Lathes and 'Mini-mills'...???

[AJMD429]

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I doubt I'll ever venture into the metal lathe thing, but have always been curious as to the 'mini-mills'...

I'm sure if I posted this question on a machining-site or forum, I'd get a bunch of folks telling me that if you don't spend $20,000 on a 'real' setup, you are a fool, yet those are the same folks who say that leverguns aren't useful because they can't shoot the 1/4" MOA groups that a blueprinted bull-barrel bolt gun can, and yet I kill deer every single year with a single shot from a run-of-the-mill levergun, and I'm sure tons of people make and repair stuff with their cheapie and 'junk' mini-mills, even though of course the guys with the fancier setups can do far more stuff, just as the real professional snipers and shooters favor their bolt actions versus leverguns.

So I'm curious, after watching this on a 'Mini-mill', if anyone on here messes with such stuff, and if so, what kind of use they are getting out of their setup...?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC6IgRpptJk

Again, I doubt I'll go there because I've too much else on my plate, but I'm curious...

[Rockrat]

I have made small stuff with my mini-mill (more a bench mill) and use it for drilling. My lathe I have used much more. Not a machinist, more a tinkerer if anything. Wouldn't insult a real machinist by claiming to be one.

[GunnyMack]

Much can be done with either machine.
If I had had the capitol after school for a good lathe and a Bridgeport I would never leave the house except to go shoot new rifles and take chips to the scrap yard!
Actually a lathe with a milling attachment would do fine in any shop.

We had a horizontal mill for doing octagon barrels, multiple Bridgeport mills, one with a broach attachment. I ran all of those machines, my favorite was a South Bend lathe from the 40s.

As for the mini machines I can't comment as I've not run any of them. I suggest looking at reviews before spending your hard earned money

[Rimfire McNutjob]

To me, this guy has the best mini-mill and lathe content.

[marlinman93]

I've owned a cheap lathe/mill combo for about 30 years, and I use it occasionally for small projects. I'd use it more if it had two changes I'd like. First an automatic feed so it could cut threads, and second a larger bore through the head stock to allow longer and larger metal stock to be worked.
I've made firing pins, and used the lathe and mill for those. I've also used the mill part by putting the chuck in the mill and spinning bits from my router to do barrel inletting for forearm wood. It sits a lot as I sometimes just use my drill press to do some fabrication work using a file as I spin parts. It's sometimes faster to do that for small quick projects. My drill press has a machinist's vise and end mills that I find works really well for small stuff.

[AmBraCol]

A couple of UK based airgun forums I infest have a considerable number of tinkerers that use the both/either mini-mills and/or mini-lathes, including one retired operator that used to use top end CNC and other professional grade equipment. He's tweaked his a bit here and there, but turns out amazing work with these less than ideal machines.

[Pat C]

I've had a 12x36: Grizzly lathe for 23 years to satisfy my gunsmithing needs. I also use a mill attachment on it for making small parts , cutting sight dovetail. It has about same travel as small mini mill. I run small endmills and flycutters in collet out of the lathe spindle bore.

To pull off anything precise you must exercise patience .
Really thing about what your doing. Outcome can be as good as any mill. I've made entire rifle actions on it before.