Tools, all the Tools, I'm a Complete Tool for Tools
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wmKrkemkEg3lSJ212OT9zVKnEHO1JyWuJ5nTkMPEDHGWLOxtjK9mAfeQc6v8x9vVGI0mu8FBTuNG-0NG-ilSLmB0j__-ItBPvFAFIAE4yng3Ds7xaYMCyR4Rk1_qp4kdxsrvt8eMwUYTEGfRD82uh1mK8Wj0jMnHI28byXHcYJaSrxbi45S-cLm1huE/s1600/lathe.jpg)
I'm trying to decide whether to pull the pin on buying a mini "desk" lathe. One of these... Yes, I know, a lathe is usually a thousands-of-bucks piece of workshop kit, and the average serious machinist is screaming "NO!" at me, at the top of their lungs. But I'm not a machinist, I'm a hobbyist. I'm on a really tight budget, most of my tools are "toys." I'm not dependent on reliability for my livelihood. I just hack about in a workshop to "squander" my retirement on making stuff. And I've always wanted a lathe, but never been able to muster the scratch with all my other expensive hobbies, and I don't have space for even a small workshop lathe. A 10" seems like a great option for the odd, brass bush, or a pully or two. Things like spinning up a knobbed lever from an M12 bolt by machining the hex head into the knob. Turning up a model rocket fuselage in matched, push-together segments, turning and cutting a precis