A few weeks ago, I got it into my head to peruse CraigsList just to see if there were any lathes floating around and, low and behold, there was one. Guy was asking $1500 for his Taiwan made Jet 12x24 with a bunch of tooling included. I went and checked it out and was pretty impressed by the amount of tools he had with it (many 5c collets, a self centering 3 jaw, a non self centering 4 jaw, live center, armstrong cutting tools and tool attachment, lots of spare blades... the list goes on). The lathe also has a large diameter hole straight through the headstock, leaving plenty of room to cut rod stock once I start stocking up on some. It's also in excellent condition considering it's probably older than me.
Well, I decided to pick it up. I haggled the previous owner down to $1350 for the lot. Moving was the toughest part, of course. Apparently these things are heavy!
I've already started cutting tenons on it and I have to say, after a short period of "what the hell was I thinking?," I am very very pleased. Now all I need is a 2 jaw chuck, a forestner bit, a grinding disk, a...
In any case, I can now start making newbie pipes a bit faster and I've got to say that I am delighted by the idea. As always, you'll see new stuff hung in the gallery for slaughter.
Please join me in bidding a warm welcome to... Bertha!
