Combos or Dedicated

[JSS]

Question - I'm torn between a (Gizzely) dedicated vertical 5 x 31" mill and dedicated 12 x 24" lathe or the Shopmaster's ElDorado 3-in-1 Bridgemill combo system.

I'm into 7 1/2" live steam locomotives and such and am interested in the best machines. Advice - thanks in advance.

[borrisl]

I think you will find the Shoptask ElDorado of more use to you. I'm am of course biased, I own two of them. With the 3 in 1 you have good use of space and high quality. You could of course buy a mill and lathe, but then you have money / space issues. With the Eldorado you will have money ahead and good results. My two cents.

[JSS]

Thanks borris, I really appreciate your two cents. I have plenty of space, $$ is an other issue.
Any additional thoughts?

[Bloy2004]

Do you want CNC? If so, you will spend a lot to get the lathe AND mill so equipted.
I have a Shoptask also and it comes fitted for CNC conversion. If you want you can order the ballscrews installed too. Then you find suitable motors, encoders, drives, power supply and software.

If you don't want CNC and have the space, I would go with the separate machines.

[JSS]

Yes, I'm very interested in CNC'ing everyhing. I've read every thing I can find on Shoptask - seems to me there's not any serious issues with the machine, true?

Thanks for the come back. I've been away from machinery for a number of years and need all the advice I can muster. Thanks!!!

[NC Cams]

I'd vote for dedicated mill and dedicated lathe.

Main reason is you DON"T have to tear down a complicated lathe or mill setup to do a simple task that you need to break into to fix something as a "hot job".

Secondary but no less important is that if you CNC them, you can have either doing whatever while you're doing a different whatever on the other...

Finally and most importantly, the man who dies with the most toys, WINS....

[borrisl]

I like separate machines as well, however, for a small production / hobby, it doesn't make fiscal sense to go with two machines. The cost to retrofit two machines versus one is enough of a financial argument to seal the deal. If you have any budget concerns, I'd go with a CNC shoptask. Even if you buy it completely outfitted from Shoptask with ball screws and CNC, you will still be money ahead.

[JSS]

I'm convinced. I'm going with separate machines. Now all I have to do is decide which to get first - the lathe or the mill. Decisions decisions.

Oh yes! thanks everybody, that kind of input really helps.

[borrisl]

Lost another sale to Gyco!