Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

If you want to work with round things and cut threads, get a lathe. If you want
to work with not-round things and bore holes, cut slots, etc get a mill.
Personally, I think a lathe is by far the most useful thing in a general shop.
A mill would be a close second, unless you plan on doing work where it it
required.

GTO(John)

I like John's explanation. I'll add that a lathe is easier to learn (in my
opinion).

"GTO69RA4" wrote in message
...
Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy
first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

If you want to work with round things and cut threads, get a lathe. If you
want
to work with not-round things and bore holes, cut slots, etc get a mill.
Personally, I think a lathe is by far the most useful thing in a general
shop.
A mill would be a close second, unless you plan on doing work where it it
required.

GTO(John)

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

If you want to work with round things and cut threads, get a lathe. If you
want to work with not-round things and bore holes, cut slots, etc get a mill.
Personally, I think a lathe is by far the most useful thing in a general
shop. A mill would be a close second, unless you plan on doing work where it
it
required.

GTO(John)

With the addition of a milling attachment you can also do some
small part milling in a lathe. Think horizontal milling machine.

Best Regards
Tom.

Bullfrog wrote:

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.



You can turn things in a mill, and mill things in a lathe.

I personally went with the mill first. Then I got a lathe. Its an addiction.
Stop now before its too late.

--
Samiam is Scott A. Moore

Personal web site: http:/www.moorecad.com/scott
My electronics engineering consulting site: http://www.moorecad.com
ISO 7185 Standard Pascal web site: http://www.moorecad.com/standardpascal
Classic Basic Games web site: http://www.moorecad.com/classicbasic
The IP Pascal web site, a high performance, highly portable ISO 7185 Pascal
compiler system: http://www.moorecad.com/ippas

Being right is more powerfull than large corporations or governments.
The right argument may not be pervasive, but the facts eventually are.

"Bullfrog" wrote in message
...
Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy
first,
a lath or a mill?

I personally can think of a lot of things that can be done on a lathe with a
3 or 4 jaw chunk, faceplate and centers... add a milling attachment and
you're set with just one machine. But then, everything looks like a
lathe project when you're building a lathe...

Tim

--
"I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!"
- Homer Simpson
Website @ http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 21:42:40 -0700, "Bullfrog"
wrote:

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

Lathe.

Gunner

That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's
cottage is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays
there.
- George Orwell

In article , Bullfrog says...

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lathe or a mill?

Which ever one presented itself to me, first. You'll
know it when you see it. Just start looking for both
of them. One will wander into your sights soon enough.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

It's kind of a toss-up, but generally people tend to go for the lathe first.
I did it sort of differently, myself. My first major machine purchase was a
small lathe and mill pair (individual pieces, though). Then later, I got a
large lathe (13 x 40), 2 mills and a 20 inch drill press.

If starting over, I think I would take a serious look at one of the 3-in-one
combos in the largest size and best brand I could afford. That way,
threre'd be a little more machine "capacity" than the tiny lathe and mill
pair I started off with. IMO, a 3-in-one would launch you into machine work
in good style. Besides, you'd be so happy to get away from hand tools it
would take a while before you began to notice the deficiencies.

Bob Swinney

"Bullfrog" wrote in message
...
Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy
first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

Lathe.

A lathe is probably the better "first" machine, but it is probably
irrelevent because the second(or at least the desire) will follow so
quickly you will barely remember which came first. And from there,
you will need a welder, then a ....

JW

Depends on what you want to make.
Most of the stuff I do is small. Personally I've found the
mill to be much more useful. Anything I needed to lathe I've
done on the mill. I'm only getting and setting up a lathe
now, more because I want it, than I need it. I think
this fits into the 'addiction' catagory as Scott says.
I've had the the mill now for 10 year & 2 days.

"Bullfrog" wrote in message ...
Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 09:30:10 GMT, Gunner
calmly ranted:

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 21:42:40 -0700, "Bullfrog"
wrote:

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

Lathe.

Why are so many of youse guys so hot for a lathe?
What does a lathe do besides make round things?
nomex=ON

I've always yearned for a mill.


-----
= Dain Bramaged...but having lots of fun! =
http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
Why are so many of youse guys so hot for a lathe?
What does a lathe do besides make round things?

Aww c'mon, the best things in life are round..... g

Tim

--
"I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!"
- Homer Simpson
Website @ http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

It being a dull day, I decide to respond to what Gunner
foisted Mon, 12 Jul 2004 09:30:10 GMT on
rec.crafts.metalworking , viz:
On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 21:42:40 -0700, "Bullfrog"
wrote:

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.

Lathe.

I can see the cascade now ...

Mill.
Lathe!
Mill!
Lathe!!
Mill, you technoreject from the eight dimension!
I'll mill you, you unrepentant purchaser of Harbor Freight's rejects!
Ah your dog is ugly and your mother dresses you to look like a
rutabaga!
Bourgeois Commie product of the oppressor class!
Right deviationist Trotskyite! You couldn't make a square part if your
paycheck depended on it!

on and on and on ...:-)

Get what you want to do first. there's stuff you can do easier on one than
the other. So I'm looking for something in the multi-mode line. (space
considerations.)


--
pyotr filipivich.
as an explaination for the decline in the US's tech edge, James
Niccol wrote "It used to be that the USA was pretty good at
producing stuff teenaged boys could lose a finger or two playing with."

Jeridiah wrote in message
om...
quickly you will barely remember which came first. And from there,
you will need a welder, then a ....

Well thanks for the responses, guys! Got a welder, and an ox/ac right I use
a lot. Also got a room full of wood working tools I don't use due the dang
problem of finding any decent wood for a decent price

So, I get myself a lathe or a mill. Anybody care to recommend a brand or
place to buy it? I've shopped the South Bend ones (used), and can't stand
the bite....If I get an old industrial type, I won't know how to tune it or
anything......Is this genetic info, btw? Man, I hate to buy another HF tool,
although I'm quite happy with the drill press for $150. Anybody got one to
sell or trade, maybe?

Larry Jaques writes:

Why are so many of youse guys so hot for a lathe?
What does a lathe do besides make round things?

This came up a few years ago, when someone asked "Why does
everyone buy a lathe instead of a mill... unless all you want to
make are candlesticks and cannons?"

One observation was that parts that need a high degree of
precision tend to be round (shafts, bushings, etc). So if
you need a mill you can often rig up a substitute using other
tools, but if you need a lathe, you really need a lathe.

Mills are good if you need to make a part that fits some other
existing part, and it doesn't happen to be round. But in many
cases, the parts that are subject to wear are round.

Google probably has the thread, it was from December of 2000 and
the subject line was "How come most people get a lathe?"
The Message ID that started the thread was

I got a lathe before I got the mill. I woudl use the lathe 100 times
more than the mill. I now have 2 mills (1x old horizontal, 1 x horiz
with vertical head - I use this the most) and 2 lathes, and have my
eye on a (bigger) third...
It depends on what you make. Main tools I use for making "stuff" are
the cutoff bandsaw, welder, gas set and lathe and drill press, in no
particular order.
The bigger drill-mills can be good value and can do good work, within
their size limits.
It may be heresy to some, but some of the Asian lates, etc are very
good. Expect to pay good money for them however - there is no free
lunch, just a discount... Likewise, some of the East Europena and
Russian (Tos, Stankoimport) stuff is good and very solid.
Geoff

"Ron Bean" wrote in message
...
One observation was that parts that need a high degree of
precision tend to be round (shafts, bushings, etc). So if
you need a mill you can often rig up a substitute using other
tools, but if you need a lathe, you really need a lathe.

Mills are good if you need to make a part that fits some other
existing part, and it doesn't happen to be round.

Dave Gingery did a lot of facing work on the lathe. Small things can be
made flat with a lathe and faceplate. Larger things would be best milled...
I got my 35" lathe bed milled. (That's another story BTW, since the college
down the street only has a little BP J-head...) It would be horrendously
inconvienient to face that on a lathe. G

If you have enough swing, a milling cutter thrown in the spindle and
swapping the compound for a vertical slide and work table gets you a
horizontal mill. I frankly don't see any need for a mill anymore.

Hmm. I was going to put in more interesting points rather than just
reiterate, wish I could remember...beh... time to sleep I guess.

Tim

--
"I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!"
- Homer Simpson
Website @ http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 23:51:57 -0500, "Tim Williams"
calmly ranted:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
Why are so many of youse guys so hot for a lathe?
What does a lathe do besides make round things?

Aww c'mon, the best things in life are round..... g

Perhaps, but the Great Spirit saw to it that we were provided
with round solid things, and hollow, cold, metal things just
don't do the trick (at least not for me) Tim.


-----
= Dain Bramaged...but having lots of fun! =
http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development

On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 21:42:40 -0700, "Bullfrog"
wrote:

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

BOTH!! When faced with the same question, my neighbour showed me an add
for a Smithy 3-in-1. Not ideal but given limited money and space, I
went for it. No regrets after 10+ years.

I've posted these comments before (and probably will again) but they may
be relevent to your situation.

"
As a teenager, I had an elderly South Bend which I had to sell when my
folks
(with me in tow) moved to an apartment. As a math-physics senior and
physics
grad student in university I had access to the Physics Dept work shop
where
they had three SB lathes for student use. I don't recall more than one
or two
projects I could complete without an awfull lot of handwork due to the
lack of
a mill. Once you get into machining, you will be surprised at how soon
you
lust after a mill.

Over 10 years ago I bought a Smithy 3-in-1 which I still have and
constantly
use. Despite the screams of protest from the "buy old 'muricun iron"
crowd, I
have enjoyed my Smithy, still do and expect to continue doing so. It
might be
nice to have bigger lathe (like my friends Colchester) and a Bridgeport
but I
have neither the space nor the money for them. Meanwhile my projects
keep
getting done on the ol' Smithy. If you want to see a couple, check out
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/paint/paint.html
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/to...oolholder.html
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/...es/CYLHEAD.TXT
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/...es/BANDSAW.txt and
particularly
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/...s/BANDSAW5.jpg
for one that I thought might force me to "the machine shop" but didn't,
see
http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/...ed_reducer.pdf

Whatever, enjoy!
"
Also:
"
About ten years ago I set out to buy a lathe. At the time I was living
in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. I watched the local papers, checked the
local dealers, etc. Nothing worth having.

We had started on building our retirement home in the Okanagan valley
and were travelling back and forth, frequently via Seattle. So I
included Seattle and Portland (not *that* much further). Same result.
I could afford to spend maybe as much as a month on this because I had a
repair job that would become a problem in about that time. I could
either spend a couple grand on a machine and tooling or replace the
problem item for about the same amount of money. You can guess where my
preference lay.

While in the Okanagan, my neighbour showed me an add for Smithy in
Kitplane magazine. At that time, Smithy still had a facility in the
Dalles, OR so we decided to go take a look. I liked what I saw. This
was going to get me a mill and a lathe for what I was prepared to pay
for a lathe. I was somewhat concerned about the size of, particularly,
the mill.

My wife made an interesting and fateful comment, "Buy the Smithy. If it
proves to be too small, too inaccurate, too whatever, take the job to a
machine shop. If that happens more than a couple of times, sell the
Smithy and get something else."

Ten years have past. I still haven't been to the "machine shop" except
to scrounge or buy off cuts. I've always been able to get my stuff done
with a little ingenuity. YMMV.
"

(Ron Bean) wrote in message ...
Larry Jaques writes:

Why are so many of youse guys so hot for a lathe?
What does a lathe do besides make round things?

This came up a few years ago, when someone asked "Why does
everyone buy a lathe instead of a mill... unless all you want to
make are candlesticks and cannons?"

One observation was that parts that need a high degree of
precision tend to be round (shafts, bushings, etc). So if
you need a mill you can often rig up a substitute using other
tools, but if you need a lathe, you really need a lathe.

Mills are good if you need to make a part that fits some other
existing part, and it doesn't happen to be round. But in many
cases, the parts that are subject to wear are round.

Google probably has the thread, it was from December of 2000 and
the subject line was "How come most people get a lathe?"
The Message ID that started the thread was




You can do some pretty interesting round pieces with an offset boring
head on a mill. You are pretty limited in length, but you can be
very precise.

You guys have good comments. I started with a lathe; when I got a mill
it really opened my eyes. I find a mill much more useful (but I wouldn't
do without either).

Steve Smith

AL wrote:

I like John's explanation. I'll add that a lathe is easier to learn (in my
opinion).

"GTO69RA4" wrote in message
...


Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy


first,


a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.


If you want to work with round things and cut threads, get a lathe. If you


want


to work with not-round things and bore holes, cut slots, etc get a mill.
Personally, I think a lathe is by far the most useful thing in a general


shop.


A mill would be a close second, unless you plan on doing work where it it
required.

GTO(John)

WOW!

Ted Edwards wrote in message
...
On Sun, 11 Jul 2004 21:42:40 -0700, "Bullfrog"
wrote:

Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy
first,
a lath or a mill?

BOTH!! When faced with the same question, my neighbour showed me an add
for a Smithy 3-in-1. Not ideal but given limited money and space, I
went for it. No regrets after 10+ years.

I've posted these comments before (and probably will again) but they may
be relevent to your situation.

"
As a teenager, I had an elderly South Bend which I had to sell when my
folks
(with me in tow) moved to an apartment. As a math-physics senior and
physics
grad student in university I had access to the Physics Dept work shop
where
they had three SB lathes for student use. I don't recall more than one
or two
projects I could complete without an awfull lot of handwork due to the
lack of
a mill. Once you get into machining, you will be surprised at how soon
you
lust after a mill.

Over 10 years ago I bought a Smithy 3-in-1 which I still have and
constantly
use. Despite the screams of protest from the "buy old 'muricun iron"
crowd, I
have enjoyed my Smithy, still do and expect to continue doing so. It
might be
nice to have bigger lathe (like my friends Colchester) and a Bridgeport
but I
have neither the space nor the money for them. Meanwhile my projects
keep
getting done on the ol' Smithy. If you want to see a couple, check out
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/paint/paint.html
http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/to...oolholder.html
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/...es/CYLHEAD.TXT
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/...es/BANDSAW.txt and
particularly
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/...s/BANDSAW5.jpg
for one that I thought might force me to "the machine shop" but didn't,
see
http://www.metalworking.com/DropBox/...ed_reducer.pdf

Whatever, enjoy!
"
Also:
"
About ten years ago I set out to buy a lathe. At the time I was living
in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. I watched the local papers, checked the
local dealers, etc. Nothing worth having.

We had started on building our retirement home in the Okanagan valley
and were travelling back and forth, frequently via Seattle. So I
included Seattle and Portland (not *that* much further). Same result.
I could afford to spend maybe as much as a month on this because I had a
repair job that would become a problem in about that time. I could
either spend a couple grand on a machine and tooling or replace the
problem item for about the same amount of money. You can guess where my
preference lay.

While in the Okanagan, my neighbour showed me an add for Smithy in
Kitplane magazine. At that time, Smithy still had a facility in the
Dalles, OR so we decided to go take a look. I liked what I saw. This
was going to get me a mill and a lathe for what I was prepared to pay
for a lathe. I was somewhat concerned about the size of, particularly,
the mill.

My wife made an interesting and fateful comment, "Buy the Smithy. If it
proves to be too small, too inaccurate, too whatever, take the job to a
machine shop. If that happens more than a couple of times, sell the
Smithy and get something else."

Ten years have past. I still haven't been to the "machine shop" except
to scrounge or buy off cuts. I've always been able to get my stuff done
with a little ingenuity. YMMV.
"

On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 07:52:37 -0000, (Ron Bean)
calmly ranted:


Larry Jaques writes:

Why are so many of youse guys so hot for a lathe?
What does a lathe do besides make round things?

This came up a few years ago, when someone asked "Why does
everyone buy a lathe instead of a mill... unless all you want to
make are candlesticks and cannons?"

One observation was that parts that need a high degree of
precision tend to be round (shafts, bushings, etc). So if
you need a mill you can often rig up a substitute using other
tools, but if you need a lathe, you really need a lathe.

Will a Sherline/HF/Griz mini-lathe turn a 2" pin for a
backhoe pivot pin?


Mills are good if you need to make a part that fits some other
existing part, and it doesn't happen to be round. But in many

That has been the case (most often, anyway) for me.


cases, the parts that are subject to wear are round.

Hmmm, good point. But oft-worn parts are usually a dime a
dozen and in good supply, aren't they?


Google probably has the thread, it was from December of 2000 and
the subject line was "How come most people get a lathe?"
The Message ID that started the thread was


Found it, thanks. http://tinyurl.com/569by

My favorite response was Pete Albrecht's:

-snip-
so far when I come out to the garage, there are no little lathes running
around. Maybe the senior SB doesn't want to mess with the Asian
Import?

You tried to fix up your SB with one of those green-card-coveting
imports found
in the back of a sleazy magazine? For shame!

"Hey, GI, turn you long time!"
-snip-

I could actually hear the asian accent on that lathe.


-----
= Dain Bramaged...but having lots of fun! =
http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development

Jeridiah wrote:
Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.


Lathe.


A lathe is probably the better "first" machine, but it is probably
irrelevent because the second(or at least the desire) will follow so
quickly you will barely remember which came first. And from there,
you will need a welder, then a ....

Unless you can find a compelling argument
that a mill will offer a quicker return
on your investment. I could justify the
purchase of one to do test fixtures for
my company. Not so with a lathe.

Check out the "gingery" books. You'll end up with metal casting equipment, a
good sized lathe, mill, shaper etc, no free time .. and a divorce :P
You can build a lathe with a mill or a mill with a lathe actually. Most
people start with lathes. I started with a mill.

You can get a minimill for about 500. A minilathe for about 400. You can get
micro versions of either for about half (the lathes dont actually get much
cheaper).
You can get a used industrial mill lathe MAssively cheap on ebay. Ive seen
full sized manual mills go for under $500. Of course you need to add $1000
shipping, have three phase power, a LARGE amount of space and a LOT of money
for tools and reconditioning. You can get a minilathe, minimill, and all the
stuff to get you equipped pretty good for about $1000 total (including
tools). Whatever you spend on the lathe or mill you will spend that again
on tooling for them (vises, endmills, calipers, etc etc).

Grizzly mills are immensely popular for hobbyist/home shop types like me. As
are the harbor freight mills and lathes. For smaller ones look at
sherline/taig (i emphasize smaller work). Id really reccomend one of the
harbor freight or grizzly mills. With a full sized mill you really need to
get high quality endmills etc, and they literally cost 20 times more.

Just my opinion


"Bullfrog" wrote in message
...
Say guys, I'm tired of hand tools and want to get a real machine tool
besides my drill press. Strictly hobby and shop. Which would you buy
first,
a lath or a mill?

Thanks for any input.