A little off the subject

[mdeland]

Yeah a Bridgport would be nice but a full size one are enormously heavy. Go with a vertical mill as they usually are far more flexible for the gunsmith light milling work. I actually have both a vertical and small horizontal mill but the later almost never gets used. I use the mill nearly as much as the lathe though I would guess.
A good floor mount drill press will be used more than either the lathe or mill.
I actually have a Unimat hobby lathe I use for firing pins and very small work.
One of the things you will do yourself a great favor to learn is how to make coil springs on your lathe. You can make any size and length you want and will come in very handy when one of them takes off across the shop while dissembling a gun and you can't find it until you get the new one made.

[mdeland]

One more thing. Usually the lathes will have a milling attachment option and on occasion I have been able to use the lathe milling option when the vertical or horizontal mill would have been far more work to set up . Sine bars are a nice option for taper work but I have always liked tail stock set over personally. With any of these shop power tools you will quickly learn that the tooling is what is really expensive. In machine work, accurate set up is everything and it is amazing what precision work can be turned out on ordinary machines that do not have much of a pedigree. Pope used a trundle lathe that he said he knew how to" lean into" to get precision out of.

[TexasMac]

A floor mount drill press would but nice but until then I have an older bench drill press. If I pick up a mill it will definitely be a vertical mill. I do have a milling attachment with the LeBlond, which is one reason I need to get it up and running ASAP, but it's (the lathe) in pretty rough condition. A horizontal/vertical band saw would also be nice. Considering my affinity for mechanical stuff & general interests, I no doubt would have been very happy being a machinist. Of course the pay wouldn't have been nearly as lucrative as it was being an EE in the semiconductor industry which I retired from 20 yrs ago.

Wayne

[mdeland]

Wayne, I went with a 24 inch Milwaukee hand held bandsaw instead of a floor mount after seeing one on the old TV show of "Orange City Choppers" custom motor cycle building. I set it up in a portable vice on my table and for a shop with limited floor space it is very flexible. I also use it for cutting out plate steel when making triggers, sears etc which a floor mount will not do. Actually they sell a stand for the hand held band saw which I never had need of since I had the portable vice to hold it vertical and stationary.

[Kurt]

I sold my Sheldon Lathe with the intentions getting a smaller bench lathe and I used a milling attachment on it and it worked great for horizontal milling. I ended getting a Matthews PM 25 MV mill and it's a great unit but not a lathe I miss
Wayne I been thinking getting that very lathe you have but with a DRO, how is the quality and precision of that lathe? I'm sort of teetering between this and a Baileigh PL-1022VS because of the 1" spindle bore it has over the 20mm.
Any dislikes with your machine?

[TexasMac]

Wayne, I went with a 24 inch Milwaukee hand held bandsaw instead of a floor mount after seeing one on the old TV show of "Orange City Choppers" custom motor cycle building. I set it up in a portable vice on my table and for a shop with limited floor space it is very flexible. I also use it for cutting out plate steel when making triggers, sears etc which a floor mount will not do. Actually they sell a stand for the hand held band saw which I never had need of since I had the portable vice to hold it vertical and stationary.

Mike, that's an excellent suggestion. I will definitely look at the Milwaukee or similar brands of hand-held bandsaws. BTW, in your mind, what is the advantage of a full size vertical mill with an adjustable knee vs a good heavy bench mill? For the price of good used Bridgeport I can get a brand new heavy good quality bench mill. A guy I shoot with has a Enco without an adjustable knee & complains that if head adjustment is necessary after finding center, he has to recenter due to looseness (some wiggle) when raising or lowering the head for various reasons. From his point of view an adjustable knee would eliminate the problem. I would also assume that a mill with an adjustable knee would allow for taller objects. I would sure appreciate your viewpoint on the subject.

Wayne

[TexasMac]

I sold my Sheldon Lathe with the intentions getting a smaller bench lathe and I used a milling attachment on it and it worked great for horizontal milling. I ended getting a Matthews PM 25 MV mill and it's a great unit but not a lathe I miss
Wayne I been thinking getting that very lathe you have but with a DRO, how is the quality and precision of that lathe? I'm sort of teetering between this and a Baileigh PL-1022VS because of the 1" spindle bore it has over the 20mm.
Any dislikes with your machine?

Kurt,

When researching, prior to purchasing my lathe several months ago, I looked at Grizzly, Shop Fox, Baileigh and a few others. It came down to either a Grizzly or the Little Machine Shop (LMS). I went with the LMS 8.5X20 due to several reasons:
• 1000W brushless hi-torque motor. It does have plenty of torque.
• Power cross feed & power carriage feed. I’ve used both so far.
• Feature to disengage the spindle if using a milling head or for other reasons. I have not had the need to use this so far.
• Hardened bed ways & many other features
• All metal gears & came with a complete set of metal change gears.
• The excellent reputation of Little Machine Shop products and their support staff. I called them for recommendations and support many time and have been very impressed, plus they have any of the parts that may eventually break on the lathe.

I could be wrong but as I remember I don’t believe the Baileigh has a brushless hi-torque motor and does not offer powered cross feed. One of the criticisms I remember about the Baileigh was several complaining about the lack of sufficient motor power.

The Baileigh does have a slightly larger spindle bore as you noted & the low speed is 50RPM vs. the 100RPM of the LMS lathe. 50RPM is better for threading but 100RPM works for me.

Although I like the LMS lathe (quality and precision is excellent) and LMS support, considering all the above if I were buying a lathe now I very likely go with Weiss 10x22 lathe which has all the features I wanted with an excellent price, & it has a 1.02” spindle bore. For some reason when I was doing the research I missed the Weiss. Check it out: https://www.dropros.com/DRO_PROS_Weiss_Lathes.htm

Wayne

[Kurt]

That Weiss does have some good specs. I will look into it a little deeper. For me the 10X20 is just about ideal for a bench lathe I want in the basement and not out in the shed where it will in time turn brown like the Sheldon did no matter how much rust prevention I did.
TNX. for the link on the Weiss Wayne.

Kurt

[mdeland]

If you are interested in much barrel work than you will want at least 36 inches between centers. Spindle cutting works OK for barrel work usually but sooner rather than later you will wished you had longer ways! Interestingly I have found that for cutting extractor slots at odd angles in barrel breeches, the lathe mill attachment often works the best.

[mdeland]

I should mention in regards to the hand band saw I found it particularly useful when cutting up rail road rails at the Birchwood range when we were making the target sets. They are just so versatile a shop should have one even if they do have a floor mount saw.

[Kurt]

Our plumbing shop had several portabands and they have their place but if you want a critical straight cut a metal band saw is the rout to go.

[mdeland]

Nah, even then I want it milled or lathe turned square. Band saw blades always have some flex even if the guide rollers are work close and tight bearing-ed.

[TexasMac]

Mike,

Can you comment on the questions I asked your earlier about vertical mills with knees, etc. You likely overlooked it & I value your experience and comments. Thanks.

Wayne

[mdeland]

Wayne , that's because I don't know anything very technical about full size Knee mills other than what they look like. Mine is a Jet 16 vertical bench mill which is pretty much a 600 lb. drill press with a x-y axis table. To make curve cuts I have to draw out the part on top with a scribe and cross axis the table screws to follow the curves with the power head cutting tool. Takes a bit of practice but works fine for course work cut out.
For angular cuts I have a bolt on angle vice. I have a set if dividing heads as well but almost never use them.

[TexasMac]

Wayne , that's because I don't know anything very technical about full size Knee mills other than what they look like. Mine is a Jet 16 vertical bench mill which is pretty much a 600 lb. drill press with a x-y axis table. To make curve cuts I have to draw out the part on top with a scribe and cross axis the table screws to follow the curves with the power head cutting tool. Takes a bit of practice but works fine for course work cut out.
For angular cuts I have a bolt on angle vice. I have a set if dividing heads as well but almost never use them.

Thanks Mike. I'll get on 1 or 2 of the machinist forums and ask similar questions. I need to decide if I really need a Bridgeport or Bridgeport-style vertical mill with an adjustable knee of a one similar to what you have.

Wayne