shinyhappyrainbows

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

It's been my birthday month, I've done my back in and my top secret project is nearly a working prototype. In the words of Homer Simpson, "Can't talk, eating." Too much to do. Still here, will have stuff to say, living life.