mills and lathes

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>>1157311
I had a look at a chinky lathe a friend wanted to buy. From memory a 230 x 500mm benchtop lathe. first thing I noticed when testing it out was that the tailstock sat about 30 thou too high. unbolted the tailstock and the bottom of it looked like a fucking cheesergrater, rough as fuck machining with lots of chatter.
> just buy a secondhand machine and research handscraping, you'll get a hell of a lot more enjoyment out of rebuilding and using old American and English iron than you will from a chink machine.

>>1157311
where to cop a desktop mill/lathe for a reasonable price for an almost-poorfag

>>1157335
This. I could be wrong, but I was thinking everything Grizzly sells, definitely the small less expensive stuff, will have been tempered with soy sauce.

>>1157335
I would love to, but any old iron reasonably in my area is overpriced and still probably clapped out. Plus I don't need a gigantic 10hp industrial mill to mill out an ar15

>>1157337
I figured but I was hoping it would be "made to USA specs" where it's Chinese but high enough quality. What about new South bend or other brands?

>not a 70 year old industrial 3 phase machine that weighs more than my car (...yet)

S'a pity because these are by far the most bang for the buck. It's not even close.

>not a combo machine (ie pic related)

good call.

>not chinesium/harborfreightium if at all possible

OK.

>little to no proprietary accessories or bullshit (if thats even a thing)

Not really. It's all standard (if less usual) tapers. M2 (for small stuff) or R8 (everything else) usually.

>2500-3000 max for both

Might as well go for an old Bridgeport. Spending that much on high-end Chinesium or new is silly. You get 1/10th the capability.

>quality cnc kit available is a good bonus

Everything can be CNCed trivially today with similar work.

>ive been looking at grizzly mostly, they have a good selection within my price range. i have some questions in general though;

Grizzy is all Chinesium, and really, only half a notch above HF.

>for lathes, does it make a big difference between a .75 and 1hp motor?

Yes, especially when the specs are lying.

>for mills, does it make a big difference between a .75 and 1 and 2hp motor?

Yes, especially
>is it better to have a belt driven variable speed lathe/mill or a multi fixed speed gearbox lathe/mill?
>is dro something i should be picky about getting or is it not really worth the cost?
>is there anything else i should take into consideration like spindle tapers or number of feeds or other small things that the average layman may overlook?

also general metalworking/shaping thread as well to help give this thread a little more substance.

>>1157345

Oops, hit post by accident

>for mills, does it make a big difference between a .75 and 1 and 2hp motor?

Yes, especially when the specs are lying. They are always lying.

>>is it better to have a belt driven variable speed lathe/mill or a multi fixed speed gearbox lathe/mill?

In my experience, belt is always superior. It may not be an option.

>>is dro something i should be picky about getting or is it not really worth the cost?

DRO is indispensible to the thing being useful for one-off hand work.

>>is there anything else i should take into consideration like spindle tapers or number of feeds or other small things that the average layman may overlook?

Get features you need and have ause for. Don't collect bullet points 'just in case'. You can always add.

>>1157345
>>1157347
>S'a pity because these are by far the most bang for the buck. It's not even close.
i wish i could get the big boys but i just dont have the garage space and everything within a reasonable driving radius is just overpriced or doesnt exist

>Might as well go for an old Bridgeport. Spending that much on high-end Chinesium or new is silly. You get 1/10th the capability.
again i wish i could find one in the 1.5-2k range

>Grizzy is all Chinesium, and really, only half a notch above HF.
eww. are there any other brands that arent shit for mills and lathes? id be willing to up the budget a bit

>Yes, especially when the specs are lying. They are always lying.
figured as much

>In my experience, belt is always superior. It may not be an option.
why is that, convenience vs changing a gear for every speed step?

>>1157389
>>In my experience, belt is always superior. It may not be an option.
I should qualify that I'm talking about new machines in the $2k and under range. I'm not talking about, eg, gear-drive Bridgeports.
Cheap gearboxes explode. Constantly. It's bad enough that cheap mills chatter, bind, vibrate, and grab, but it's even worse when it felxes enough to snag a piece, rip it out of the clamps, fling it across the room, and destroy the gear drive at the same time.

>>1157389
>again i wish i could find one in the 1.5-2k range
shit there was an auction at a shop around here where 3 bridgeports went for <900, all had dros and power feeds

>>1157652
what magical land of decked out quality machinery for low prices do you live in?

>>1157777
dfw

3 different bridgeports, dunno about 2, one was textron. final auction prices were like 800,900, maybe one just over 1000. no idea bout rigging it out of there though.

they also had a bunch of gigantic 80s CNC centers that went for dirt cheap

get a list of all the auction places in your area and watch them every few days

>>1157794
Fuckin a man. Hard to find that shit on the west coast as far as I can tell. I'll still be on the lookout though those are hell of a deals