I broke down today and bought a regular Jet mini lathe for $199 so I can
do small and somewhat larger stuff like chess sets too, however my
Woodcrafters also had the Jet Mini pen lathe in stock (new item $135) so
I got to see one. Its definately for light duty stuff but appears like
it would work well for really small stuff, modelling, dollhouse items
and small stuff like that. Its about 16" long at most so it has a small
footprint. It has a 1/12hp motor (small for sure) but does have 8"
between the spindles and a 3 1/2" bowl capacity. This is the info on
the box. For the person who mentioned using one for dollhouse bowls,
vases etc, looks like just the ticket. Probably be good for jewlery
too, wood or plastic, not sure about metal but with a file and emory
cloth it'll probably do well too.