Should You Get A Lathe Or A Mill First? Here's What I Think!

Building a workshop or just getting your garage as equipped as much as possible can be a challenge, especially when choosing more extensive tools. The debate about whether or not to get a lathe or a mill first is always going on, with many people arguing about what will be best.

If you have a wood workshop, the recommended tool would be a wood lathe before purchasing a mill. A lathe will help you create the best possible products for your craft, whereas a mill is more useful for a metal workshop. Wood lathes are cheaper than a mill.

The challenge of choosing the suitable mill or lathe is something that everyone will face, with many artisans constantly looking for a minor upgrade. I recommend understanding the intricacies of each mill or lathe before simply getting the one that is the easiest for you to get immediately.

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What Do You Need In Your Workshop?

To decide what you need to get, we recommend understanding how exactly a mill can be used and how a lathe can be used. With the proper understanding of each type of machine, you will get the most out of the machines to ensure that you have not wasted any money.

The importance of a mill can never be underestimated, while the versatility of a lathe can often surprise those that only have a fleeting understanding of the machine. We always recommend that you have a complete understanding of the machines and that you know how they can be adapted.

The Uses Of A Mill

A mill generally has a moving tool that can spin at extremely high speeds, while the part that is being machined will be clamped in an unmoving vice. The part will move in the Y and X-axis while the tool itself will move up and down in the Z-axis, which means you can easily create complex cutting.

Milling machines are often used when having to surface cut pieces. They will allow you to create significantly cleaner cuts than most other machines. All milling machines are meant to be used with metal but can be used with different cutting tools to cut the wood into precise parts.

The Uses Of A Lathe

Lathes are simply a motor that clamps down on a part and then spins at an extremely high speed while the tool cuts. The part you are cutting can only rotate while the tool you are cutting with moves in the X, Y, and Z-axis across the bed of the lathe.

This helps create perfectly round pieces as the parts are spinning at higher speeds, with special attachments required to cut other shapes. Lathes are explicitly made for cutting wood or precisely cutting metal, with metal lathes usually being slightly more versatile.

What Are The Differences Between A Lathe And Mill?

With that essential understanding of how a lathe and a mill works, we can move on to both machines’ key differences. Many parts of the machines may look similar to the untrained eye but will significantly differ from each other, with the shape being the most obvious.

I recommend that you understand how the machines are used and how they cut into materials to help you get the best possible finishes. Many people use the machines for the wrong ends, causing headaches as the finishes eventually cause the finished products to be imprecise.

How The Tools Are Held

A lathe uses a tool holder or a tool sled to hold the tools you are using to cut into the material, with the tool only moving when you need it to. A mill does almost the opposite, spinning the tool at extremely high speeds while holding onto it with a chuck, moving the tool only up and down.

<strong>Should You Get A Lathe Or A Mill First? Here's What I Think!</strong>

This change in how the tools are held has meant that the types of cutting you can do with both are incredibly different, with a lathe preferred for turning round objects. You would typically use a mill to cut much more complicated parts than it does precision cutting.

How The Parts Are Held

The chuck, whether four or three teeth, holds onto the parts being cut as the tool spins it at extreme speeds in a lathe. A mill has a flatbed that allows many forms of clamps, vices, and magnetic systems to hold the part in place while it moves to have the tool cut through it.

Many things can be done to help a mill hold onto parts as they are being milled, while a lathe usually clamps onto a piece as it is being cut. There are some alternatives when working with a lathe, but they will usually be used only in particular situations.

The Versatility

Whether using a wood lathe or a metal lathe, you will generally be making cuts on a turning piece. A lathe allows you to cut straight lines or cut channels. It will also allow you to mount a particular chuck system that will enable you to cut perfect round bar or rounded corners on pieces that are specially shaped.

However, as versatile as a mill is, it can be highly complicated, which means you will have to learn a lot more. A lathe is much easier to learn the initial operation of and will allow you to comfortably create shapes and shape materials into exact measurements.

The Types Of Cuts

You can use a lathe to cut, shape, trim, shave, and create threads on either wood or metals, with special tools to make some crosscuts. On a milling machine, you can do surface cuts, channels cuts, shaping, tapping, surfacing, and completely cut a piece to be a new piece altogether.

It should be noted that each machine has its specialties that they far exceed; however, attachments are possible to help the machines do more. This is usually why you will need to know what you will be more likely to use the machine for before simply spending money.

Overall Uses In The Workshop

A lathe for wood is used every day to help shape legs, bowls, and everything else, while metal lathes are often used for high-speed repetitive work. A mill provides highly accurate cuts and shaping that can make working on the parts much easier as you continue to work on it.

You will find that a milling machine is often only used once a part has been prepared for it and won’t leave the mill until everything has been completed. In contrast, parts that are being cut on a lathe may be removed to have cuts made on a mill and then put back in to help further shape and cut it.

If you have a small workshop or are only working on wood, I recommend getting a lathe before you get a mill. The lathe will help you make many cuts and more extended pieces that you may not be able to do with your milling machine, especially if you are a hobbyist.

I have seen many people get the most expensive manual milling machine they can find, only to have the machines waste away as they needed to use a lathe much more. This is often because the pieces are simpler and don’t need such precision machining, making the mill too much work.

A lathe can easily be set up and worked with, requiring very little to be set up before you start cutting on your wood or metal. Many wood artisans barely set up their lathes before working with them, simply ensuring that the part is held tight before cutting the piece they are working on.

When creating precision-cut metal parts or wood parts, I recommend getting a mill before you get your lathe. This is especially true if you are getting CNC mills or lathes, as you can do exact work with a milling machine that is also repetitive.

If set up properly, your milling machine can easily make the same cut, at the same depth, on the same parts for as long as the tool stays sharp. Lathes can do the same, but with manual machining, this is much easier to achieve than on a lathe where parts may sit differently.

Further, a milling machine allows you t easily create intricate cuts, turning around pieces into a triangle or hexagon. However, this is usually only an important thing to remember when working with metal, as cutting on a mill is faster than trying to grind something into the right shape.

Why Is It Important To Have One Before The Other?

If you have the cash flow to buy both simultaneously, you should consider doing so, as having both tools will mean you are never caught short in your workshop. However, if this is the first time you are buying such a machine, getting one before the other might help you.

It is essential to get one before the other as you might have more use for a wood lathe than a milling machine in your workshop. Further, you will need to learn the limitations of the machine before you know what the other machine should be that you get for your workshop.

I always recommend working with one or the other until you know what exactly it is you expect from the other. A CNC mill might be the perfect partner to your manual lathe as you want to create several precision cuts at once without having to spend hours doing each one.

Why Do Some People Prefer To Get A Mill First?

Many people who work with specific materials will tell you to get a mill before getting anything else in your workshop. This is because the harder your material is, the more you will be capable of achieving with a mill without cutting corners or making mistakes.

A metal workshop will often be started by getting a milling machine somewhere everyone in the workshop can easily use it. Many people who work with harder materials will know that grinding, filing, and sanding away material can easily eat hours away from any project.

Having a milling machine in the workshop means that you can make precision cuts that are all the same without having to spend hours trying to grind or cut. Usually, metalworking artisans will prefer to get a milling machine before getting a lathe, especially if trained.

Why Do Some People Prefer To Get A Lathe First?

Most often, a lathe is used in a woodworking workshop and as a way to speed up production inside a metalworking workshop. A metalworking workshop needs both a lathe and a milling machine to be complete; a woodworker only really needs a lathe to have their workshop be completed.

Many people who are still learning about woodworking will know about wood lathes and want to use them to help create some of their projects. This is why you may see someone start to become an artisan with wood, but the only machine they have in their workshop is a lathe.

Many companies and hobbyists who work with steel and metals get lathes to help increase production speed. A lathe allows for many repetitive cuts to be made on pieces of metal that are the same. In contrast, wood lathes allow for the complete shaping of anything that will be round when complete.

Conclusion

Choosing what to get first between a lathe and a mill will depend heavily on what you need the machines for. Many people forget that the machines are not capable of simply always doing what the other is doing, with the machines having specialties that means you need to choose wisely.

Remember that these tools won’t notice if you are caught in the spindles no matter what!