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Message
Ed,
I was not trying to take you to task for
your comments at all, and not trying to "win an argument". You have a machine
that will teach you a lot about machining, but as you proceed, you will find
that it has many drawbacks that I have mentioned. You have a much more capable
machine than I had, and I certainly realize that, too. You will learn to work
around the machine's weaknesses and make about whatever you want. I had never
thought of it before, but that machine, with a lathe type milling attachment,
could be pretty handy. A mini horizontal mill. I think you will manage to
justify a fine old Bridgeport in the future, though;-)...and a nice big lathe,
and a nice horizontal mill (man those things will REALLY cut, makes a big
vertical machine look like a toy on a slotting operation), and you might as well
get a shaper since you have all that... lol!! See how this works?!!
Rusty,
If you feel like the Shoptask is right for
you, then go for it. I won't think lesser of you... (no more than I would if you
traded your RX-7 for a Kia:-P) Besides, I saw the comment about the bigger shop
and upgrading or selling later... HAHAH!! You guys are now hooked as bad as
I am!
.....Well maybe not quite as bad.... This
morning, I stopped down the road to look at two old neglected machines. I think
I am going to see if I can get tax exempt status for my shop as a "shelter for
homeless machine tools"! Poor little old 10000lb Gisholt turret lathe and little
3500lb Barber Colman gear hob sitting all alone and unwanted outside that shop,
they will even have to spend the cold night out there... I MUST find homes for
them;-) ...
This insatiable desire for heavy
metal must be a remnant of my past career (if you can call it that) in
rock music or something.... I use the excuse that it keeps the foundation
securely attached to the ground, otherwise, the whole shop might fly off into
space due to the rotation of the Earth! Mike C.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 9:49
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Mill/Lathe
tools
Greetings
all,
First, I
would like to profusely thank everyone for their input on this subject.
Many of you have taken lots of time, to research, and type suggestions, and I
really do appreciate it! Mike, the army tech manual was VERY helpful,
since it answered many of my basic questions. It might answer all of
them if I enlisted in the army, and someone forced me to read all of it
:-) Dale, your import links were equally useful.
I've spend
many, MANY hours over the last few days looking into machine tools, and
think I have finally come to a conclusion. At this point in time, for my
projected uses, I believe the 3 in 1 Shoptask machine is the most
reasonable purchase. It has a lot of bang for the buck, as well as bang
for the sq ft. It is so vastly superior to anything I've ever had,
that I can't even comprehend all that it will do. Believe me,
I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking of all the things I could
have used this for in the past, and the things that I need it for now, and in
the future. I don't believe it's size will not be a serious
limitation for me. Sure, I can think of a few things that I couldn't do
with it, but then again, I might not be able to do those things with the next
size up machine either. You've got to draw the line
somewhere.
If I buy
the Shoptask, the worst possible outcome is that I find that I really like
machining parts, and want to upgrade to something bigger. Step one
will be to build a real workshop (a current consideration anyway), then I
can shop for some good old American heavy metal. At that point, I could
either move the Shoptask to the hanger, or sell it at a loss. Say I lose
$1000 selling it. It certainly won't be the first $1000 I've thrown
away, and I would probably consider it a fair price to pay to prove that it's
worth buying a large, serious machine. Yep, I may just order
one tomorrow.
Thanks
again for all the comments. Oddly, I feel like I'm letting some of you
down by making this decision.
Cheers,
Rusty
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