[Steven Smith]

The two I can hit are:

Horizontal vs. Vertical - Horizontal is more for cutting down stock to length. If you're trying to cut a 6' piece of tube stock down to 4' or something, it would be pretty unwieldy on a vertical band saw... whereas a horizontal one you just clamp the material down and drop the blade through. Similarly, if you're trying to cut a slice off of 1/8" sheet, the vertical tends to be a good friend. We have a metal cutoff saw (which acts as our horizontal band saw) and a vertical band saw to handle both jobs. If you have the budget and space for it though, I'd recommend the horizontal band saw over a metal chop saw for potential safety reasons if the metal chop saw is used improperly.

Mini-Lathes - Most/many things I'd like to work can be done on a mini-lathe. We couldn't work one into the budget this year, but I intend to purchase a Sherline this year. You get a large amount of functionality for ~$1K.

Welcome to CD as well! Congrats on the great start to a new team. It sounds like you're being given some of the basics for success (space/tools/support). We look forward to seeing you guys put them to use.