Well Brian – hopefully you didn't pay too much for your 3-in-1 machine and are very happy with your new purchase.
My advice generally (to others) would be think carefully whether you really need this type of tool and also will it be capable of the work you require of it. The general consensus seems to be that they do need some tweeking to get the best use out of them.
However (like so many things "Home Machinist" ) these machines can be brought up to a usable standard (whatever "usable" is in your terms) and will give you a much better head start than trying to build something from scratch. I know that some people prefer to have separate tools for each these functions but workshop space is now at a premium and (given it's very occasional use) for me it's a good compromise. I have a long (long) list of projects and the shears could be very useful for some of them, so perhaps that will motivate me into giving my 3-in-1 a bit of a 'tune-up'.
Good luck with yours..
Regards,
IanT
Edited By IanT on 10/11/2014 09:52:49