I know the focus at Sawmill Creek is woodworking, but I hoping there are some knowledgeable metal workers or machinists hang around.
I have used both milling machines and metal lathes before, years ago. I know how to use them, but never got into selecting the machines or tooling.
First, requirement is that it must fit throught the 36" wide door into my basement and must not be more than 7ft tall. (walk-out basement, one 4" step up and then one 12" step down that is actually ramped already)
Second, it would be preferred if it was 120VAC single phase, 240VAC single phase, or 240VAC three phase (I would build another 1ph to 3ph VFD enclosure).
Third, I do not want a combo machine.
The first few questions I have are:
1-For the milling machine, What type of collet should I be looking for the machine to accept? I see a lot of R8 collet and related stuff listed on the market. Should that be what I am targeting?
2-What is the largest size that would fit through a 36" wide single door (without extensive or complex disassembly)? I'm thinking even the smaller fullsized Bridgeport machines will be too big.
3-For the lathe, 36" is a pretty wide door to fit a lathe through sideways, I think one could get a fairly sizable lathe (based on the front to rear footprint measurement). I don't think that would be much of a limiting factor. With that, what size lathe should I be looking for? The 6"x X" and 7"x X" seem awfully small and delicate. As for length, I don't want to short myself (no pun intended) but at the same time, I cannot imagine chucking anything that is 24" or longer (honestly I can't think of what I would check that would be 24" in the first place).
The metal working problems I have been working around for many years
-the ability to square rough metal or to change its thickness
-to change the ID or OD od round metal parts
-to accurately drill metal parts squarely and on center
-accurate drill multi-hole patterns (such as the hole pattern for a face mount motor)
In other words I don't have anything to run end mills or facing cutters, that indexes x-y, or that can cut on center (squarely I can do, but on exactly on center is the caveat).
I am looking for what I cann "forever" machines. I have a good idea of what I need to do. Don't want to have to fuss around with the machine everytime I want to use it (ie., I don't want to argue with the machine, only getting the setup just right to make the part). I don't want to buy another unless it is to buy a much larger one.
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