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.


Randy Replogle wrote:
"Snyper1982" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ok, I am sure you guys get asked these questions a lot, so i
apologize
in advance. I am totaly and completely new to metal working. I am
mostly curious about making little parts with a lathe. I just dont
know
what a good lathe is, and what some good reading material is on
using a
lathe.

What are some good brands of lathe? are Jets good, cause i was
looking
around a bit and i saw a jet that was about $1,000 brand new. Well
thanks for reading, hope to get some good answers from you guys, as
id
like to get into metal working.


Will this be for personal hobby work? How big (diameter) parts will
you need
to make? Tell what you want to accomplish and you'll get lots of
ideas here.
Randy