Introduction & Seeking Information

[Ocular Engineer]

Hello to all. I thought I'd introduce myself as suggested instead of being a recluse as I sometimes am.

I'm a mariner who does a great deal of welding & fabrication in the course of my job. It is mostly hack and slash work that just has to work, never break & doesn't have to look very pretty. The tools I have at work make it seem that I have to widdle through metal to make things.

I'm also in the market for a 3-n-1 machine to feed my need to make stuff in the garage. I think that I have decided on a unit, but I want to continue to gather information and see if I can find someone in my area who actually has one.

That said, I'm looking at the Shopmaster Patriot 3-n-1 machine. I have started reading threads in the 3-n-1 section and I am pleased at what I'm seeing.

So, if you live in the greater Minneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota area and have a Shopmaster machine (or know if a guy who knows a guy who heard that his neighbor might have one) that I could take a look, please let me know. Dropping $4K on a garage toy is a little scary w/o actually seeing the unit.

Thanks and greetings
Mark

[Get lucky]

Welcome! MN here as well

[Dualkit]

For anyone serious about machining a Shopmaster amounts to nothing more than a toy. Unless you want to slowly machine something with undersized cutters you will be disappointed. With this recession, there are loads of full size machines available at good prices. If space allows, I would suggest getting at least a 9 x 36 mill and a 14 x 30 lathe. You could probably get a decent pair for around $3,000 these days.

[Ocular Engineer]

I know that everything is a compromise and everything has its limitations. If I had room for a few full size machines, I'd probably buy them. But since my 25' x 25' garage must accommodate two cars as well as my tool boxes, work & welding benches, storage shelves, motorcycles, snowblower, etc, full size machines are out of the question. I already have 10# of sh!t in a 5# bag. But I appreciate the suggestion. If I had more room, if only I had more room.......

[Dualkit]

Originally Posted by Ocular Engineer I know that everything is a compromise and everything has its limitations. If I had room for a few full size machines, I'd probably buy them. But since my 25' x 25' garage must accommodate two cars as well as my tool boxes, work & welding benches, storage shelves, motorcycles, snowblower, etc, full size machines are out of the question. I already have 10# of sh!t in a 5# bag. But I appreciate the suggestion. If I had more room, if only I had more room.......

I am 48 years old and have NEVER parked a car in my garage. I never saw a reason for this. I even live in a dust bowl and my car gets filthy parked outside.
I started taking over the garage as a work shop in my early teens living with my mom. If I were you I would rather have a dirty car and a full sized mill and lathe
than one of those 3 in 1 things. I hope you can find one to try out, before you make the mistake of buying one..

[Ocular Engineer]

Wow. The animosity & elitist attitude surprises me.

Since I don't live in, nor will never again live in Kalifornia, am unwilling to clear snow and ice off my cars (I don't live in a desert) and live in the city where crime, vandalism and bad drivers are a daily consideration I'll continue to park in the garage, but thanks anyway. Your view point has been duly noted.

So, does anyone anywhere near Minneapolis / St. Paul have a line on anyone w/ a Shopmaster?

[Dualkit]

What? You are way too sensitive. I was just stating that I come from a long line of people who NEVER park in the garage, we have too much junk in there.
Crime for me is a non issue, I live on the end of a gravel road with 3 houses on it. I haven't seen an empty driveway around here in years. For the record I used to live in the local mountains where it snowed, and still didn't park in the garage. I have friends whose garages are empty and still park in the driveway.
The usually have TVs and couches in there and a fridge full of beer, great place to hang out and watch football, keeps the wife from complaining about the noise. I did not mean to offend you, chill out!

[GITERDUN]

Originally Posted by Ocular Engineer I know that everything is a compromise and everything has its limitations. If I had room for a few full size machines, I'd probably buy them. But since my 25' x 25' garage must accommodate two cars as well as my tool boxes, work & welding benches, storage shelves, motorcycles, snowblower, etc, full size machines are out of the question. I already have 10# of sh!t in a 5# bag. But I appreciate the suggestion. If I had more room, if only I had more room.......

I've had a Shopmaster for almost a year now. All in all I'm satisfied with what I got for the money spent. They are built pretty rugged, with heavy castings and solid handles etc. I found a few quality control issues and loose bolts as time went along, but had no problem getting the few pieces I needed under warranty. The other guy is right about the big iron being cheap now- you can almost buy it by the pound, but my main issue was space as well. I just couldn't shove all my stuff into the street to make room for 2 big machines and building another shop was way out of my budget. The Shopmaster packs quite a bit of machining capacity in a small space, and if you plan on CNC or DRO options, you only need to buy 1 of each.

[Ocular Engineer]

Originally Posted by GITERDUN I found a few quality control issues and loose bolts as time went along, but had no problem getting the few pieces I needed under warranty.

I have been a little surprised to read the amount of set up and tweaking that some of the members have written about. But then, I haven't owned my own lathe or mill yet.

Originally Posted by GITERDUN The Shopmaster packs quite a bit of machining capacity in a small space, and if you plan on CNC or DRO options, you only need to buy 1 of each.

I do like the CNC ability of the Shopmaster. I would most likely get it w/ the DRO. For the moment, the CNC equipment would have to wait. Besides, it has been quite a while since I've run a lathe or mill so I'll need to get back up to speed before moving up to CNC.

My other issue w/ the limited space that I have is almost everything in my garage has to be mobile. This includes my +/-800 lb welding bench. The Shopmaster stand looks like it will be relatively easy to mount some retractable casters to. Fabbing a mobile base for a full size unit, while not out of the question, is more than I really want to deal with.

Thanks for the input.