dovetail/crown on this?

[corvette8n]

I thought about a multi purpose machine to crown barrells and machine dovetails
will this work or am I better off looking for a used lathe and mill.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39743

[Bret4207]

Those little Chinkwanese jobs are fine for making pins and screws and odd projects. For gun work.....depends on the man running it. You can't crown a barrel with it. Brownells makes a hand crowner that works fine for that. For cutting dovetails you need to be able to clamp the piece so the cutter can hit it square and with no chatter or movement. Hard to do on a 18" working surface.

OTH they are great for learning on.

[Pavogrande]

Machines that are all purpose generally don't do any one thing well -- I find these lathe/mills have too much slop in the saddle gibs for milling and chatter a lot. When tightened to remove chatter they are then too tight for decent cross travel movement --
Crowning would be possible IF the spindle bore was large enough -- dove tailing a barrel would be awkward trying to support the barrel properly on the saddle --
I don't think any of the so called 12" long are worthwhile -- they are really only about 9" and you have no room to use a jobber length drill in one -- not enough room between chuck and tailstock -- Check out the site "mini-lathes" for some good info on these chinese lathes ---
My two ha-penny's

[dragonrider]

Absolutely get a lathe and a mill not a combination machine. Spend some time searching and try to find some good used old American iron. I am partial to Clausing/Cholchester lathes and Bridgeport mills. Not to say other makes are not as good or even better but these are the ones I have worked with in my whole working life so that is what I got.

[John Taylor]

If you can find a lathe with at least 1&3/8" spindle bore and 36" between centers you should be able to crown any barrel except the 50 BMG. A lathe that big and heavy can use a milling attachment for cutting a dovetail. Remember, when cutting dovetails use a regular end mill first to remove most of the metal before going through with the dovetail cutter. I use a 1/4" and go .085" deep before going through with a 3/8" dovetail cutter at .090" deep.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Get yourself a good heavy US made lathe, about a 12"x36". You can always buy a Palmgren milling attachment for cutting sight dovetails and extractor recesses in barrels. I still use one on my 12-1/2"x 48" Cincinnati Traytop, when my Bridgeport is tied up.
Morgan

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Sorry, John, didn't mean to duplicate your good advice.
Morgan