ok, let me throw this at your oldsalt. a very accomplished machinist I know said that a EMCO Maximat is an extremely well made machine that is well suited for a home shop and would suit most of my needs very comfortably. He has a number of mills and other machines but uses his Maximat extensively and has since 1974. Know anything about these Austrian Lathe/Mills. there happens to be one in my neighborhood for sale at a very good price.
Don't know much about the Maximat...have just heard the name and recall seeing an ad. I don't believe that are still sold. For sure couldn't be any worse that the China ones. I'm fairly sure that the quill in the mill is not for an R8 collet. Probably a #3 Moorse Taper. Not good. ANY mill that will be able to work anything larger than a 1/4" end mill will have to have R8 collets. The Morse taper WILL NOT stay seated in its socket if any side pressure is used which will certinally be the case if an end mill is being used. It was never designed, or until reciently, used for that. So, unless a guy believes in the tooth fairy, it is really a 2 in 1 machine...a half a## drill and a badly compromised lathe. Most of the 3 in 1 jobs also rely on change gears rather than a quick change box. Big trouble. The Drill/Mill, attached to the headstock of the lathe, has to have a lot of distance between it and the cross slide on the lathe saddle. That's necessary to make it so at least a small item can be placed under its quill. The problem is that the center of the lathe chuck has to be raised, usually, to a rediculous extent. That, in turn, makes the tool post so high that any sembulace of regidity is lost. If you are going to make parts from only wood or plastic it is almost serviceable. OK, maybe brass and aluminum and some steel if slow light cuts are made. Anoter drawback is that for all the units I have seen there is no way to use a steady rest. Or a follow rest. IMHO a steady reast is an absolute must for a LOT of jobs...the follow rest you can probably do without.
You say its for sale at a very good price. Bear in mind that an ENCO 3 in 1 goes from $1,100 to $1,600 to $2,000 for their three sizes. If you can pick up a used machine for a few hundred it might be nice to own. But if the price is 7, 8 or 9 I'd walk away even if I did not own any machine tools and had a bunch of loot burning a hole in my pocket. Also what kind of tooling come with the machine? Should have 3 and a 4 jaw chucks, face plate, live and dead centers, tools and tool holders, drill chuck, and other sundries. Even at a few hundred it had better have all the commonly required accessories. If not you will, as you noted in another post, have double the money in the rig before long. It is common for people to offer lathes for sale without the other required tooling in the hopes that it won't be noticed.
I guess you can tell that I don't partiularly care for multi-funtion tools. I have, part time, instructed machining classes at community college level, manual and CNC. Have owned lots of different machine tools...just to make the point that I might know what I'm talking about I have attached a pic of my biggest lathe...a 16" Monarch tool room lathe. I feel I do know what I'm talking about after 45 years of experiance in industry and at home. Ya...that's me in the pic.