After spending some time hanging out with my 'smith this afternoon, I'm thinking about possibly getting set up to do some basic metal work. He was very encouraging in his sharing of knowledge and experience.

For now I'm interested in getting a lathe and mill. I've looked at some lathes on fleabay...but what are some of the more important items I need to be looking for??? I see some that really emphasize the machine has a "tapered attachment". I think I know what this is referring to....the ability to use interchangable heads with a tapered cone adapter?? If so, that's what my 'smith has and makes changing attachments VERY fast.

My lathe lingo is rusty.....but I planon refreshing it quickly!!

Spend money when you purchase one. I have a small lathe/mill combo and I want to get a bigger more versatile lathe. The taper you speak of is the Morse Taper on the tailstock and yes it is handy. There is also a Morse Taper in the head stock/chuck end, but it usually isn't used that much. A quick change tool post will benifit you a bunch and a thread dial is a must if doing any threading. There are a million things that are great to have to make things easier, but a guy can make do with some pretty basic tools. A lathe with atleast a 1 7/16" spindle bore will handle most of your barrels. You have enough technology that the basics would get you started, but I warn you now that the basics will only be good enough for a short while. So make sure you spend some money and get a good one when you do.

Look at these and you can find one that will fit your needs.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/mach-specs.aspx?key=460000


Good Luck!

Dan
If you buy one buy a good one and buy it used. Try to get DRO's and Hitenhine(Spelled wrong) scales if possible. They make life pretty easy.

Call Russ and tell him I sent you he will fix you up

http://www.solomonmachinery.com/index.html

When you get ready for tooling Call Bill at Carbide Depot he can fix you up with some good holders and inserts.

http://www.carbidedepot.com/

If bugs deal doesn't work out I agree with checking with Grizzly, also check Enco and MSC. RLB mentioned some of the things to consider. When I bought mine I was tight on money and space so I bought a small lathe only capable of handling a 20" barrel and I bought one of the smaller mills. I've regretted it from day one. The small machinery is just enough to handle what I do with revolvers but I've had several breakdowns with lathe. I personally next time would go with a 36"+ lathe. My mill is fine other than being a little under powered but it has a small table. Something else you'll find is that different companies sell the same equipment under their names. My lathe is sold by Grizzly, Enco, and Harbor Freight as is my mill but the prices vary by 400.00 on the lathe. I was just looking at my Enco flyer and they have a 13"X40" Geared head gap bed lathe, 18speeds and comes with a 6" 3jaw chuck, 7" 4 jaw, steady rest, follow rest, 10" face plate, 3mt dead center for the tailstock, spindle uses 5mt or 3mt with sleeve, 1 1/16" spindle bore, 4 way tool post, set up tools. The lathe is 2599.95 and the stand is another 200.00 but shipping is free on this particular lathe. Grizzle also has two gunsmithing lathes one is about 3500.00 and the other 7000.00. I guess it depends on how serious you want to get. The nice thing about buying new is you get the accessories which are expensive to buy seperately, you get a warranty and you get all the pertinent paper work and manuals. One other thing to watch on the Mill is drive speeds, you want to find one that will go down to at least 60 RPM as that is where you'll do alot of your reaming work, alot of mills only go down to 80 to 120 RPM's. Hope my long winded reply helps. You might just get hold of the companies I mentioned and have a catalog or flyer sent out so you can better compare prices on what your getting if you do go used.

You should spend the extra money and get both a 3 jaw chuck and the quick change collets.The collets usually go up to 1 in. in dia. Then you would need the 3 jaw for anything larger. Buy carbide tooling. You won't be sorry. The only time I use High Speed Steel is if I need to make a threading tool; then you will need a threading guage to set up the threading tool on the lathe. Also get a good outside mic set; 0-3 will do nicely. Also an indicator with a magnetic base(mighty mag).One important safety factor;NEVER STAND DIRECTLY BEHIND THE CHUCK,STAND OFF TO THE SIDE AND WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. BEWARE OF FLYING CHIPS.

Mike is right a collet chuck can be very useful. As for the 3 jaw chuck I like the 6 jaw you can always remove 3 of the jaws if you need the clearance and you get a bit better griping force with the 6 jaw. Also I have found that a smaller four jaw is very useful at times you can chuck it up in the six jaw and indicate square parts in.

As for safety all machine tools very dangerous--- so ask someone who knows before you try anyting you are not sure of.

I have been working with both manual and CNC machine tools for over 20 years and to me they are just like guns you can get hurt quick if you do not understand what you are doing.

If you do buy a used one,run a couple of parts and check it for slop and free play if possible. You dont want something that is woreout.Some free play is normal you have to learn the tool. If you want to take off .004 make sure it dont take .010. The morse taper on the tailstock will allow quick change of tooling. adapters will allow for even more choices. Check online for auctions. You will find some great deals on good tools. A good mill is made by Bridgeport.

What exactly are you wanting to do with it?

I also agree with quick change collets, I bought a set for my mill and they are real nice. I also only use carbide and I use the replaceable bit style. The only hss I have are my crowning
and threading tools I bought through Brownells although most of my crowning is done with specialty tooling by hand as are my throats. The exception are my 50 cal barrels, I need to invest another 200.00 to 300.00 in tooling from Manson to make the job easier but for now I use the lathe. I strongly recommend dealing with Manson, he provides reamers to some of the well known smiths and his stuff is top notch as is the service. Ron Manson is also a very nice guy and he has a wealth of information he is willing to share.

Initially......threading and chambering. Then later on maybe some action blueprinting. Also for making anything else that my little heart desires......there's been tons of times that I was working on a project and needed a slot in something or something turned a little thinner and some tooling would have made things SUPER easy.

I'm a tinkerer at heart.......

When you get carbide tooling. get the tools that are "TIN" coated;titanium nitride. They will last longer for the money.

Just for the chambering and threading you'll want something with a thread dial/threadchasing dial and a low rpm like Rod said. I know exactly what you mean when you say that when you are working on something the tooling on hand would make things so much easier. I tried to explain to my wife how the machine would save me money, but that was pretty much a waist of breath until I proved to her time after time from handles for her pots to parts for my r-fles. You'll find way more uses than just the gun parts. Just don't let your wife know you can make things for her on it or you won't have time for your stuff.

What I've got in my set up so far for tooling is this: I have the 9x20 lathe, bench top mill, bench top drill press, 1 and 4 inch beltsanders the 4 also has a 5" disc, several dremels (a must have), a dremel routing table, full size and mini bench grinders, Drill Dr. drill bit sharpener(very handy), sand blasting cabinet, air compressor, metal bandsaw, and two bench top buffing motors-one with two different muslin wheels and the other with two different felt wheels, and a bench top scroll saw. I won't get into specialty small tooling unless needed. I use all of these alot between building the guns and grips. You will use the lathe to chamber barrels and the mill to chamber cylinders. I also have the hot bluing setup for handguns but I don't have a building for it so I have to wait for nice weather which sucks when you live some place where it rains 250 to 300 days a year, it's a cool set up fully self contained on a cart. I think retail from Brownells is 1500-1700. I still need to pick up my press from storage but I've run out of room. I got disabled before I got a garage and shop built so my machine shop is on the back porch which is totally enclosed and I made my wife take everything stored in our shed and store it in the horse trailer so I could set up the rest of the equipment in there. It's kind of a crude setup but it's nice with my insomnia at 3:00 in the morning I can turn out a barrel or whatever, in fact most of my guns were built between midnight and 4 AM.

That is one way to be productive

You also need to find out what is the power source you are going to use 480v 3 phase which is the more efficeint and more realiable electrical power for you machine's motor. It is not to common to residential areas on the whole. So bear that in mind when buying And check with your power company if available in you area and how much to run it onto your property.

Good point Diegon, I like the 110/220 single phase so if you have access to a 220 outlet you can rewire the motor and also run more efficiently although not as much so as a 3 phase.