Drill/Mill or Lathe/Mill attachment for small shop area

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Dick Linn

For an inexpensive lathe, I prefer the 8 x 12 (or 8 x 14), rather than the 7 x 12. More info here: http://www.fignoggle.com/machines/8x12lathe/index.htm

Same here. I have this lathe at home. HF often runs 20% off coupons to take a nice chunk off the price. For what it costs, I find it to be adequate for all my lathe work needs, and the quality to be pretty decent, given its origin. I think a majority of the lathe parts a typical FRC team makes would be do-able on this machine. Having this machine is certainly a large improvement over none at all.

I also have an X1 mill with the extended X and Y axes (more travel and larger table than the X2), and converted to CNC. The quality on this machine is not as high as on the 8x12 lathe, but it can still turn out some nice smaller parts in delrin and aluminum once dialed in. You just have to learn to work within its limitations. What's interesting is that by CNCing a small machine (even on the cheap, DIY) you really get a lot more capability. You can drill several holes very accurately, the same every time, in 20 parts, faster than marking it out and doing it on a drill press. You can mill larger holes for bearings, at center-to-center tolerances adequate for gearboxes. You can take several passes at lighter cuts (as required on a small machine) to do a thicker part. You can do nice shaped contours, and lightening pockets. Just don't really expect to do much cutting in any steel on a small machine.

A step up from a small tabletop/benchtop mill would be something either like this or like this. 968 has one similar to this and while it has decent size and power, moving the head on the round column is a major pain. A square column or knee mill is a much better choice.

Does your team have a good miter saw and blade? I think that's essential to an FRC team.