A machining apparatus has a frame defining a transfer station and a machining station thereabove, a spindle having a workpiece grab and vertically displaceable on the frame between an upper position with the grab in the machining station and a lower position with the grab in the transfer station, a tool holder horizontally displaceable on the frame toward and away from the machining station, and a workpiece conveyor extending through the transfer station. After shifting a deflector underneath the machining station into a side position out from underneath the grab, the grab is lowered to pick an at least partially unmachined workpiece in the transfer station off the conveyor and then raised with the workpiece into the machining station. The deflector is then shifted between a use position over the transfer station and under the machining station and a side position allowing the spindle to pass.