Well all my macines are MT3 and being a very old miserly Scot. I have kept everything the same,saves purchasing at a lot of dosh more tools.I have never had any problems give a light tap and out. Think these people who have problems think they are tightening up bolts for a large bridge then find the poor item is well stuck in.
Enjoy your new machine
Bob

If your tools are more MT3 orientated then get MT3… silly to spend sorely needed cash when you can mix & match between machines. I use MT2 between lathe & mill tailstock / spindle with only the headstock having a MT4, for which I have a MT4 collet holder.

George

I use the MT3 tooling from my mill in the lathe with a MT4-3 short sleeve, large flycutter and boring bar are the most used and if I do need to hold a milling cutter then the ER holder does that.

Maybe it depends on th size of mill you are getting, JS and AJ both have large mills that will cope with ME size jobs but I have an X3 and sometimes things are better off bolted to the lathe cross slide due to size.

I think what JasonB was saying is that a part that is too big to fit on a SX3 may well fit on the cross slide of the typical ME lathe for milling instead.

In my case if the work doesn't fit on the mill it definitely will not fit on the lathe cross slide; like this, at a bit over 6 feet long:

Regards,

Andrew

Yes as Andrew says its more a case of things that are two big for the mill can be done on the lathe

This casting is 10" long or 10" tall on the X3 as it would have needed to be mounted vertically, add in the boring head and tool and the area being cut is a long way from teh table so not that rigid, plus the lathe gives power feed.

And flycut at the same setting

Or when I made this table the waterjet legs were about 600×720 and could not be milled for nylon protector blocks a sthe X3 head does not tilt so they were done with the lathe.

Even drilling the top ring was a bit tight in my shed

And before you all slap my wrist I only needed a rough slot so thats why teh cutter is in the 3 Jaw, I was not worried if it moved

Edited By JasonB on 27/08/2013 14:16:19

Yes its generally easier to tilt the work if you can though does depend on the job in hand. Not mine but this one needed the head setting horizontal and lathe topslide mounted on teh table

There are a few more interesting setup on that engine of mine and a write up on dealing with the castings on MEM if you have a spare few minutes.

Lathe is a Warco 280VF so 11"x28" not that much more swing.

Way to go Clive. Where would we be if the Stonehenge builders had said – "mmmm yes we're just waiting for someone to invent a crane…."

Stepladders make good supports for loads equivalent to 1 body weight though you are a bit over.

If you have not used an engine crane before bear in mind the legs are always in the way , will need to get under or around your bench with 8inch clearance, and the advertised loading is only with the beam retracted. It is about 1/4 rated at the length you want to use.

Jason's engine boring does show the advantage of interchangeable boring head though you can get ones with swapable arbors but if you are going ER collets you will want a through hole adapter for the lathe and blind one for the mill so less significant.

R8 tooling seems to be much less common on ebay, but maybe I'm just overlooking it as I don't have a need.

I don't like 'metric' but how about going R8 and get an R8 to MT3 adapter?