Is this a good deal? 3 in 1 HF Mill

[jawilder]

"Harbor Freight 3 in 1 Drill, Mill, Lathe. Great For: Prototypes, One Offs, and Short Runs. Has Drill Chuck and Key, End Mill Set, and Lathe Tooling."

All for $350

 

[MountainBilly]

It has a number of potential good points. If it is old enough not to have plastic gears, if it has been used without breaking and if the tooling included is of good quality. Many on this forum have advised of bad experiences with the mill lathe combo machines.

Also, if you have a big shop and could shunt this aside for specific tasks if and when you buy a bigger mill, that makes it a safer purchase.

 

[jawilder]

My "shop" is a single car garage and is already packed. I'm hoping to save on space as I also plan to get a bench top surface grinder down the road.

I guess I should add that I am not really interested in the lathe option. It would be mostly used as a mill with the occasional lathe. I need a lathe from time to time but not enought to justify buying one and letting it sit around to collect dust.

 

[Patrickknives]

I have that exact machine and it works fine. It has the drawback of being an all in one, does it all but not the best. I have used the mill alot and the lath a bit. only issue I have is building the bed high enough to use collets rather than the chuck. I bought a massive rotory table to raise it up and allows me to align the mill with the workpiece.

Overall for $350 its a good buy, I have used mine for 3 years and its very solid and reliable.