Mill or Lathe...

[artdutra04]

Lathe.

It's a much more useful machine, and will have a greater positive impact in your team than a mill would. Pretty much anything "simple" that you'd need a mill for can now be bought from AndyMark, and those are gearboxes. But what you can't buy from AndyMark are all those shafts and spacers you need to transmit all that motion to where you need it, as those are all largely dependent on how you design and build your various mechanisms.

Originally Posted by jblay

As 330 has shown you don't really need a lathe you just need a mentor with the patience to do it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwDFD-TjDFU

Notice the end of the video: "3 Hours, 3 Parts, 1 Tired Mentor".

Spending an hour to make a single shaft is MUCH worse than spending ten minutes drilling some holes on a drill press.