Ed, one word of advice. Most mills have a draw bar running the length of the spindle. So many people forget this when the put the machine in the garage. Unless you buy a universal mill thats can rotate the head then you will need to make a hole in your roof to remove the drawbar if it goes wrong.

Also, buy one that has a DRO on at least the X and Y axis. The Z is nice but not essential. Power feed is also good but not essential, all it really does is saves a little elbow grease and gives a better finish to the machined surface.

A Bridgeport Universal mill about 1985 circa will set you back about £1,500 This mill takes R8 fittings and these are available quite cheap and are redily available. Look at ebay for R8 fittings etc. It will be a 3 phase unit so you will either need to get the local electric company to put 3 phase in your garage or you will need a converter.

http://www.powercapacitors.co.uk/Transwave/Transwave%20frameset.htmhttp://www.powercapacitors.co.uk/Tra...20frameset.htm

The above is my prefered choice. Use the rotary converter style. This will rush you approx £850 - £1,100 inc cables, donkey motor and convertor.

Once you have 3 phase the world is yours. Your next purchase will be a lathe. The one that Woody showed is very similar to my Myford ML7 A nice lathe but very underpowered. A nice Colchester Student is good, relativly cheap to buy.

You will find that tooling will be the greatest cost. Cutters are quite expensive. But its the normal rule of you get what you pay for. I have a cutter that cost in excess of £750 but it will last for ever, it cuts .250 (1/4) in ally in a single pass without coolant and leaving a good surface that a final cut of 0.025 will leave a nice polished surface that you will be proud to have made.

Next, never underestimate the forces that cutters put on the job. Bolt it down with the correct bits and bobs or learn to duck at a nano seconds notice. A decent vice (no jokes here boys and girls) is a MUST as well as clocks and other measureing equipment. You can only make bits as accurate as your ability to set up the machine and measure parts etc.

Machining is not a black art. It does take time, experience and tuition from experts to learn but after having learned a few basic things such as Dos and Donts the you should be able to stary making parts yourself.

Give it ago. Its fun. Honest.

Mike.