'll have to move it at least a few times. Anyone used one or got other recommendations around that price range? I don't mind spending a bit more for quality kit.

Doesn't seem to be many mills on TM, I see there is a Sieg branded one with a small bed. I could probably get away with just getting a drill press, but where is the fun in that. I'd rather have the flexibility of a mill.

Is this new chinese stuff up to par? or should I wait for a second hand deal of a reputable brand to pop up?

[bogan]

I've heard good things about the seig mills, common option for the low budget cnc route.

'maintaining' (I use the term looseley as you always gotta buy new toys) a workshop can be pretty expensive though, so don't expect the purchase price of those bits of kit to get you all that far...

Some cheap tooling on aliexpress through, just ordered BT30 drill chuck and MT3 ER40 tool holder for about a hundy bung :woohoo:

[unstuck]

Dunno about the lathes or mills, but that is one fuckin cool kart.:2thumbsup

[bawked]

Yea the costs of running the machines are sure to be quite high, I'd probably just get the lathe to start with. I'll check out aliexpress to see what i'm in for.

I just looked into CNC conversions that people have done to the sieg mills, looks like it could be an interesting project :laugh:

unstuck, it was pretty sweet. 250kg with a gsxr600 powerplant, with double wishbone suspension and race slicks ;)

[Akzle]

belt drive lathe with compound. Then get a vert table and indexing rotary.

Fuck the sieg shit. Fuck a combo mill. Fuck mills in general.

You buy chhnese you deserve aids.

You liue in dorkland so git r nver to mach house in carbine road.

[The Reibz]

Go to machinery house and look at the size of these mills and lathes, it will put you off instantly.
C6 is a good size and the X3 for a mill. I've always been keen on one but already own way to many toys. Just sticking with the welder for now

[Flip]

I brought a chineese copy of a 9' colchester and it was a great lathe.

You won't go wrong with a Myford ML7, just a basic old hobby lathe.

[Yow Ling]

Any lathe is better than no lathe

a big lathe is better (generally) than a small lathe

High speed steel is cheap, indexable tips are $10 or $20 each and easy to smash

I started with a combo lathe mill, the mill part was really bad, the lathe was OK, some people do amazing work on them.

My first mill is an RF20 , its out on loan to somebody.

Seems everything I get at the moment is in the 1000-2000kg range.

You arent getting married to the thing, you can upgrade any time something better pops up

[Ocean1]

You arent getting married to the thing, you can upgrade any time something better pops up

Aye. But it's surprising how much a couple of years familiarity with a given machine improves your capability.

And then... the more you have the more you can leave them set up for different jobs. The limit turns out to be floorspace. :laugh:

[boman]

At uni 4 of us designed and built this for final year engineering project, we did everything on it.. including the welding and machining. Was an awesome opportunity to learn a ton.

305180

At uni we had access to all the manual and cnc mills and lathes, which I miss since i'm always thinking of things that I could do if I had them.

Looking at lathes, these Sieg C2 jobbies seem to be pretty good value for money. Since i'm flatting I probably wouldn't want something much bigger as no doubt i'll have to move it at least a few times. Anyone used one or got other recommendations around that price range? I don't mind spending a bit more for quality kit.

Doesn't seem to be many mills on TM, I see there is a Sieg branded one with a small bed. I could probably get away with just getting a drill press, but where is the fun in that. I'd rather have the flexibility of a mill.

Is this new chinese stuff up to par? or should I wait for a second hand deal of a reputable brand to pop up?

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