I've had a HF mini-lathe for decades, but never used it much.
Picked up most of a Unimat DB-200.
Got the bug to make the DB-200 mill work.
Prices for Unimat parts are insane. Not gonna spend much
fixing up a $15 DB-200.

I'm at that awkward stage where it would be nice to have a mill
to make parts for a mill.
Couple that with the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing...
I'm an electrical engineer...all this mekanikl stuff is not my forte.
I expect to be working with aluminum and plastic, but steel seems
to be what I need to build the tools to do it.

With the lathe, I'm not so much cutting metal as I'm rubbing it off. ;-)
Been experimenting with sharpening bits by hand, but I no longer have the
manual dexterity to get it straight.

I bought the $4 HF set of carbide tools. Work pretty well
on straight cuts,
but the first thing I want to do is turn a square into a round.
Interrupted cut is not recommended, so I'd rather not break 'em.

I went googling for sharpening methods and found a bewildering
array of tutorials, all suggesting different angles.

I found this site particularly interesting.

http://www.gadgetbuilder.com/LatheBitSharpening.html

In particular, they downplay the importance of back rake. That
simplifies the sharpening process.

And the jig is something I can make with the tools I already have.

Recommendations for a newbie without a lot of machine tools or experience?

This is a hobby. Guiding principles a
Cheap
Simple
Barely good enough is OK.
Build it from stuff you find on the floor in the garage.
Have fun learning stuff.
Did I mention CHEAP?
It's not logical, but I've spent $10 and a week to save a dollar...
and enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks,
mike