"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
...
Your message encountered a parsing error: you used the term "locally"
without defining it first.

In other words, like about 99% of posters looking for things, you didn't
post where you are!

Sorry about that! I wasn't actually trying to get leads on finding a "local"
lathe, but of course I'd be happy if someone here can point me to one. I'm
located near Raleigh, NC.

Thanks for all the input so far, and any yet to come! Many of you mentioned
CraigsList, classified ads, etc. -- I am indeed perusing all of these, but
so far have not seen anything locally. A few months ago I passed up a chance
to buy an old 9" Southbend at an auction. It had clearly been, shall we say,
well used, but beyond that I didn't yet know enough about what I was looking
at to know if it was a good deal. I would feel more confident about
evaluating it now that I've actually done a little turning, and figured out
what all the levers are for!

Someone mentioned the possibility of the asian lathes -- how would you
evaluate the relative value of some of these older, small lathes that float
around on ebay vs. say a Harbor Freight 9x20? I've read some conflicting
views about the HF 9x20, and when I looked at one the compound seemed
undersized (though I'm not entirely convinced that they had the right
compound mounted on the display unit . My sense is that I would be happier
with old American iron rather than the HF, but I certainly am not ready to
eliminate HF from consideration.

As always, you all are a fount of wisdom! Thanks for sharing ...

Andy

Andrew H. Wakefield wrote:
I've just begun learning metal turning with the help of a friend, and now
I'm in the market for a small to medium sized lathe. Though my preference
is to find something locally, I've been watching the auctions on ebay to
get a sense of the types and prices of lathes that are being traded. I've
seen quite a few of the Sears/Atlas 6 x 18 lathes, in a couple of
variations. It looks like the low-end model is the 109.XXXX, such as is
shown in the following auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=4427679846

What's the collective wisdom on these lathes? Are they worth having, or
??? As best as I can tell they do have the ability to autofeed in both
directions--is that correct?

Any information the group can provide will be most welcome! But be
warned: if you answer this question, I'll likely have some more as I
continue to assess what is available.

Andy