In article ,
"Jon Danniken" wrote:

When I asked the seller if it came with the change gears, he replied that it
"... comes with complete gearing - it's not quick change."

When the seller said "comes with gearing, is not quick change" that
means change gears - A box or rack of gears that you need to change -
ie, take a wrench, remove this gear, add that gear, get this feed or
thread. There's usually a chart to tell you which gears to use where.

Quick change involve gears that you can "quickly change" between by
using a lever system. No box or rack of separate gears. No wrench.

As for changing the speed of the headstock, you move the flat belt to
different pulleys. Has nothing to do with the gearing, other than the
back gears.

You might want to drop $12 or so on "How to Run a Lathe" (perhaps
cheaper if you can find a copy that doesn't need to be shipped to you).

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...155918115X&x=0

So long as the work fits and you are not trying to run production, you
can get a lot done on a 9" - but you might yearn for power cross feed.
However, not having it will make you learn to turn the dials smoothly.
Depends on how much facing you'll be doing, and how much you'll mind
having to hand-feed.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by