Good thoughts going out to you and yours bud!
Re: drill press
* The main issue with using a drill press as a mill.. is that the spindle on the drill press is not made for side torque. My suggestion is to take VERY VERY shallow cuts. (tramming/leveling the thing with the vise/milling attachment will be step 1!)
* As far as a lathe goes.. I would suggest staying away from the 7x lathes.. they are pretty dang small once you start working on things. Of course this goes along with how much space you have.
I am by no means a pro/machinist..
but I got an 8x14 lathe (from HF).. its the same exact lathe that Lathemaster sells (theirs is green/blue)..
its much beefier than the 7x machines.. but still find myself wishing I had the next size up.
* keep in mind you'll probably spend at least what the lathe cost you on tooling!.. s start saving!)
My lathe currently has a price of $999 on it.. however few years back..
I actually got it on sale at my local HF (an on-line friend dropped me a line to save it was on sale.. but not listed/advertised, only when you asked what the price was)
It was only sale for like $449 or something.. (and I used a 20% coupon on it!) All in all.. it was like $379 out the door@! (was a HUGE DEAL for me)
Maybe the same deal can be found again?
Most of these hobby lathes are all chinese imports.. they will need some time to clean up the grease and tighten/align things..
The machines from LMS (where I got my mill from) are nice solid machines.. usually of better quality and some nice little extras... but you pay for this as well.
For a lathe... keep in mind you will need things like:
steady/follow rests
quick change tool posts
tail stock/drill chucks
tons of different tools/bits
jabber bits
boring bars
maybe a DRO or scales.. (not needed but nice to have)
etc..etc..
and the more you learn... the more you'll need! HAHA..
Definitely a fun hobby and a skill set worth learning. (even if its just for hobby use)
If you got questions.. post! We'll answer!
Re; Unimat
check the bed/ways to see if there is any wear/tear on them.
does it come with any tooling? (get a list)
what year?
what size? 7x... 10? 12? 14?
Too bad Toronot is on the East cost.. (Mid West here).. otherwise you could buy one here.. and meet up to take ownership!