The 5 Machine Buying Axioms!

When I left my employer of 10 years, I thought I would work on some neat ideas I had.  I bought a0small 7x10 lathe and a small milling machine (model 3900 from little machine shop, a great little mill).  I quickly learned I couldn’t make some of the bigger parts I needed, and that I had a lot to learn.  I used a machine shop in Columbus, Ohio to provide me the bigger stuff, and even fixed some of the parts they made on my dinky machines.  I started reading online forums… a lot.  I joined practical machinist, homeshopmachinist, hobbymachinists, you name it, I had an account (and still frequent most of them).  I learned a few axioms about buying machines:

1)      You can make small parts on big machines, but you can't make big parts on small machines (to a point).    

This is a classic line for anyone that wants to start a hobby or business.  As soon as you buy that HF (harbor freight) 7x10 lathe, you’ll outgrow it.  Then that 9”Atlas you got at an auction… too tiny.  Then that 14” southbend… well you get the idea.  Now some large lathes won’t have the RPMs to turn small stuff, so Buyer Beware.

2)      Bridgeports are the Jordache Jeans of the machine world.

Everyone and their mom wants a Bridgeport.  Well they are very nice machines, but I always suggest looking at other less known names (Gorton, Tree, Millrite, US Burke, a host of Chinese and Taiwanese BP clones, and my fave Wells-Index).  Now all of these have their faults, (except Index, they’re perfect), but you can usually get them for much much less than a comparable BP.  However the spindle may also take something other than r-8 collets. Again buyer beware.

3)      Know in your head you will spend as much on the mill/lathe as you will in tooling for it.

This is a classic mistake, and one I made personally.  You will need for your mill before you start a very good vise, a very good dial indicator, a very good set of endmills, drills, a Jacobs chuck, collets, and some hold down tooling.  You will soon want on your mill DRO’s, power feed, a second vise, some angle plates, and coolant of some sort.  For your lathe you can get by with less, a set of boring bars, some indexable tooling, maybe some HHS bits and a few carbide tipped ones… but you will need at some point, collets, a steady rest, a follower rest, lathe dogs, a dead center, a live center, a 4 jaw chuck.  Look for the extras!

4)      It’s for sale for a reason.

And it behooves you to find out why.  It may be bad, it may not, this may be a “just me thing” but I have had more success with older owners than younger ones.  I personally love kicking the tires and fixing up stuff.  I wouldalso suggest not buying on internet auctions.  I think it’s best to kick the tires around on em, and maybe see an easy fix or a major problem before you buy it.

5)      It’s not the brush. It’s the painter.  

You can still do sloppy work on a deckel, and I’ve seen great work on a mill/drill.  It’s something to think about before sinking 20k on a mill.

Well that’s my insight for the day, and what I’ve learned so far when buying and looking at machines.