Hello all,

I had a Midas 1220XL Smithy several years ago, I used it to build some scale model engines as well as general parts making etc. Granted these machines are limited but I believe these machines will make you a better machinist. Because you have to be smarter than the inadequacy's of the machine.

I am wrestling with the idea of a Smithy Granite 1340, or maybe trying to buy separate lathe and either a mini-mill from little machine shop or one of the Mill/Drill machines.(approx. 1400.00)

The jet 9x20 lathe has doubled in price to over 2 grand now, and even a mini-mill is 1500bucks. So I'm back into 3500 bucks before any tooling is bought.

The Smithy would fit my space problem perfectly, and certainly handle bigger workpieces, but it does have some issues with the design and build quality that we have to overcome. The separate route will leave me with smaller capacity in both turning and milling. But might be easier to do precise work. (?) And one thing that always aggravated me was having to teardown a lathe setup to do a milling job or vise versa. UHG !

What are your thoughts / opinions here honestly. And how much better are the granite 13xx machines than the older Midas machines were ?

I will be doing mostly gunsmithing work. So will be doing mostly turning / threading. And accurate drilling is very important..

Similar Threads: