On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:43:48 -0600, anonymous
wrote:

Anyone have an opinion about this lathe?

http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/tls/266293901.html

A couple, but take them with a grain of salt, as that isn't much of a
picture.

I don't care for the ways being tubes instead of cast iron- it not
only seems cheap, but it also makes that "banjo-type object" the
toolrest is mounted in a lot less useful, as it doesn't appear to be
capable of being set at an angle or parallel to the ways (there could
be a lot I'm missing there from the picture.)

The tool rest is wierd. Who knows, it could be an excellent design,
but it's definately an oddball.

I guess if it were me, I'd pass on it for $250. If he'd take $100, I
might try something like that out for the heck of it- but it seems a
tad expensive for an experiment to me. One would hope that Penn State
has accessories for it, but you never really know.

$250 gets you close to a Jet Midi or a Delta Mini when they go on
sale, and an extra $40-50 will put a bed extension on one if you need
that extra length. $100-150 will get you a brand new off-brand like
Wilton if you're just looking for something to mess around on, and
they're a lot closer to standard design.