[a Bill]

I have a Sherline lathe. Bought it new a few years back and it's still as accurate as it was then. Not too sure on my accuracy of late though

It's probably the best hobby sized lathe you can buy without going to a shop lathe.

I'd suggest buying all the accessories you plan on getting at the same time you buy the lathe. The various attachments are rather expensive but you can wangle a better price if you're buying a lathe too. Yeah, it adds to the initial cost but you'll find that in the long term you will save money, a lot of money.

If cost is no object then get a CNC shop lathe

 

[a Bill]

You know, I never bought a Dremel and have absolutely no intention of doing so. I haven't migrated to CNC equipment yet but I do keep a fairly decent selection of tools around and a Dremel would never even begin to do half the job I'd require. They're just too light duty. I use an industrial high speed die grinder with solid carbide cutters when I need to shape something

Good tools are fairly expensive but you only buy them once. How many TV sets have you wasted money on over the years? How about radios or stereos? You can waste some serious cash on those things and they're worthless five years later but I'm still using the same die grinder I bought 15 or so years ago. Same with my little Sherline lathe. I ordered that lathe online using a very expensive computer which was outdated and retired the next year but I'm still using the lathe.

I might buy one high end tool each year. The cost is still important but it's not like I'm buying one a month. Plus, once I've bought the tool I'm good for a looonnnggg time before it'll need replacing. So I save my money and buy the right tool the first time. It might take me a few years to save up for really high end stuff but that money is well spent compared to the money I wasted in my youth on killer car stereo components that no longer work.