no spam wrote:

Now with all that said the questions for ya'll:

1) What books would you suggest for a pre-newbie?

This newsgroup is a very good "book". One has to look past the
off-topic stuff, but you have obviously done that. Actually, the OT
posts can be a little entertaining, though can can interfere with
finding the real traffic.


2) Does starting off building a machine sound like a good place for a
pre-newbie to start or should I try to scrap up enough money to buy a small
used lathe and/or milling machine and/or multiemachine?

I second the used machine suggestion. You might even buy one new; just
expect the tooling to double the price of a small one. Get an R8 taper;
then tooling will likely follow you to another machine if you find the need.

I have a round column mill-drill, and am generally very happy with it.
My only gripe is that the vertical feed lock is not as robust as I would
like. I would like to back away and read drawings while the power feed
does its thing, but I can't do that "in Z", at least not with anything
beyond very light cuts. The problem is that light cuts generally imply
I am near final dimension (or past it - grrrr! - still kicking myself
from yesterdayg), so that is not a time to ignore what is happening.

That said, it is a hell of a machine. Benchtop knees have their points,
but cross-travel isn't one of them. I am skeptical that square or
dovetail column mill-drills stack up a knee - some assert that they do.
I will leave that to the experts.

Machines are heavy - get an engine hoist. You should be able to score a
new one with folding legs for $150 or so (last time I looked), and will
not regret it.

Round column mill-drills particularly will cost you some setup work if
you have to change the head position. An ER collet chuck and collets
can be big help, reducing the vertical space needed to change tools;
they make it quick and easy too, which has grown on me. Some R8 collets
are nice to have on hand too, as removing the chuck might get enough
space to avoid a head movement. In my experience, do not expect ER
collets to grab a continuous range of diameters, but it's ok IMHO. You
can do a lot with 3/8, 1/2, 5/16 (IIRC) and 3/4 collets. You will want
a good drill chuck anyway. Buy a good one (Jacobs probably) and an
import taper for it. If you need to drill holes for which you do not
have collets, just change to the drill chuck.

So what's so bad about moving the head on a round column machine? Not
much; it basically means you have to break out the edge finder again to
reset the dials. However, if you center over a rotary table, it can be
a bit more problematic if the work blocks what you used to center.

There are tradeoffs, but getting a starter machine that uses R8 tooling
will be a good move.

Good luck!

Bill