3 in 1 Mill, Drill, Lathe

A

Angus71

Joined
Nov 26, 2011
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So I fell in to an opportunity to buy a lightly used Smithy Midas 1220 XL with some tooling pretty cheap ($800). I have no real experience with machining but it's something I would like to learn. I plan to sign up for an adult ed class at the local community college. My question is this. Is this machine something I should pursue? Or would my money be better spent elsewhere down the road, like towards a used larger mill? I appreciate any input.

Here is a link the Smithy website
http://www.smithy.com/midasMachines
 
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I'm just getting started with my mill but it seems like a lot of time is spent setting up the work. If you actually need a mill and a lathe then you're going to waste a lot of time changing your setup. But a machinist I know has a neighbor with one of these mill/lathe hybrids and apparently it is impressively useful.

I'm sure it blows away a HF mini mill, which is the only thing you're likely to find under $800. One concern I would have is I've seen these on CL for a lot less in my area and they tend to sit on CL for a long time. You might have trouble getting rid of it down the road if you want to upgrade.
 
Thanks for the input! I've heard that switching setups of these things can be time consuming. I kind of wonder if I would use the lathe much at all, as I'm mostly interested in the mill function. I already have a decent drill press. I might be able to work on the price a bit. The current owner is a retired Engineer and hobby gunsmith that recently downsized so he could travel the world doing missionary work. He's a friend of my Father in Law so he might make me an offer I can't pass up.
 
I have a Smithy Granite 3 in 1. I love it. Never had a problem so far. Only change I made was to switch the belt configuration for a faster milling speeds as I only do light and surface milling. Setup switch over really isn't that hard. Two switches and changing out your vise and toolpost. If you take an afternoon and index your mill vise it makes it much easier.
 
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