Shop Fox M1018 Review; Has It Got Balls?

Whenever you are deciding on the best lathe mill combo machine for your ventures, a lot of factors are stuffed into the bag. On one side, you want a system that saves space so you can be able to use other equipment and get smooth foot traffic in your workspace. On the other side, you’re looking for a machine that is specially built with you in mind. Therefore if you’re already considering the Shop FOX M1018, you want a clear breakdown of it. Right? With this Shop Fox M1018 review, I go into the details of the hyped unit in 10 minutes. Get in below.

Shop Fox M1018 Combo Lathe/Mill

Who Was It Designed For?

Shop Fox M1018 is a power-packed light-duty table engineered with hobbyists, DIYers, and handymen in mind. It comes with the basic functionalities of a driller for your metal works, woodworks, and other crafts. It is a solid cast iron construction table boasting a mill speed range of 117 and 1300RPM. It features an adjust mill/drill head so you can easily set up your material of operation. And there’s a cut inch and metric thread that measures how far you’ve drilled, putting you at the surface of each task as a beginner. For a beginner, it takes an approximate time of 1 hour to set this system up for use right out of the box. And your investment is covered by 2 years warranty.

At the bottom line, Shop Fox M1018 is designed for beginners, hobbyists, and other light-duty drills/mill tasks.

Mill Capacity

The M1018 boasts a total of 14 different solid drill speed within 117 and 1300RPM speed. It promises an equal drilling capacity of 7/8inch for both cast iron and steel. So if you’re looking to drill metal sheets that are thicker and want to get the perfect drill in one pass, this may not be too good for you. The maximum drill bit size you can fix into it is 1/2inch. And the range of Inch tread is 8 to 120TPI. Also, the mill head travels a maximum of 3 inches vertically while offering a mill swing of 12 inches. 

Lathe Capacity

For lathe operations, M1080 offers 8 longitudinal feeds between the range of 0.002 and 0.0069 revs. This may not be enough if you’re looking for more, but for a piece of DIY equipment under that price, you’re getting a lot of feeds for your money. Also, you get up to 18 metric threads and can switch between thread 0.2 and 3.0 to set up your lathe table for the job. The distance between each center is 19-¼” and in each, you can make a spindle bore of ¾”. Overall, M1080 offers complete spindle speeds of 7 that are all contained within the range of 160 and 1360RPM.

Operation

M1080 is reasonably easy to operate for the beginners. All functions can be accessed on a simple and intuitive control panel interface without having to check the user’s manual for guidance. Nevertheless, if you have no prior experience with a combo lathe mill, you may have to get an experienced friend or an engineer to help get around with the operation.

Portability

Heres’s the only downside. M1081 is quite bulky and may just be good for a stationary lathe mill system. If you’re looking for a piece of equipment to travel with for light-duty gigging purposes, you just want to shop around for a lighter system. Nevertheless, as weighty as it may be, this lathe mill able is portable in size and will save a lot of space in your workspace.

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See the complete features below.

Features

  • Maximum power; 3/4HP
  • Power transfer; belt-driven
  • Internal centrifugal switch
  • Power cord length; 6ft
  • Power cord gauge; 16 AWG
  • Total weight; 440lbs
  • Full load current rating; 9amps
  • Input voltage; 1110V, 60Hz

Mill Specifications

  • Mill taper; MT#3
  • Mill swing; 12inch
  • Maximum tool bit size; ½”
  • Drilling capacity for steel; ⅞”
  • Cast iron drilling capacity; ⅞”
  • 16 drawbar TPI
  • Number of drill speeds; 14
  • Drill speed range; 117 to 1300RPM
  • Mill spindle travel 3-½”
  • Spindle to work table distance; 10inch
  • Maximum tool bit travel; 3inch

Lathe Specifications

  • Spindle speed range; 160 to 1360RPM
  • Number of spindle speeds; 7
  • Compound travel; 3inch
  • Distance between centers; 19-¼”
  • Spindle bore; ¾”
  • Number of longitudinal feeds; 8
  • Number of metric treads; 18
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Pros
  • Best lathe mill combo for hobbyists and DIY
  • It saves workspace
  • Easy to use
  • The operation panel is quite simple
  • A single button switch from lathe to mill
  • The system uses less power
  • Reasonably versatile

Cons

  • It’s quite bulky  /su_list]
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Conclusion

Shop Fox M1018 has gained a lot of attention to itself just like every other lathe mill combo table from Shop Fox. In this post, I have reviewed the system and highlighted everything you need to know to decide whether it’s a fit for your needs or not. Use the comment box if you have more inquiries.