Small steps . . .

[Doc.]

It's a Buck and Hickman 'Bantam', Stumpy.
Belt-driven from a layshaft above the headstock, which is driven by a V-belt from the electric motor below.
It's pretty basic, but does pretty much anything I've thrown at it over the years, only cost me £170, and has paid for itself many times over.

My Milling machine is my real 'pride and joy' though.
Cost me £160 (yeah, I know ), plus £120 for a single-phase motor for it (was 3-ph).
It's one of these . . .

Adcock and Shipley 1ES
Guy I bought it off is the head Armourer at Pinewood studios, and also runs the team there that build all the 'technical' props and vehicles.

[STUMPY]

lucky man id love a milling machine ... if you get fed up with it let me know
and as long as a lathe does what you need it to do matters not what it is
ive only got the myford ml7 but works a treat

[Doc.]

. . . if you get fed up with it let me know . . .

Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen

Did you not see this . . .
Mill for £375
?

[STUMPY]

i saw that doc but would cost a fortune to get it to here and then new motor its a bit of a lump for my little trailer but it was a good buy if you were local with a big truck and 10 mates

[Doc.]

Yeah, transporting them is a pain, luckily for me the guy delivered it too!

[Doc.]

Chopped up some more metal for my Welding table yesterday, still planning it in my head but I'm fairly sure it'll be wall-mounted, hinged to fold up out of the way.

Basically, the surface will be a 3 x 3 grid of 12" square sections of 8mm plate, with a 12" x 37" plate across one end.
They'll be spaced apart by 10mm, the slots between them will accept 'T'-Nuts for clamping kit parts (like those used on a Milling table).
I have 40mm square Steel channel to form the 'frame' for the base, it will be reinforced with other lumps of box-section where needed.
I'll also be able to use 'Unistrut' nut-plates if needed.

The whole assembly will pivot on plates at each end, so it can be rotated for better access to whatever's being welded on it.
There'll be some sort of foot-released mechanism to lock it.

Also got some more metal for the Press/Roller thing, not sure I'll get much on either done until the new year now, but if I do, pictures will follow . . .

[Doc.]

Thinking more about the roller/press/bender (I lay awake a lot planning things in my head . . . that's night-shifts for you!).

Pretty-much decided to leave the Ring-Roller part out, and just have the press and bender as separate items.
I was thinking how best to make the Die(s) for the bender, should I try to make them in one piece, or fab them up from plates (welded then machined).
Then it struck me, if I simply made a mandrel set-up, would I need 'proper' shaped dies anyway?
Could I not just have plain (flat-faced) dies if the tube is supported internally by a mandrel?