Comment by krschultz

A question to answer: is the enjoyment coming from actually being the machinist, or is it coming from assembling something you designed? The answer could be either. But if you just want to bring something you designed to physical fruition and you are limited on space then I would recommend finding machine shops that will make what you design for you. This is what Protolabs, Shapeways, Xometry, etc do. You don't need to actually have a 3D printer or laser cutter or CNC mill to get things built. You can probably find a local fabricator too. I found a guy that made handrails and would do random welding jobs, I used to go to his shop for all sorts of different things. Even if you get the money and space to build out a shop, there's a lot of skill to these crafts and people dedicate their whole career to becoming experts in them.