MTFCA Forum

Opinions on a 3 in 1 lathe, mill, press for the work needing to be performed for the Model T. I know they are limited, but there is one in good shape in my area for $250. Maybe as something to start with?

Hi Sean,
I have a Smithy Granite 1340 that I picked up for a lot more than that @ a estate sale. Combo machines have their limits as long as you know
that they are better than no machine. You will not find machines very often for that low of a price. If it's all there & works I would get it.
In fact if you don't get it let some others know, I'm sure they are interested Be very a where that lathes & mills are like model T's one is never
enough. My Smithy is not my go to machine, but it does have a large enough spindle hole to do drive shafts & axles that my other lathe is not
suitable for.
Craig.

The most important words here...

...for $250. Maybe as something to start with?

I say go for it. Hard to go wrong for that price. Does it come with any tooling? All the better bargain if it does!

Thanks for the input. I was a bit too slow and some other lucky guy (or gal) picked it up. We'll keep looking.

I wound up with a Harbor Freight 3 in 1 machine a long time ago as it came in a purchased lot of other stuff. I gave it to my in law to mess with making small wood turnings and metal spinnings. It still had cosmoline on it and looked to have been new. This machine was a better curse than any witch could have conjured. The mill spindle motor burst into flame at the first switch, the lathe spindle would slowly stall as the bearings built up heat, and all the slides were so tight you couldn’t turn them with a breaker bar. He/we put much time into “fixing” this freebie piece of junk, and it is now only slightly better.

Hold out for a real Smithy if you can. A little more money will buy a lot more quality. If you missed out on an old H/F model… yur better off

I too had a HF 3 in one, big hunk of cast iron. If HF had carried a bit more tooling at the time I might have done more with it, was still working so really didn't have time to search out tooling and at the time didn't know what the hell I needed anyway. Don't remember now what the swing was or length of bed, but it was not that much along with everything being hand feed. Glad I sold it.
Now have gone from 9" Atlas with long bed to 10". Just picked up 12" Craftsman/Atlas that I am cleaning up with shorter bed. For $80 I couldn't pass it up.