Lathe or Mill Which one First

[HoosierBuddy]

It's impossible to know without knowing what projects you'd like to work on.

I bought a lathe first but then quickly found that most of the projects I was wanting to do on my lathe also included milling operations. So, then I had to get the mill.

I think if money is a concern I would advise "Lathe" first. I think you may be able to find a good used lathe cheaper than a good used mill? Then there's the tooling factor. You get a tool post, some HSS and center or two along with a chuck and you can do 85% of your lathe operations with limited tooling. For milling you need many end mills, various hold down clamps and vises...on and on.

I spent roughly twice as much for my Millrite as I did for my SB Heavy 10 and I'd say I've spent 10 times as much on it since, including a DRO and an X-axis power feed plus all the required tooling. To make it a useful machine has taken a much bigger investment than the lathe.

As far as usage, I'd say the mill gets used twice as much as the lathe at my house.

Phil

 

[bloomingtonmike]

not a bad deal

http://decatur.craigslist.org/tls/5241730945.html

 

[sailah]

I bought a lathe first because I didn't know any better. Then I had access to a nice brand new Bridgeport clone so I used that when I needed. At my shop now we have a dozen bridgeports so I'm not in a huge rush to get one. Technically I own a Bridgeport but it's still at work and has problems so I just use the nice shop one I also have a big Powermatic drill press so that takes care of a small percentage of milling operations.

Somehow I've managed to get by without a mill but I can't imagine getting by without a lathe

 

[HanShotFirst]

For ME, for general shop use in my garage my ONE tool would be a small but good quality bench top screw-cutting lathe, and then buy a milling attachment for small milling jobs. I have two such lathes in my garage now and if I had to start selling off my machine equipment, one of those lathes would be the last thing to go. And if I did start selling things off, I'd dump more money into my lathe to increase the versatility.

 

[bloomingtonmike]

If you cant handle big tool weight a Rong Fu RF-30 clone is a nice milldrill. Id take one over any woodworking drill press any day. I own it and several presses and a 1050 cnc knee mill. The RF30 is handy to have for quick jobs.

 

[ranger302]

Lathe, then Mill

 

[Dave455]

An experienced Turner I knew once explained to me how the Lathe was the centre of any workshop, how you could do anything on it, and how modern lathes with milling attachments would make mills redundant, and their operators!

An experienced Milling Machine operator told me " Any worm can turn! It takes a MAN to mill!"

The more views you have on this, the more different answers you will get!

 

[Mark in Indiana]

How about one of these?:

 

[Jo Diesel]

I had a mill and didn't hardly use it. Bought an Enco 9x42 mill at auction for $1200 with over 20 bits, hold down sets and a full set of collets.
Was looking for a nice drill press and they were $1000.
It is quite a drill press. I really like the auto feed and digital readout

 

[WNbirdman]

Used a Smithy Midas around the house for years. Very handy but it had it limitations. Upgraded this week to a Smithy Granite 1340 I-Max off of eBay half price of a new one. There are great deals out there with patience. If your a hobbiest these machines will more than suffice.

 

[xxaler]

A lathe is the only machine that can reproduce itself ... get a lathe first.

30 year Journeyman machinist

This is what I was told as well, you can do it with a mill, but it won't be fun.

"Buy the lathe, build your mill." Hell, google the phrase "The only machine tool that can replicate itself".

Look at guys facing giant pieces of square stock using the lathe chuck as the tool hold, like a giant face mill.