My wife gave me a grizzly for my birthday a couple years ago.
Within a week I had spent twice what she spent just so I could
sharpen my chisels etc. Since then I purchased better chisels.
Shoot even the chuck that I purchased cost more than the lathe.

However, I'm now hooked and waiting for my Nova DVR to arrive.
I have several hundreds of dollars of wood stacked up in my study
waiting for a better lathe and spring (I also have more than several
hundred dollars of exotic hardwood boards stored in my study also).

A learning lathe is just that a lathe that you learn on. Like most
hobbies. If you want to try it do you buy the best and most expensive?
Some people do but I would not recommend it. I've seen too many
people spend lots of money on real expensive equipment that never
gets used. It ranges from fishing gear, camera equipment, boats, tractors,
and what ever you can think of. Its like sending a kid to the best
university if your not sure they are ready for college. It likely to be
a big waste of money.

Ofcourse it is up to you to decide what is too much to spend just
to see if you like it. For some it is $100. For others it is $500 (or
pounds if your a brit). How much would you fell OK putting out
for the trash collection next year or giving away to a friend? That
is how much you should spend to see if you like doing it. The cost
of the other stuff will be what hurts your pocket book.

bob wrote:

Hi
Im thinking of trying my hand at
wood turning, I was thinking of
buying a cheap lathe first just to
see if I like the hobby. These go for about
£100 on ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...category=63 3

Are these OK(ish) to start with? the only
problem I can see is the bed seems a little
on the feeble side, but that's no problem
for me as im a welder. I was just wondering
if the spindle, bearings, motor etc are reasonable.

Many thanks

BoB