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Start by reading this: Link You also might want to pick up a copy of "How to Run a Lathe" from Lindsay Books. This was put out by South Bend and is literally everything you need to know for the first year or two. As for the lathe buyer's market being terrible... not so. In fact we are living in an amazing time when you can buy a machine that cost in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars new for near scrap price in good operating condition. The bigger the lathe you buy, the better the deal. First off, unless you can steal one from somebody who is living in the dark, don't even bother getting on the South Bend bandwagon. South Bends are good little lathes, but the money the 9 and 10" lathes are bringing is just silly these days. They are like 57 Chevy's and Piper Cubs. Not the best, just the most popular and therefore most expesnive. Atlas is right in there with them. Logan makes a better lathe of this size in my opinion, and those will rarely go over a grand. A bit more will get you a Clausing, but those are popular with the gunsmiths, and thus a bit pricey. If you have room for a 14" or larger floor model lathe, you are now back down to a grand or less in most cases. They are not popular for the home shop as they are generally too big for the basement shop adn have three-phase motors. Production shops are going to CNC and throwing them in the scrapyard to get them out of the way. I only gave $750 for my 18x72" L&S and it came with all the goodies. No, it wasn't pretty so I restored it. It was however, fully functional just as I found it. If you are willing to drive up to Michigan or New England, you can get a 1970s Monarch, American, L&S, etc... 20x120" lathe usually for under $2000. These were $150,000 lathes when new. That's a buyer's market if I ever saw one. Don't be afraid of VERY old machines. As long as they are not badly worn, even 19th century machines are great in the home shop. Machines this old will go for a few hundred bucks if you can find one. The low speeds of pre-WII machines means they are not very good with carbide, but HSS is typically cheaper and more useful in the home shop anyway. You can make special shaped profile tools and can re-sharpen them on your bench grinder without having to buy a diamond wheel. If you can build a Winchester with it, it's good enough for me. I have a 9x20 Jet, so you guys know where I am coming from. Its only saving grace is that it cuts metric threads. If not for that,I would have sold it and kept a beat up 1937 South Bend 9" that I passed to a friend. The South Bend was ten times the machine the Jet is. The Chinese machines are junk, plain and simple.
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