Hello. This is my first time posting a new thread, so here goes:
My team has been considering buying a new manual lathe ever since we acquired a more space earlier this year. I'm imagining a benchtop lathe that can cut 1/2'' aluminum hex shaft easily. We don't really have a machining mentor, so we're a bit leery of taking CD's often repeated advice of buying cheaper used machines and fixing them up. So what would be a good lathe for FRC use? (basically 1/2'' aluminum hex shaft for us.) Is there a lathe your team had a very positive experience with? We're looking more for a good deal rather than for the best, most expensive machine in its class.
The second part of my question is whether a new lathe should be our next tool at all (thus the question mark at the end of the title). For some context, we already have a bandsaw, drill press, jigsaw, arbor press, etc. We've also recently bought a CNC mill, the Tormach PCNC 770, for the same new space. It's so recent, we're still unpacking the boxes.
We also have a Sherline CNC mini-mill and a Sherline CNC mini-lathe. Yes, we already have a lathe, but it has a tendency to fail when working with 1/2'' aluminum hex shaft. Either the chuck loosens and the shaft wobbles out, or (very rarely) the motor stalls. In order to make it work every time, we have to go painfully slowly and re-tighten the chuck after every operation
. For sheet material, we have access to a waterjet sponsor who gives us discounts. So given our situation and resources, is a sturdy manual lathe the best choice for our next tool?