lathe mill combos

[Goosey]

A friend of mine who races recently bought a lathe/mill which actually uses the lathe chuck to mill. It has a vertical cross slide that mounts to the lathe cross slide. I'm not sure if his is a benchtop since it's a 10-12 size chuck but it got me thinking.
What is the best inexpensive benchtop mill/lathe combo out there. I want to do as many threads as possible...even metric. R8 collet on the mill if possible. Would love 12 inches on y but could live with less.
I don't really think the vertical x he has is the way I'd like to go, rather have the milling head separate but what I've seen seems to be limited by it's distance from the lathe chuck.
Any suggestions that'd fit?

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[SCzEngrgGroup]

2-in-1 machines SUCK! You spend all your time switching back and forth between the two modes, they have limited travel for milling, and little, if any, cost advantage. Personally, I would not waste the money on one.

Regards,
Ray L.

[dharmic]

^^ This.

I ended up buying a lathe and a separate baby mill. The mill (SEIG X2) only worked out to be a couple hundred dollars more than the attachment for the lathe but it is so much more useful.

I'm waiting, drooling, for a guy on another forum to finish an 8 axis mill turn he's working on with the intention of selling as a kit. That little beast would be what I'd consider a useful combo machine

[ninefinger]

... I want to do as many threads as possible...even metric. R8 collet on the mill if possible. Would love 12 inches on y but could live with less.
I don't really think the vertical x he has is the way I'd like to go, rather have the milling head separate but what I've seen seems to be limited by it's distance from the lathe chuck.
Any suggestions that'd fit?

Get yourself a decent lathe and then find a decent mill, you can do lots of simple milling type ops in the lathe with a 4 jaw chuck (facing a surface), squaring a block.
Speaking from experience - I had a lathe mill combo and it sucks. The problem of conflicting setups as mentioned by Ray is a pain but can be accepted for hobby work if thought about ahead of time.
Worse is that the whole machine usually ends up a compromise on both functions and does neither well.
Mike