I know the Wilton (on sale today at Menards for $79) isn't the best lathe,
and with the plastic parts, won't last 50 years, but.....

I bought an older lathe last fall for $40 at a garage sale, spent some time
and a small amount of $$$ to get it running, and it never ran great. Today,
I decided to drop the frustration and some cash, and got the Wilton mini at
Menards. I had spent some time playing on one at a friend's house earlier
this year, and tried the Jet midi at a Woodcraft, but couldn't justify the
extra cost right now. $80 later, the Wilton runs better than the old
Power-Kraft (garage sale find) ever did, and it was actually fun to do some
turing. I can see how this could become very addictive.

A few months ago, I took a pen making class at Woodcraft (the jet midi
play-time) and have promised to make my wife some pens when I get this old
lathe going, now I can actually do it on the Wilton.

Turned out to be a very good day!

Rob

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