Metal lathe/mill for a Woodworker

[Dave Lehnert]

Looking to expand my woodworking hobby to include metal. Kinda like the idea of the 3 in 1 machines. ( I am a shopsmith owner and like it) What will I make with it? Who knows. Have no idea how to use a metal lathe or mill so would want something I can learn on for not a bunch of money.

[Steve knight]

for the most part those 3 in ones are pretty crappy from most of the reports I have seen. there are higher end ones of course.
I have a shopfox mill/drill and it is a nice tool to have. cutting metal or wood. great for milling dado's and such in wood. easier then the router table and faster too.
but the mill is the cheap part vises and all the tooling can really add up.
Plus there is a learning curve too of course.

[Tom Henderson2]

The combo mill/lathe machines I've seen are not so great.

They can't machine steel worth a darn. They do better with aluminum, but even then only extremly light cuts. Surface finish in general is pretty bad.

Accuracy is lacking as well.

And good luck finding a buyer if you choose to move on, or up to a better machine.

As Steve mentioned, you'll need boucoup tooling to make anything of consequence; vises, fixturing, precision measuring tools, lathe chucks, etc.

Kinda like deciding you want to make furniture, so you buy a table saw on Craig's List for $100, bring it home, and find that you need lots of other tools as well...

And it is difficult to work metal and wood in the same shop since the cutting oil, metal machining chips, etc honk up wood something fierce.

Metalworking is great fun, and I wish you the best in your pursuit. But the cheap tools are generally not a great way to start.

-Tom H.