I have been recieving brochures from the smithy company about there lathes. I have never owned a lathe before but would like to get a new toy. Is this a good choice to start with? They seem real reasonably priced. I am going to do only my own stuff with guns and etc.

Good for smaller parts, etc. Too small for barrel work (except for pistols). - Dan

It's just a toy! Don't waste your money. Look at jet or Grizzley instead.-Rob

Greg,

If you are looking at a 3 in one machine, you'll find that they don't perform any task paticularly well, and you'll be spending 90% of your time setting up and tearing down to convert between lathe and mill. I also think there is a serious lack of rigidity in the milling mode, which will place some serious limits on you. If its the difference between you never doing gun work, and doing it, then certainly buy one. I've been wanting to get tooled up for years, and while I could have gotten a 3 in 1 years ago, I've held off, as I couldn't live with their limitations.

For not a hole lot more $, you can get a 12X36 lathe and a mill drill, less then $4k shipped to Anchorage. Check out www.grizzly.com I've had good service from them, and with one of there offices in Bellingham, shipping isn't a killer up here, figure $.30/lb, maybe a little less.

You also need to factor in some coin for tooling, it adds up very quickly! Unfortunately Grizzly has a limited selection of tooling, MSC, J&L, Rutland and others are where to go when looking for tooling.

Have a friend that wore out a 3-in-one machine after some years of use. He is a terrific machinist and could do some things with it ... enough to make it pay for itself.

He has replaced it with a real lathe and a real mill ... partly because he used my Jet lathe and mill.

Do not spend the money on stuff you'll have to replace! It is a false economy!