When you're building out your bicycle framebuilding shop, you might become interested in all kinds of machine tool setups: vertical milling machine, horizontal milling machine, drill press, lathe. But which should you buy first to get the most bang for your buck (and the most bang for your square footage)?

My recommendation is to get a vertical milling machine like the Bridgeport mill first. It's such a versatile machine tool—you can do just about everything on it, as I explain in the video. Next, if you've got more cash and space, I'd recommend a manual lathe for round parts, a few specific framebuilding processes, and general usefulness in the shop.

I would only recommend horizontal milling machines if you're getting into serious production and want to speed up your framebuilding process by having multiple mills with dedicated mitering setups on each.

And I'd only really recommend a CNC mill for bicycle framebuilding if you're someone who wants to create your own custom frame components that nobody else has (braze-ons, dropouts, etc). It's not going to save you money over just buying the same things stock from Paragon Machine Works.

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