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- May 7, 2023
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So here it is:That’s the common answer but nobody says why. I am more inclined for a mill but when I get one or the other I know Ill be like darn I need the other machine to complete my task.
Didn’t the old WW2 submarines have lathes on them? With spinning gear that makes sense. Plus they didn’t have bench top mills back then…
Commonality of repairs. You're not going to start out on a lathe making a crankshaft, just like you're not going to start out on a mill making an engine block.
Most people will have as their first "Real project" a repair of something that has rotating parts, and many things have rotating shafts. Simple shafts are easy to make and simple to repair along with the required bushings to go with them.
Then there's tooling. You will only spend 1/4 as much to fully outfit a lathe as you will with a mill. Easier to get into means more long term satisfaction and the more likely you will stick with it.
Measuring tools and your work/skill progression. As mentioned, a mill will cost more to outfit, but you need measuring tools for whichever you choose. Starting with a machine that is relatively inexpensive to outfit will leave funds for measuring tools and other tools. Once you have the lathe fitted and your measuring tools, much of that will cross over to the mill thereby making it cheaper to outfit it at that time.
Then there's the wife factor. No one lives in a vacuum, so once you can show that your new "TOYS" are beneficial to the household, it will make the outlay for a decent mill more appealing to the spousal unit/SWMBO/family accountant.
The lathe, while more dangerous is also more forgiving on mishandling tooling. You will get tired of sharpening a HSS toolbit long before you feel the effects of your mistakes on your wallet. With a mill you're talking endmills and other consumables that you will not (at least initially) be able to sharpen, so cost wise, its much more economical to regrind a $10 tool bit a dozen times than it is to dull/chip/break a single $20 endmill.
And you will need to have many different size endmills, any one of which will burn up in a heartbeat when first learning. You will learn how different metals react with a lathe which will help lessen the ruination of expensive endmills when the time comes.
Hope this helps.