[FrankJ]

To be honest I am not sure which is more important, a mill or a lathe. I think our mill actually had more run time this year, but the lathe did things that would have been difficult to do any other way.

Don't let the search for perfection get in the way of usable. The referenced HF lathe is in a class of 4xX mini lathe, most all are from one or two factories in China. While not production level quality, they are quiet capable & have a large support group to learn from. I would get one that has a longer bed if going that route. Get the heaviest mill you can afford / have space for. Knee mills are nice, but other styles work too. Stay away from the small ones that use a chuck rather than a collet. Look at this as a multi-year project. The tooling often will transfer to the bigger machines. We recently added a Project Lead the Way CNC that was gathering dust in our school. It is smaller than I would like, but it will machine the pieces that will fit on it. It is just slower that a heavier industrial version.

Youtube is a great resource for learning how to (&not to use these machines).
mrpete222 is a good place to start.