I spent a bit on an arrand tailstock quick change tool holder, great if you are doing a fair bit of drilling and threading.
Think about what chucks come with the lathe package as I found a couple of additional.chucks were a good buy to increase flexibility, an ER 32 and 4 jaw self centring are good.
Think.of your mill tooling carefully as you want the ability to do lots and change fixtures quickly.
Does your proposed mill have a DRO ? Another good way to burn thru your retirement fund lol. Happy turning.

Consider power feed for the mill. If it is not an option for the one you look at you may soon finding yourself wanting it. It is easier to get a mill you know can have it added in the future without a lot of messing around. Power feed does help with finish as well, it also frees up hands for other things such as brushing away swarf and spraying coolant or wielding a vacuum hose.

As Bazyle said when looking at mills bigger is usually better, you can do small things on a big mill, the other way round does not work. A lot of people have bought the 6×26 (Warco VMC or Chester 626 for example) milling machine and found they need to make a riser for the head to get acceptable clearance. This is just an example of what happens if you get a mill that seems big to someone new to mills.

As Tractor man says DROs make life with a mill much easier. If you buy a mill ask if there is an option to have them fitted at the time of purchase, you do not have to buy it but it will tell you if it is possible to add yourself if required in the future.

Clamping kits and/or vices are something you will need to use the mill as well as some end mills or other cutters.

I would suggest you avoid a morse taper spindle if possible, some may disagree, because of the number of posts I have seen asking for suggestions on removing ones that are stuck. I also think that having to bang away on a drawbar if one is a bit tight to remove does not do a lot for set up when trying to maintain position between tool changes.

Martin

Ega, maybe that's something to check for then when looking at mills. If it is a morse taper spindle does it have an easy release mechanism?

Martin

A lot of lathes have morse taper spindles but certainly not all. Also morse taper tool holders for a mill do not have a tang, they have a threaded hole for a drawbar. This means that some tooling such as a drill chuck may be used on lathes and mills but are not necessarily easy to remove compared to a tailstock that ejects tools when retracted or spindles with a slot for putting a drift in. This is where the comments about banging on a draw bar or other length of rod comes from. Do not put milling cutters in a drill chuck, the cyclic side loading can loosen the chuck with unhappy consequences. If you have a choice between morse taper and R8 on a mill the cost of tooling to fit it should be something to consider before making a choice.

Martin

"I will look at larger milling machines but having never used one I am not familiar as to what i actually need"
Probably a good idea to hand on a while get a better understanding. You will have plenty to occupy yourself with when you get a lathe.

Plus you can prepare the shed with wiring alarms, insulation and a dehumidifier.

ARC have some interesting milling vices – (I might even buy one Ketan)

A lot more interesting than some others.

John

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I would highly recommend one of the 626's.

If you buy one of the VMC 626's don't be too put off by the Morse 3 Vs R8 argument. It is very easy to modify the Morse taper 3 version spindle ( without removing even it from the machine) and then to make a simple drawbar ejector with no hammering necessary at all to remove the holders.

Adding a 100mm or so spacer under the head significantly increases this machines versatility.

I would then go for an ER40 chuck Morse or R8 to suit and full collet set for the mill plus an ER40 Backplate or cam lock mounted chuck for your lathe. The collet set can be shared by both machines and will give you a grip range of 2-26mm in both machines.

Clamping kit – I would not go for the 14mm kit that is intended for this machine. IMHO all the M12 studs and clamps are overkill for this machine. I bought this set initially but no longer use it on the mill.

I personally have now gone for the 12mm kit which uses M10 studs and fittings and made 6 x new T Slot nuts 14mm wide but M10 holes. To me is more suited for this machine size and does not feel like overkill.

I personally also find the 4" low profile vice more suitable for me but this will be driven by what you reckon you will be machining.

Don't be put off using carbide tooling, just be careful what you buy. There is a lot of poor stuff out there, either old stock or poorly made stuff.

For some time I have been using positive rake polished inserts designed for aluminium. These inserts are superb on aluminium but also work very well on all types of steel I have tried, including stainless.

Doug

He said it's easy to make an MT3 taper self ejecting without removing the quill.

Make sure the torq screw holding the insert  is done up quite tight, if it is at all loose the tips will shatter on interrupted cuts. Tips designed for aluminium seem to work well on most materials, steel, brass etc

Plenty of choice on ebay