Sorry for taking so long to reply. I am located in central Ca, near
Stockton. When I know nothing about metal working, so it seems like a
small project to me. Mostly it will be taking something like 3" dia.
aluminum and... i don't kno any of the terms used in this, and its so
frustrating, but cutting some of the metal off the lenght of it, so it
has a 3" dia. base, and like 3/4" point coming off it. Man I hate being
new to something, but I am really glad you people are so helpful. I
really appreciate it.

As for upkeep, yes I am fully confident I can keep my lathe well taken
care of. I try to do all my repairs on my car myself. only time I ever
take it to a shop is when i need some specialty tool that would cost
far to much to be a viable option for me to buy, something like a tire
machine, stuff like that. Other than that, I am not afraid to rip it
apart and fix it myself.

But 3" dia. stock is a must, possibly 4".

Shoot, just let me link you guys to some of the stuff I will be
building.
http://www.wolterpyrotools.com/pyrot...ckettools.html

So now that you have a good idea, you can help me out better, i figure
the Jet should suffice for all that, and i really have no clue where to
look for use machinerey. Thanks guys, you are much more helpful than
some of the other places I visit.