Newbie looking for advice on first lathe/mill

[Babyseal]

I agree in principle, but I think the "why" is very pertinent. Are you getting into machining as an end to itself, or to support your other interests? I'm constantly needing bushings, shims, and various oddball widgets for example. Stack of guns needing this or that. Seems easier and simpler to learn how to do for myself, rather than keep paying a fortune to machinists and gunsmiths, spend hours looking in catalogues, kludging up Rube Goldberg workarounds, or throwing away perfectly good parts that a little machine work would make right. Do I want to invest a bunch of time learning the idiosyncrasies of a mini-mill that can't and won't ever, do what I need, spend hours rather than minutes to get results...or cut to the chase and get hardware suited to the job?

That's pretty much where I'm at in this endeavor...a little machine would be a fun toy. But it (mostly) wouldn't do what I need done, and I've got enough toys. Though getting a small machine to begin with really would be the "sensible" thing to do. As The Boss keeps telling me..."Don't come crying to me when you get your arms ripped off!". Not to mention I'm about sick of looking at used lathes and mills. Plonking down my credit card at PM and/or Small Machines and getting a "mini machine shop in a box" dropped in my parking lot is looking better all the time.

TL;DR: still working through this. There's pro and cons each way.

 

[Smithdoor]

Hello, l have no machining experience but really want to get into it as a hobby. I'm curious about the Sherline Lathe & Mill, mainly due to limited space. I'm pretty sure everything I would want to make would be no more than 3 inches in diameter. I've been watching videos on youtube and saw one from Clickspring that made a die holder for the sherline tailstock. I thought it was a great project to do but noticed he made it on a 7x lathe. Would a project like that be feasible to do on a Sherline Lathe/Mill?

Thank you
Roger

The size is determined by what to do.
The advantage to a mini lathes is it is small easy to move most only need one or two to move the lathe. Great if most fits in lathe.

The large the lathe more cost to move the and everything cost more.

Dave

 

[Dhal22]

I bought a Unimat mini lathe so no modern import quality issues. Eventually found a 1440 lathe and moving it was easy as I have a F350 diesel long bed. 2 chainhoists at my shop and out it came.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I agree in principle, but I think the "why" is very pertinent. Are you getting into machining as an end to itself, or to support your other interests? I'm constantly needing bushings, shims, and various oddball widgets for example. Stack of guns needing this or that. Seems easier and simpler to learn how to do for myself, rather than keep paying a fortune to machinists and gunsmiths, spend hours looking in catalogues, kludging up Rube Goldberg workarounds, or throwing away perfectly good parts that a little machine work would make right. Do I want to invest a bunch of time learning the idiosyncrasies of a mini-mill that can't and won't ever, do what I need, spend hours rather than minutes to get results...or cut to the chase and get hardware suited to the job?

That's pretty much where I'm at in this endeavor...a little machine would be a fun toy. But it (mostly) wouldn't do what I need done, and I've got enough toys. Though getting a small machine to begin with really would be the "sensible" thing to do. As The Boss keeps telling me..."Don't come crying to me when you get your arms ripped off!". Not to mention I'm about sick of looking at used lathes and mills. Plonking down my credit card at PM and/or Small Machines and getting a "mini machine shop in a box" dropped in my parking lot is looking better all the time.

TL;DR: still working through this. There's pro and cons each way.

I have owned 3 used mills over the years and all required work and one I lost my A$$ on when I rebuilt it. I bought a new Mill from PM, it required a little tinkering to get setup and I have not regretted it, I bought it to work with not on. When I decided to by a lathe I plunked down the money with PM and bought my lathe, same thing, requires a little tinkering to setup and I was off to the races. No regret, I like what I have.... I would, if looking at the smaller machines preparing to buy one take a 1030 over a 1128 and the machine I bought is a PM1236 after looking at the 1030 and 1128...

 

[SouthernChap]

I agree in principle, but I think the "why" is very pertinent. Are you getting into machining as an end to itself, or to support your other interests? I'm constantly needing bushings, shims, and various oddball widgets for example. Stack of guns needing this or that. Seems easier and simpler to learn how to do for myself, rather than keep paying a fortune to machinists and gunsmiths, spend hours looking in catalogues, kludging up Rube Goldberg workarounds, or throwing away perfectly good parts that a little machine work would make right. Do I want to invest a bunch of time learning the idiosyncrasies of a mini-mill that can't and won't ever, do what I need, spend hours rather than minutes to get results...or cut to the chase and get hardware suited to the job?

That's pretty much where I'm at in this endeavor...a little machine would be a fun toy. But it (mostly) wouldn't do what I need done, and I've got enough toys. Though getting a small machine to begin with really would be the "sensible" thing to do. As The Boss keeps telling me..."Don't come crying to me when you get your arms ripped off!". Not to mention I'm about sick of looking at used lathes and mills. Plonking down my credit card at PM and/or Small Machines and getting a "mini machine shop in a box" dropped in my parking lot is looking better all the time.

TL;DR: still working through this. There's pro and cons each way.

If I was in your shoes, use-case wise and had the money available, and was in tbe US, I reckon I'd be a PM customer by now. Something along the lines of a 10xn or 12xn or bigger maybe, space being the limiting factor there, I guess.

 

[Babyseal]

I have owned 3 used mills over the years and all required work and one I lost my A$$ on when I rebuilt it. I bought a new Mill from PM, it required a little tinkering to get setup and I have not regretted it, I bought it to work with not on. When I decided to by a lathe I plunked down the money with PM and bought my lathe, same thing, requires a little tinkering to setup and I was off to the races. No regret, I like what I have.... I would, if looking at the smaller machines preparing to buy one take a 1030 over a 1128 and the machine I bought is a PM1236 after looking at the 1030 and 1128...

I'm bidding on a machine now, dirt cheap. If I win the auction at my price cap, worst case I can part it out and make money. Or clean it up and put it up for sale. Ditto if it's a lemon. The chucks alone are worth what I'm willing to bid. Don't get it...a call to PM is likely in my future. Easy, painless, everything I need to get started in one fell swoop.

If I was in your shoes, use-case wise and had the money available, and was in tbe US, I reckon I'd be a PM customer by now.

Something along the lines of a 10xn

A PM 10 x 30, DRO, starter tooling set, runs about $6k. I can buy a perfectly functional used lathe (that clocks in at 3x the weight of a PM) for a third of that (or less), that'll do anything I need it to do...if I'm patient, catch the right deal within driving distance, and choose wisely. Probably, I'll end up buying the PM when the dust settles...but I'm not quite there yet. Very nice machines, well optioned, all things considered, I'd likely be better off spending the extra money up front. But I'm not made of money, and I'd also like to buy a milling machine, a better metal saw and drill press, plasma cutter, a hydraulic press, ect. ect. ect. That means patience and bargain hunting. And/or wise buys that give me the tools to make tools and bootstrap myself to where I want to be...

 

[SouthernChap]

I'm bidding on a machine now, dirt cheap. If I win the auction at my price cap, worst case I can part it out and make money. Or clean it up and put it up for sale. Ditto if it's a lemon. The chucks alone are worth what I'm willing to bid. Don't get it...a call to PM is likely in my future. Easy, painless, everything I need to get started in one fell swoop.

A PM 10 x 30, DRO, starter tooling set, runs about $6k. I can buy a perfectly functional used lathe (that clocks in at 3x the weight of a PM) for a third of that (or less), that'll do anything I need it to do...if I'm patient, catch the right deal within driving distance, and choose wisely. Probably, I'll end up buying the PM when the dust settles...but I'm not quite there yet. Very nice machines, well optioned, all things considered, I'd likely be better off spending the extra money up front. But I'm not made of money, and I'd also like to buy a milling machine, a better metal saw and drill press, plasma cutter, a hydraulic press, ect. ect. ect. That means patience and bargain hunting. And/or wise buys that give me the tools to make tools and bootstrap myself to where I want to be...

Ah, I'm guessing that you have sufficient experience in machining/metalwork to go the old iron route with some caution but without the terror of spending a significant sum for a pile of scrap metal. That's a good place to be in.

For the pretty much knowledgeless 'me' back when I started looking, I'd have advised that 'me' to spend a bit more and get a 10x22 from Warco like their WM250V, or even maybe, the GH600.

But now, if say, my workshop was broken into and my lathe was stolen, although I'm still a babe in arms where machining is concerned, given what I've learned from fettling and adjusting this 7x14 and what I've learned from this place, I'd be on FM and eBay looking at Colchesters, Boxfords and Harrisons with my insurance cheque in my grubby paws.

Interestingly, a couple of days ago, James from Clough42 put up the first of a couple of videos covering all the machines in his shop and what he'd buy if he were starting out and knew what he knows now.

One of the things he said was that if he were starting again, he'd be tempted to not bother with a drill press but just rely on a decent mill (he's got a PM935 IIRC). He talks about his lathe and mills and a bunch of other stuff.

It's a good watch and and worth checking out. All his videos are worth checking out if you haven't seen them.

 

[Babyseal]

aaa

Ah, I'm guessing that you have sufficient experience in machining/metalwork to go the old iron route with some caution but without the terror of spending a significant sum for a pile of scrap metal. That's a good place to be in.

For the pretty much knowledgeless 'me' back when I started looking, I'd have advised that 'me' to spend a bit more and get a 10x22 from Warco like their WM250V, or even maybe, the GH600.

But now, if say, my workshop was broken into and my lathe was stolen, although I'm still a babe in arms where machining is concerned, given what I've learned from fettling and adjusting this 7x14 and what I've learned from this place, I'd be on FM and eBay looking at Colchesters, Boxfords and Harrisons with my insurance cheque in my grubby paws.

Interestingly, a couple of days ago, James from Clough42 put up the first of a couple of videos covering all the machines in his shop and what he'd buy if he were starting out and knew what he knows now.

One of the things he said was that if he were starting again, he'd be tempted to not bother with a drill press but just rely on a decent mill (he's got a PM935 IIRC). He talks about his lathe and mills and a bunch of other stuff.

It's a good watch and and worth checking out. All his videos are worth checking out if you haven't seen them.

Haven't did any machining since High School. But I'm a decent mechanic, one of my hobbies is rebuilding old hardware, and lathes aren't THAT complicated mechanically. I've got a friend who went to machinist training with my older brother, owns a machine shop, on tap for advice and any machining required. Machine I'm bidding on, by happy coincidence, got a crew working on my nephews house, with a truck/trailer, up north 45 minutes from the auction for pickup. Didn't realize it till I called the guy last night. That saves a metric crapton on shipping costs. If it turns out to be a pile of scrap metal, PM wants $300 for the 10x30 cabinet...drill some new holes, use the nice looking cabinet from the auction machine (PM has it on backorder anyway), part out the rest.

 

[ggbutcher]

I have a Sherline lathe and mill. I bought them for their size and weight, since I needed to be able to use them in a spare bedroom and put them away when done.

I think they are wonderful learning tools. They are very nicely made and accurate in use. A remarkably-complete range of accessories is available for them. You can do everything with them as long as the parts you are making are small. But consider how small "small" is. I think you could make a Stuart 10V on them, but only just. Definitely get the longer bed version, and skip the riser blocks (they aren't a substitute for a larger machine).

I mostly work with brass, for which they are a joy in use. The largest parts I've cut have been about 3" in diameter, in brass. That's the biggest you will want to go or may even be possible. Aluminum and "free machining" steel like 12L14 is also easy (I really dislike 12L14, however, due to how incredibly prone to rust it is). Harder steels or stainless steel are really too tough for these machines and not recommended except for very small parts. I've done it, and it's passable, but you learn a lot about controlling chatter if you try to cut stainless.

Complaints? One is that the Morse 0 taper in the tail-stock is very small and will slip a little too frequently if you overdo things like jumping straight to a larger drill size. Sherline's vise is also a touch too small small and light. You also have to be careful not to tighten things down too hard on the aluminum parts lest you damage them.

Flex can be a problem if too much tool pressure is applied, so you will be taking light cuts. However, your parts will be small too, and likely you won't be cutting very hard materials, and as a hobbyist your time is not money, so it's really OK.

The most flex I've experienced has been during drilling on the mill - there can be a "thunk" when you break through when the pressure is released. You should be stepping up drill sizes rather than going straight to your final drill size. That said, my holes have always been straight and accurate.

A note about these being "spare bedroom" tools: Yes, absolutely, but don't even think about machining in a room with carpeted floors. Luckily, I have wood floors, which is manageable. I have lusted over heavier machines such as those from P.M., but the comfort and convenience of working in my hobby room has so far outweighed that. I do suppose one of those 7" mini-lathes could work OK in that environment, but even that is far too heavy to be put away after an afternoon's work, so it should be considered permanently placed. And, of course, they famously tend to be of dubious quality. Any bigger than that, and they will be relegated to a garage or barn, too.

A Sherline lathe is so nice that they are rarely regretted. Again, they are a wonderful learning tool and fully capable for small projects. But just be clear on what materials you will be working with and how big your parts will be. And double your budget for all those accessories.

Pretty much everything @zondar said.

I just bought the Sherline lathe and mill column to do HO scale steam locomotive parts. My office/workshop is a meager 7'x10' in the corner of our basement, so space was definitely a consideration. I keep the lathe/mill on a bookshelf and move it to the worktable when needed, don't think I could do that with any PM machine...

I do railcar restoration work with a fellow who has had the same setup for a decade or so. He does small steel with it, light-light cuts, he says, "I'm retired, what else will I spend my time doing?"

I had a specific use in mind, helped to constrain my decisions. If I ever found the need do anything larger, it'll be at the restoration workshop, where they have a medium-sized machine shop.

 

[Babyseal]

Now the proud owner of a Sheldon EL46P, $400. From a school, hasn't been touched in at least the last 20 years. Under the decades worth of caked on grime and dust, looks like it's never cut metal. Only visible issue is the feed screw's been unhooked, probably so they could move it, hopefully before bending it. Guy said he moved it from the old school in '03 when they built a new school, it'd been stored since moving, it'd been in storage for umpteen years prior to that, and they'd never had a metal shop program he was aware of. Also picked up a very cool and pristine Century drill press. Anyone know anything about it?