Your thoughts on a lathe / mill / drill combo machine

[sportbike]

Shoot, for $250, I don't see how you can go wrong. If you don't like it, just re-sell it.

[redbeard]

Shoot, for $250, I don't see how you can go wrong. If you don't like it, just re-sell it.

I was going to say how I'm not real thrilled with my HF 3-in-1, but for that price, I would certainly grab it (unless it has obvious major issues). The biggest beef I have with mine is the tiny table size, but that doesn't look to be a problem with this unit.

[Rambozo]

As will all combinations there are trade offs. The lathe part is fairly typical, but because of the size of the mill table, your swing over carriage is less than what you would have on a dedicated lathe. They compensate a little by making the swing over bed a little larger. The mill part loses a lot of rigidity because it has to hang out quite a ways from the column. Shopmaster is the exception to this as they use a bridgemill design and I've heard really good things about them. At that price it's kinda a no brainer as you will be able to see if it meets your needs and even if it doesn't, you will know just what you want in the next machine. If you work in aluminum, plastics, and free machining steels, etc. it should do fine. If you plan to hog off a lot of stainless, that might be a little tough.

[Odyknuck]

Many years ago I started off with a 3 n 1 unit and if your doing really "small" stuff then it's ok however slow. I used it for about a year and sold it. I needed something that i could make parts for Harleys etc. Ended up buying a brand new Enco bridgeport style mill and a used 40" Enco lathe for 600 bucks. Been using them both for 15 years with minimal problems. Keep in mind they are not used daily as i suspect they would ware out quickly as the are made in China.