Lathe or Mill?

KLZ’s thread has prompted me to ask:

If you had space for only one metal-cutting machine, which would you retain, if you have both, or which would you buy? If you had to down-size with both machines, which new machine would you buy - a lathe or a mill? This is, of course, using hindsight!

Nearly everyone starts with a lathe, but would a milling machine be a better choice these days? Ignoring CNC machines in this thread.

Discuss.

Personally, I would now keep the mill (it is fitted with dro and long-travel power feed). Later conversion to CNC might be a better option with a mill, I know.

Edited By not done it yet on 04/10/2018 13:39:14

I think it's not a coincidence that many machines which are primarily classed as lathes have equipment available for them that enables milling - whereas I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a turning attachment for a mill. A workholder as versatile as a 3- or 4-jaw chuck spinning on a milling arbor is not easy to think of as practical.

Through much of the 70s, I was a machinist for pay (before drifting off into a long diversion into MRP computer systems), and I spent as much time milling as I did turning, so I don't think I've much of a prejudicial axe to grind in favour of the lathe.

But many or most models and a good proportion of other machined gadgetry involves rotating components in bearings, so the lathe seems to me indispensable unless you happen to be able to use buyable standard parts for what you want to make.

I've been using a lathe with a vertical slide for milling for nearly 20 years now, and I've not yet found myself deadlocked on any milling or jig-boring op due to the small capacity of the milling setup. The one area I'd like to address but can't at present is helical milling and gear-cutting - dividing head work - and that's what might make me buy a mill in future.

But I can't see as I could get rid of the lathe.

I would say Lathe, The Minnie in my Avitar was made with just a lathe can't see the turning operations being as easy on a mill as the milling ones were on the lathe. I still use the lathe for some boring operations particularly as the work can be fed along the spindle axis for a nice even cut for which you would more likely need Z axis power feed on a mill not just X axis.

It's an interesting question! I started powered metalwork with a pillar drill when a milling machine would have been a better buy. Later my lathe impressed me with the wonderful things it could do, and then disappointed me grievously because so many jobs need a mill. Only now I've got both am I truly happy. Depends on the type of work you do, but I reckon quite a few model makers would be better off starting with a milling machine.

Dave

As Jason, I would keep the lathe since I have a home made milling slide I can mount on the lathe cross slide. Most of the work I do involve turning. If buying new and with limited space, may be a lathe with a milling head mounted at the rear of the bed. I can in fact do that with the 290 lathe I already have, probably not as good as a milling machine though.

Thor

shaper...

Well - with a horizontal mill it's not that hard to turn things. In fact I've turned a large plate that wouldn't swing on the Myford using a bodged top-slide arrangement. I also quite frequently use my small MF mill in 'vertical-slide-like' mode (e.g. pretty much the same as a lathe plus vertical slide in use) - because it's very easy to do so and it's a bit more robust than the lathe/v-slide arrangement (and offers longer travel if required). In fact I was doing this quite recently - as I had something already set-up in the Myford and didn't want to disturb it and needed to co-ordinate drill another part. Poor planning I hear you say (& you are probably right!) and this also harks back to a recent thread about not having 'quills' on my mill's vertical heads.

But this really doesn't reflect my general day-to-day machining - which is mostly mundane turning and boring work.

So whilst I can turn, bore, drill and mill on a number of my machines, it's much easier to do things on the machine which is best suited to the work. I'm fortunate to have a good selection of machinery to choose from but if I could only keep one of my machines - it would have to be the Myford Super 7. Even though mine is old it is still capable of good work and tremendously versatile when required

So no, I'm sorry - whilst I might not recommend any newbie reading this to buy 'old iron' - I'd always advise them that their first machine tool should be a lathe (a new one if they can afford it) - unless their needs were very unusual & specific.

Regards,

IanT

Well - I can't "turn" on my shapers TG - but I can certainly make things round with them - it just takes a while!

Regards,

IanT

Another vote for the lathe. I worked for several years with just the lathe and a milling slide. Despite now having a milk, I still find the lathe more convenient for a lot of jobs.

I was just thinking of my last visit to Portsmouth Naval Dockyard (as a tourist that is, I’m certainly no old salt)..... All the preserved ships had a lathe on board. Naval vessels had (and still have) to be able to make running repairs at sea, independent of assistance from other ships or ports. On the submarine HMS Alliance, the sole machine tool on board (and located in the engine room) was a Drummond M-Type lathe. I expect that was fairly typical of any small vessel.

HMS Belfast, on the other hand, has a very well-equipped workshop.....

Well having started model engineering about a year ago and so far only having a mini-lathe I would go with the lathe.

It obviously depends a lot on the type of work but so far I would estimate that the parts I have made or modified on the lathe out number the parts that required a mill by some margin.

I think it would depend on the size of machine. A larger lathe would give you good rigidity and travel for a vertical slide on which to mount pieces to mill, a 7" mini lathe is a little to limiting in rigidity and travel. A vertical mill from a mini mill, Sieg SX2 type can be used with a bit of ingenuity to turn small parts, either rotating in the spindle or mounted on a rotary table. I have both an SX2 mill and an SC3 lathe but find it easier to turn bigger diameters on the mill due to power limitations of the lathe. Now if only I had a Bridgeport and a Colchester!!

Thinking a bit more about it, I reckon the single point cutters are the reason for simple turning being fairly universal for most lathe jobs, so the cheapest option, so most popular. Thaiguzzi’s reply brought that home to me.

Setting up a rotary table and tailstock on the mill bed and machine long cylindrical parts between centres would be a pain but do-able.

But cutting large gears on a mill is easy - not so on a lathe?

I would need a much more sturdy rotary table to mill large diameter parts, but most would be possible, but I’m not sure if the finish would be good enough for bearing surfaces. Mainly because nobody would do it, so it has not been tried.

I must add, I suppose, that my mill is both vertical or horizontal - so rather more universally variable than the average vertical-only machine. Screw threading would need a deal of mods to be able to mill threads....

Jobs would be harder to set up for ‘turning’ type operations, but not impossible.

After all, it is just a change from predominantly turning the workpiece, to driving a rotating tool....

Lathe.

Because I enjoy turning more than milling.

Simples.

Neil

P.S. when I nuked the motor on my mini lathe I turned two pulleys on my mill so that I could get the lathe working with an old Hoover motor. First job on the lathe - four more pulleys!

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 04/10/2018 19:16:12

For me it would be the lathe , ever tried to cut threads on a mill ? And yes I know you can mill threads on a cnc mill !

A lathe is pretty much as close to a universal machine as you are likely to get, especially with a few accessories. I bought my first small lathe with a milling attachment. The down side of that is the time you waste converting from one to the other, but it saves a few bucks for the beginner and time is not really of the essence.

It is actually possible to shape round objects, if you equip the machine for shaping between centres. This also enables interesting jobs like making things that are only round part of the way around...I made some blanks for eccentric straps like that. On the other hand, the shaper can't make things that are round up to a shoulder very easily

John

The lathe is the mother of all machines up to a point, with some accessories it can mill, slot, divide, gear cut and many other functions. It will never be as good as a specially made machine but if you have patience and ingenuity many functions can be performed if they will fit in the working envelope of the lathe. It would probably struggle to emulate a CNC Hexapod configuration but basic machining is possible.

Mike

Definitely a lathe. I've never had a mill at home and rarely wished that I did. Even many professional workshops will have a lathe in a corner somewhere but no milling machine. You can do some milling in the lathe if needed. But very difficult to do lathing in the mill with any great ease or success. And no screwcutting, which I consider to be indispensable.

As you mentioned only a manual machine, it will be a lathe with milling attachments and full digital readout, on all axis with the tailstock quill included with an indexing head as well. The lathe spindle becomes the mill spindle, cross slide becomes the X axis, vertical slide becomes the Y axis, and the saddle movement becomes the Z axis.

If you were going cnc, then the answer will be a milling machining centre with a 4th axis. That will do most of what a lathe can do within reason, as well as all the milling functions in 1 machine.

Neil

Perhaps my view is coloured by the Antony Croucher adaptation of the Raglan 5” lathe - the labormil - which, after conversion, looks more like a mill than a lathe and was, I expect, used more as a mill than a lathe.

**LINK**

I think many views are coloured by the historic use of lathes before mills. Particularly Ron Laden, of course. Ron’s view is the real extreme, as he obviously has no real experience of a mill!

That kit plans were historically for lathe-only hobbyists is another. Single point cutting is clearly another. Apart from screw-cutting, I can see relatively easy conversion of a mill for most lathe operations for relatively small parts.

Is the addition of a robust rotary table and tailstock centre really a difficult vision?

Admittedly a labormil might almost have the footprint of a micro-lathe and mini-mill but I, personally, have no particular enthusiasm for such tiny machines (tin hat placed on head!).

Edited By not done it yet on 05/10/2018 08:49:44