[Andrew Bates]

Can't help you with cost but as for teaching students how to run a mill or lathe our is something team has been relatively successful at. It usually involves several meetings of standing with them and showing them exactly what to do and explaining the process of making a part step by step. In the end we have several students who we know we can let run a mill or lathe by themselves. Others we know that we can be one machine over and they would still be fine. It usually takes about one build season to get a student to the point where they are really comfortable on the machine.

As for safety, it always comes down to not being stupid. Out of a mill and a lathe I would say that the lathe is the machine where students are more likely to get hurt, if they have long hair or wear a tie it could get caught by the spindle and suck them in. However in the end it comes down to teaching the students right way to machine and they should stay safe.