Good questions to ponder are: How heavy are the pieces you want to work on? How big are they? How much metal do you need to remove as in, are you doing basic surface removal and surface finishes with just some contouring, slots, grooves and hole drilling or, do you need to hog-out 2" wide channels?
A medium sized mill (like a 932) can easily handle up to 2-300lbs and pieces that are roughly around 8" wide and 20" long. The vast majority of what I work on is well under 30 lbs with the bulk just being a couple pounds and I don't have a need for heavy-duty metal removal. The max RPM is 1900 and I've never been limited by that. I usually use speeds in low to mid-range and only use high speeds when doing really small stuff (you need faster speeds for smaller bits). If you need to hog big hunks of metal, you're better off with a full size mill.
If there's a chance you may need to relocate, also consider that moving 1300 lbs is a HECK of a lot easier than moving 2000+. I've done a lot of both (single handedly) many times and speak from experience. I used to rebuild antique diesel generator sets where life starts at 2000lbs... As I get older, the desire to do that decreases dramatically... -Sigh...
And by the way, I'm not trying to push you one way or the other... just trying to pass along "the real deal" when it comes to equipment suitable for a hobbyist and those aspiring to do "light industrial" types of operations. In my book, "light industrial" is defined by the ability to not need cranes or lifts to manage the work pieces. It also implies precision in a certain way... If you're OK with keeping all your tolerances to +/- one thou or possibly 1/2 thou, you're still in the hobbyist and light industrial range. Beyond that, you need heavy duty or very high precision stuff.
The exceptions I make to this are folks who aspire to own a Hardinge or Monarch etc and typically only if they've owned other lathes or have some kind of industrial experience. I'd love to have those nice big machines... really, I would but, it just defies practicality in my given situation. I get by with my stuff in the 1000-1500lb range just fine.
Ray
Thanks guys for all the candid NO BS answers and guidance offered up here. I'll soon find myself on the same quest as soon as I get my lathe paid off in a couple of months. I do have the advantage of having a good friend who's had 40+ years of experience on any machine that would be found in a full-on large scale machine shop. There's also a downside to that. The downside being he wants to steer me in the direction of the ol' "this is what we've got in our shop, that's what you need" which in my case of a mill is not what I NEED. Nice to have perhaps but I have to keep reminding him that I just need something large enough to handle what I need in my motorcycle shop. I'm not going to be machining inkanell, monel and all those other "nels" that he deals with daily that have to be cherry picked off the back of a flatbed truck! I just need something that's going to allow me to machine precision aluminum, steel and occasionally, stainless. In other words, his eyes get bigger than my wallet.
Hope this helps in small way in your decision making.
Dale
